Pines are similar to gophers. Yes. Pinrs Get bigger & tend to be alittle hissier
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Ooh, I do love the bigger snakes. I love the overall shape of gophers so a larger sassy alternative sounds amazing!
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Ima boa person…& something I won’t breed cause the babies are a pain…but I absolutely love are my Solomon island ground boas… considered intermediate but if you had a yearly established on mice…great great pets…like a better ball python
I own a giant female
I thought I have 2…they are are awesome… how hard could babies be…so ordered a lot of 3…mistake…I had one that survived & is awesome…now…after alot special care 1st year.
Also have an Indonesian tree boa…very small species…very awesome. Again though…get one already established on mice…pinkies
But yeah…something…smart…bigger…feisty but handable…My vote is pine.
Keep in mind…they like to eat & do. Bigger meals more often fir that kinda snake. Gophers & Bulls too
The Mexican “joini” pines turn aeesome yellow as they age
That species I feel would be " forgiving" of 1st time mistakes too & be fine…not to say…DO your research on anything you are getting.
Of course, thank you so much for the advice!
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Not to revive a dead post, but I think I’ve narrowed down by ‘big snake’ options and wanted opinions!
I’m stuck between a BCI boa or a reticulated python (potentially a dwarf variety). Probably a male either way.
I love the ‘wild’ look of boas, their saddles, and I LOVE their head shape. But retics have a wide variety of morphs and are considered very smart and full of personality.
So my questions:
- Is one more reliably handlable, or more friendly? (obviously individual variation is a factor, I mean overall)
- Does one have any husbandry quirks that make them worse to house than the other?
- Is one more reliably active or interested in the outward world/more curious and interactive?
- Boas digest slowly and need feed 1/month ish as adults, are retics about the same?
What pros and cons do you have?
Thanks all!
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I would personally go with a boa as this is your first big snake. There are actually a lot more morphs available in boas than in any percentage of a dwarf retic. The process of getting morphs into dwarf retics is takes a few generations even to get to 50% dwarfism for things like albino (recessives). Boas tend to be very calm and retics can be prone to being nervous and need more active work to build a trust.
Oh husbandry quirk 
, retics drink and drink and pee a lot compared to boas. Just so you are on top of that if you get one.
I wish you the best of luck and I hope that you figure out what you want 
.
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Thank you!!
That actually helps a lot!
I wouldn’t want to create an echo chamber between my anxious self and a nervous snake species, especially as my first biggin’
I was still leaning boa, but between my mom’s work with retics and my boyfriend’s love of them, I figured I’d test the waters a bit information-wise.
I’ll still plan for a boa one day! 
Thank you!!
(Also yeah, huge amounts of snake pee were the factor that turned me off of blood pythons. Love their chunky bodies, hate the fact that they pee like a racehorse, HA!)
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Then I would say you at least have someone to help you learn about their behavior and learn how to read them. So really it takes out that factor of them being nervous because you’d be able to work with them from a knowledge base that most of all don’t have.
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Personally, I feel like the pee issue with bloods/short tails is a little over-hyped. Yes, they produce more liquid urine than most other snakes, but it’s really not that hard to clean. I just scoop out the soiled coco husk, wipe down the bottom/sides of the enclosure where the pee was, and add some clean bedding. The whole process takes about 5 minutes. And they poop infrequently, so I don’t feel like I’m spot cleaning my blood any more than my sand boa (who poops a lot more but doesn’t let loose so much liquid). If you want a blood python, don’t fear the pee! It’s really not that bad, and they’re awesome snakes (though I admit to being biased, as they’re my favourite).
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I do love their absolute chonker status!
There are just too many pretty snakes out there! I can’t keep them all! AND YET…?
Gosh, this is going to be a hard decision once I have the resources to actually choose a snake!
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ON this subject I can verify that even a superdwarf retic can unleash what looks like a half liter of liquid on you in a spectacular waterfall of musky mess. All at once. XD
So as much as I adore SDs, I have a House Snake, because they act very similar but are comparatively miniature and don’t tend to do this.
If the chances of pee dumps does not put you off, and you have experienced retic folks in close contact, then some spectacular super dwarfs are to be had at Reach Out Reptiles. (Who hatched the lady who unleashed on me, lol.)
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@cmills I have been catching up on the posts in this thread and it looks like you started out with fairly small snakes then graduated to BCI and then dwarf retics/retics. Keep in mind that dwarf retics are in the thousands of dollars, but they are really awesome snakes.
Since you are now considering larger snakes and no one so far has mentioned these in this thread have you considered a Dumerils boa? They grow slowly, are a manageable size and I love the shape of their heads.
Just a thought…… 
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I’ll look into them!
I love the larger snakes and they have always been my preference, I just wasn’t sure if it was recommended to start smaller, which is why I started with rats/bullsnakes. Boas are my ideal and retics look like a close 2nd, but I wanted to check with more seasoned keepers about if you needed to start small and work up to a boa
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