similar to starter snake thread.

[sg1trogdor]

i have 2 ball pythons at the moment but i want to step it up. would a rtb bci be a good next step. any pros or cons. i am willing to have a possible 10 ft snake. so other than that i dont see anything wrong with it but i have a friend with a rtb and he was all begging me not to get one. i dont really know why though.

[Shelby]

A BCI boa is a good step up from ball pythons. Husbandry wise, they are actually easier (more forgiving) but they do of course grow much larger, hence not considered a 'beginner snake'.

I'd suggest getting a baby from a reputable breeder. Make sure you have room for a 6' long cage when it's an adult, and when it's full grown, you'll want a second person with you to help you handle it, just in case.

[tmlowe5704]

The chances of them getting to 10 feet is pretty rare unless you get some species of BCC. Most mutt red tails that you will find(most are not true columbian) won't get any larger than 7 or 7.5 feet if fed on a maintenance diet. Most BCI that you see pushing 9 feet are severely overfed

[Freakie_frog]

The only thing about larger snakes is that if you find yourself at some time needing to get rid of it their are 500x's harder to rehome than a ball or smaller snake.

[sg1trogdor]

yeah i understand they obviously get much larger and am willing to spend the time and money on taking good care of it. i have a completely empty room at my home i am going to transform into a breeding room later down the road. and another room where i will keep my bp's i have heard its not the best to house large and small snakes in the same room as it stresses out the smaller of the two.

[darkangel]

and another room where i will keep my bp's i have heard its not the best to house large and small snakes in the same room as it stresses out the smaller of the two.

Why is that? Can they sense each other? I would have thought if they were in a rack system and not right in front of each other that they wouldn't even know.

[Shelby]

i have heard its not the best to house large and small snakes in the same room as it stresses out the smaller of the two.

I have never heard that before. I keep a burmese python and anacondas in the same room as baby milksnakes. No problems.

It's not a bad idea to keep boas separate from pythons however, as there is a risk of the boas carrying IBD (inclusion body disease) they can show no symptoms, but IBD is fatal to pythons.

A long and strict quarantine period should be used though.. at least.