Most affordably priced boas are going to be of unknown lineage and likely to be mixed. Like you just pointed out though, they don’t necessarily have to be mixed with smaller species. Even then it’s not like it would be a 50/50 cross and the genetics of size are complicated so having red tail blood might not mean anything to overall size.
The reason central american blood is so common in ‘Colombians’ is because they used to all be classified as the same species (Boa Constrictor Imperator which is now just BI) and BCC was the only one commonly available that was held separate. It wasn’t considered hybridizing then because we simply didn’t know better. By the time we did, it was too late to do anything but shrug our shoulders and soldier on.
Your snake is most likely going to land between 5 and 7 feet if it’s a female and 4-6’ if it’s a male. It takes 4-5 years for a boas to reach mature size so you’ve got a minute to decide what to do.
I see. Well in that case I’m hoping they have mixed lineage with some CA that they just didn’t bother putting down. Not sure if that would somehow show in a clutch of all normals, he at least told me that much. I heard that getting a pure Colombian is very rare, and I’m assuming would’ve cost me much more than 140?
4-6 I can totally do. It’s the 8-10 that made me nervous, since I can’t imagine giving something that big a nice and enriching life, if you know what I mean.
Would you by chance know if Barranquilla Colombians are in any way related to the common BI Colombian? Or I think even the Kubsch Pastel? I heard those get really big but there just seems to be a lot of Colombian everywhere haha. I even heard they get bigger than true red tails/BC.
I knew part of this lol. I know that they weren’t true dwarves but from all the research I did on them (I almost pulled the trigger on one) did say that they tend to stay on the small end of the scale with a large female almost never getting over 6 feet but most staying close to 5. I more just mentioned it as an example as it is a popular locality that a lot of people have heard about. I haven’t ever seen or heard of the getting big but I am sure you are right as you have been doing this for much longer.
See, I knew a boa person would chime in with actual, correct information. Thanks @ballornothing. Looks like @cheygecko got the info they needed and will be able to keep their baby after all. That’s awesome!
They can and do get up near what’s considered the maximum size, I’m raising a motley fire female right now that’s going to be a beast. I’m also raising a Hypo Anery Het Albino female that I doubt will pass 6’. My IMG male has big parents, but he’s a small snake and I doubt he’ll be much over 5’ ever. I have a 6 year old Anery male that’s 4.5’. I recently retired a teenage female that was 6.5’. I have a fire female out on breeding loan that’s about 6.5’ at 7 years old.
Size is all over the place in boa constrictors because we’ve mixed them so heavily. Fire is a great example, that morph came from Bolivian Short Tail boas and now it’s just considered a generic boa trait.
My point to the OP is that there is a big difference in Maximum size and Average size. Carpet pythons can get 12’. The average size is 6’. BI can get 8’ but the average size is a range of 5-7’. There is a problem in the hobby where people conflate maximum size and average adult size when they aren’t the same thing. If you assume your animal will reach the maximum size, you tend to feed it until it does.
My female hogg island was a little over 7 foot and still putting on size. Research only goes so far when it comes to actually raising them. I feel Research in a lot of areas depend to much on a generalization which leads to unrealistic expectations which leads to a snake that needs rehomed. Hogg islands are such a beautiful boa though, the oranges are amazing in person.
Central Americans, especially males, are great boas as far as being on the smaller size. This I speak from experience with mine. Their temperament is laidback as well.
@cheygecko I truly hope you give your little one a chance. It will take a few years for him to grow into his adult size and in the meantime boas are so much fun to handle as they grow……
I’m still thinking about it. It’s a tough one, considering rehoming will hurt much more 6 years down the road, and it’ll also be a lot harder to find someone to take a 6+ft snake if it gets to that point. He’s just so freaking calm, curious and cute though.
Yeah, that’s a tough call. Odds are this snake won’t get 8’, but he could get over 5’. As others have said, without knowing anything about his parents or lineage, it’s pretty much impossible to predict his eventual adult size accurately. And given how strong and heavy-bodied boas are, a 6’ boa is a lot more snake than, say, a 6’ carpet python. I know I had to do a lot of thinking about what sort of boa I wanted to get, and if I’d realistically be able to house and manage a mixed locality morph boa that has the potential to get on the larger side, or if I’d be better off with a true dwarf locality, where adult size would be smaller and more predictable. It doesn’t help that there’s a lot of misleading and confusing information floating around about boa size (and size of various snake species in general). And I totally understand not wanting to wait 5 years only to find that he’s outgrown the space you have available for him, and have to re-home him after raising him up and getting attached for all that time.
If the main issue is space for an adult enclosure, it might be worth looking around your home and figuring out if there’s a creative way to find space for an extra foot or two for a larger enclosure. I’ve seen some people do stuff like build enclosures that fit under their bed, or come up with ways to put a larger enclosure on the wall above their sofa, and stuff like that. Sometimes there are ways to use small amounts of space more efficiently.
EDIT: I know that some reptile enclosure manufacturers make “corner cages” that are L-shaped and designed to fit in a corner, which seems like a very space-efficient way to provide a larger enclosure. So something like that might be another option to explore. I know Zen sells corner cages, and I’ve seen them offered by at least a couple other companies as well.
@cheygecko Seems like an awfully heated topic here- food for thought but I’d just put a pin in all the emotional appeals. I mean, its real but it’s not a solution, not trying to downplay anyone.
For your situation, I think of Bert Langerwerf and his pivotal success in breeding many exotic lizard species in the US. I remember it goes something like- “keeping reptiles is a lotta physics”. And thats the method I would utilize in your situation. Keep your boa at room temp with a heated area(up to 90, not everywhere, just there) that is heated longer(6 hrs/day for 5 days) during feeding times and less long(2 hrs/day) while not digesting prey. Aim for 78-84 as a daily average, w a night drop to 72. I doubt you’d see any quality of life issues here and you could feed less often. However, still have to let yer boas response be your guide here.
Shes 9 now too! X