Controversial First Time Snakes

I personaly have noted tha people are pretty agianst a new snake keeper to keep a boa

Depends on the boa. A BCI is something I wouldn’t recommend, just because they do get a lot bigger than most first time owners would probably think they get. I have seen a lot of people rehome their large boas because they got “too big”. They can also be a bit on the defensive side. However, rosy boas and sand boas are fairly docile and stay small. Even if they do bite you they won’t do much damage, unlike a bite from a BCI. So they are much more suited to a new keeper.

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My first two snakes were boa constrictors.
I would say they are the perfect first time snake IF YOUR COMMITTED.
They have no extra needs and the only real difference in handling is the strength. But if you get a baby then you will get used to that as it grows.

I wouldn’t recommend rehoming a adult boa to anyone that hasn’t kept any sort of adult constrictor (be that a ball python) before, as learning its body language has to be done quickly.

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I think a lot of it boils down to how responsible the person is, how experienced in other animal keeping they are and whether or not they have a helper, too. Like if someone was fresh out of high school, had no mentor and had only ever cared for a cat or dog before, I would feel uneasy if that person decided they wanted their first snake to be a 9 foot constrictor species.

But say, that person is older and has a steady job with good income, has a friend showing them the ropes, has cared for something finicky and unfriendly like a collection of tarantulas or something like that, I’d be a lot less wary about that person going for a somewhat larger animal as their first.

There are some people who steer newbies away from even ball pythons because of their tendency to go off feed easily, but my very first reptile was a ball python (still have him) and I found him to be a very simple and pleasant animal to care for. There’s not a one-size fits all approach, imo

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Boas imo are the best exotic first time snake. Outpacing ball pythons by a huge margin. (I had Ball Pythons before I had boas, back in the early 90s). They are more interactive, less problematic feeders, easy to read, stay a reasonable size (when not overfed). All around spectacular animals. The various locality animals provide varying size ranges and appearances. Could get a crawl cay and have a small Boa for life, or go with a BCC or Argentine and have a large impressive animal.

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It is working out for me. I got my BI, Kai when he was 7 mounts old now he is 2 years. Both my parents are not involved with his care because they both don’t like snakes, but my mom does make sure to ask if he is being fed. He is my first reptile, and I asked for a boa and researched their care since I have been six years old. Yes he was a little defensive when I first got him, but I was sure that he would calm down with handling, and sure enough he did. I would love to have another one too.
@eaglereptiles

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I’m glad to hear you are enjoying it.
It’s also nice to hear you have kept up the passion since such a young age, you can throw all the money you want at these animals but if you don’t take the time to research and read up on there needs then problems will definitely pop up.
If your willing to share, I always enjoy seeing pictures of boas :blush:

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this is Kai

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