Quote Originally Posted by dkatz4 View Post
I also do not feel BPs are as beginner friendly as often purported. I am a beginner myself, and did a ton of research into what snake would make the most sense for me and my family. I didn't go with a colubrid because I wanted my young son to be able to handle him easily, so something bit slower was better, I ended up going with a dwarf boa because their husbandry requirements are similar to a BP, though arguably their heat and humidity requirements are a little less stringent, they do very well with handling, and when it comes to food – forget about it! They only need to eat half as often and they almost never say no! I think the only caveat would be the size of a regular BC or BI, so I found a solid breeder of dwarfs and I am as pleased as punch. Although I should mention that I am enjoying him so much that now I am pining for a full-sized boa as well
Tell that to my Dwarf -_- She is a firecracker and hits like a train. I guess she is a rescue but ive been having a heck of a time taming her down. By far my easiest snake to handle is my Sand Boa. He isnt very interesting to watch, though, because he is hiding 95% of the time. I've never really had any problem with balls and if a newbie would just read a caresheet and gets the tank set up right they are fine for a first snake imo. I wouldnt classify them as advanced reptiles in any way, especially when tokays, monitors, retics/burms/rocks, and even BCCs exist. I would say that are intermediate at worst and "higher beginner" at best. All for CB's of course.

As for bedding I use Aspen because it looks good, is easy to spot clean, is fairly cheap, and it smells fine. There is usually humidity problems associated with it but I only have problems sometimes in the winter and then a mist or two usually clears it up. Ive been meaning to try coconut husk because so many people on here use it but ive never gotten around to it.