Quote Originally Posted by drugaria View Post
Well Yes of course, I only used that as a quote.
Unfortunately my choices are very limited since I do not know any local breeders around here and I wouldn't buy a snake online without interacting with it first, and lets not forget how stressful the shipping process can be to an animal stuck in a box and being tossed around on conveyor belts in the shipping process.
As far as feeding record they said they have one. As you can see there isn't much choice here .
Why is interacting with it so important to you. If you can handle the animal and are ready to care for it think of it like a marriage for better or worse. Animals can be calmed with time and patient work. If your not willing or able to give that from the door walk away till you are.

Your choices are not limited they are narrowed by the manner you wish to get your animal. Which is no big deal but it also limits the number of and quality of animals at your reach. Which is totally your decision. But to knowing get an animal with mites and risk health of your other snakes and sacrifice the quality of the animals in you collection because of the possibility of stress from shipping or the fact that you might get a nippy baby is not the mark of a person that should be adding any new animals just yet. It sounds more like the kind of impulse by that cost loads in vet bills and ends all to often in keeper stress the inability to enjoy the animal they just MUST have.

As many have said boa's are no joke..They have way stronger feeding responses so a SFE is painful and can be dangerous. Prior to getting a boa think long term. Will you be able to house it in say 4-5 years when it is 4-6 feet long and eating a large rat every week or if its a female house a 9-11 foot snake with more strength than three men.

My suggestion: Take it or leave it. Get some time dealing with snakes first. I gather your new to snake keeping. Deal with some problems remember these animals are way long term. So when most people say "oh yea I want to add another snake. I think I'm ready cause I have been keeping a ball for 5 or six months" thats a drop in the bucket for the amount of time you will spend with it. To say "I think I'm ready to add another snake" means that person is not sure you can handle it.

An experienced keeper even of just one snake doesn't look at like "I think I'm ready" they simply say hey thats a hot animal I want to add that one and boom its done. I my self waited 2.5 almost three years before adding even one more ball to my collection of a whopping 1 when I first started keeping. I dealt with not feeding, escapes, temp problems, humidity problems, bad sheds, bedding scares and more and thats just with one snake.

As for trying to "piss it off" to test for temperament...Its a snake if you succeed in pissing it off it might bite you...brovo! you pissed off a snake and it bit you what does that prove? You poke and pester a snake long enough and it will poke back. I have animals that will bite you if you sat there and tried to piss them off, but I would hand these animals to a 4 year old with no worries. If your worried about getting bit...I'd suggest a different hobby..Because sooner or later you will get bit.

Remember marathon not sprint. Theres no rush at all on adding a new animal. There will be RTB and all sorts of boas to choose from for years to come. They are fantastic animals and offer years of companionship and enjoyment. But like any animal and snake in particular you have to take to good with the bad.