Hey all! Long time keeper of various reptiles but never snakes. Growing up my family had the typical dogs and cats but also horses. I had the traditional furry critters such as a guinea pig but at about 8 years old I inherited a juvenile green iguana that was my best friend for the next 12 years until she passed. I also rehabilited 2 common snapping turtle juveniles after run-ins with cars on different occaisions before releasing them again. Other animals I have kept include a bearded dragon for 13 years, and a red foot tortoise that I found a home for after 5 years because I didn’t feel I could give him the space he needed and a local family had converted their 2 car garage into a tortoise space of sorts.
In 2021 I saved a female B&W Tegu that was roughly 3 from a breeder who had only ever worked with snakes and was trying unsuccessfully to breed Tegu’s. She was the sweetest girl and would roam our house during the day whenever she wanted. I was able to tame her feeding response down so that I could hand feed her without tongs and she would just lounge on my lap once she was done wandering the house in the evening. We unfortunately lost her in January 2024 after 2 bouts with motility issues about 6 months apart where our local exotic vet could never find any issue but she was completely non-responsive to treatment and there was never a blockage. It hit me really hard (harder than any other animal has ever in my 39 years of living with animals).
Outside of our Tegu we have 1 dog and 3 cats who are all mostly seniors at this point. Dog is 11 and the cats are 9, 12, and 13. About 6 months after losing Luna (the tegu) I wanted to have a smaller lizard back in my life since we also have a 2 year old toddler keeping us running these days. I found a local breeder of Leachie geckos and spent a huge amount of time speaking with him and went to his house. He also breeds cresties and ball pythons some but his preferred animal is the Moro Isle Leachie. In July we brought home a 3 month old likely female Leachie and she is just wonderful and has become my evening couch buddy, many nights perching on my foot up on the coffee table.
One of the rules of my house growing up was that I was never allowed a pet snake and that just kind of stayed with me into adulthood. As the years have gone along I have a large desire to add a snake to our lives in the future. I am very intrigued by something like a Dumerils boa but am concerned about a snake that size when cats are present in the house. Is this unfounded or a realistic concern? My wife is an unapologetic cat person so we will always have 1 or 2 cats even if we don’t have a dog in the future so any animals we have additionally have to be managed with that in mind. The Tegu was intrigued by the cats but they were all roughly the same size so there was no issue and never any aggression. My other animals have always been smaller or strict herbivores which is by I am not informed enough to be comfortable with that.
With cars are you just better off with a colubrid or something like a spotted python or BP instead of a heavier bodied boa? Thank you and look forward to spending time with fellow reptile lovers!
Hello and welcome Thank you for your introduction and photos. Your leachie is really cool! It’s great that you got to meet the breeder in person and visit his home! But oh my goodness Luna is Awesome! It’s heartbreaking that you lost her so quickly. She looks quite comfy sitting on your lap like that. I would love to have seen the green iguana as well!
You will get a lot of suggestions. There are boa lovers, ball python lovers, and corn snake lovers here just to name a few.
There are pros and cons to consider when keeping any snake. Though I have never kept one, I believe dumerils boas are great to keep just from what I have read about them. Boas are just great snakes in general.
If I were you and if you haven’t already, I would check out the snakes for sale on the MM side. There are tons different breeds, morphs, sizes and colors. Keepers/breeders can make suggestions based on what they keep/breed but you have to make the decision after doing your research.
Best of luck and we would definitely like to see pictures of what you decide on!
There’s kind of a trade off; coulubrids are notorious escape artists, especially at smaller sizes, so if it escapes it would likely be in danger from the cats. A boa could potentially be a threat to a cat at an adult size, but that is an easier snake to keep from escaping, I think.
I think boas would be ok with your cats after you boa has grown up. Boa are smarter than most people think. All my boas know my scent over other people. As they are calmer with me when hanging them. I have had dogs my entire life, so my boas learn that dogs’ scent is not a threat or food. Most of my adult boas I can trust around my dogs.
When my boas are babies, I do let my dogs smell them. I, however, hold the head of the boa so it doesn’t bite my dogs. After the boas are 3 years old or older, most can be trusted not to bite my dogs. However, I know if one does bite my dog, more than likely, my dog will kill my boa in defense.
Years ago, I even had a 16-foot 120 lbs. retic that would just climb / slither over my dogs like they were not even there. When I first got her, she was 12 feet and 30 lbs. She would track my dogs from her cage as if she did want to eat them. It took years of working with her to not care about my dogs. My dogs hair is all over me and my house, so the boas and retics learn their scent is not food.
I would be more worried about your cats biting or scratching your boa.
Also, I would not trust Dumeril boas around any animal as they are cannibalist.
I did own 2 Dumerils they were both very tame but would eat anything offered to them.
None of my boas or retics have free range of my home. They are only out of their cage when I take them out, and I never leave them unsupervisor.
Thank you for the feedback. The escape side of things had me worried slightly with a young colubrid but they also seem to be more flighty overall from the little experience I have with them.
I had not heard that Dumerils were cannibalistic so that is good to know and definitely puts things into perspective. I have heard nothing but positive things about their temperament and that they eat like a boa.
As far as the house roaming, no animal other than the cats and dog have complete free rein of the house. The tegu was as close to unsupervised as I have ever done once she was settled but she was never left alone while out of her enclosure even though she didn’t bother the others and the cats were afraid of her. The dog wanted to be her best friend and would lick her. Any snake would be closely supervised so they don’t hide somewhere difficult to find or get into it with a cat.
I had considered a Hog Island locality as well but they seem to be harder to find and running down lineage for size seems to be a bit more difficult.
I agree with @tommccarthy it’s really hard to beat a boa. If I could only have one pet snake it would be a boa. And I keep 20+ species at any point.
With colubrids, it really depends on the snake. I have two tanks out in the house where the cats can get to them. One is a California Mountain Kingsnake and the other has some of my Oregon Red Spotted Garter Snakes. They’re both intelligent enough species that they aren’t bothered by the cats running around. Our cats are 9, 10, and 14 though so they aren’t too annoying. The old one even sleeps on the steel screen tops sometimes? next to the heat lamps, and it never seems to bother the snakes.
Welcome, @krvail! I really enjoyed reading your intro. You’ve had a fascinating variety over the years. I appreciate that you’re doing your research and sorting out what sort of snake(s) you’d want. There are fans of many kinds, and a species for every preference.
Personally, I think boas are really cool, but I have physical challenges and won’t be keeping any big snakes, though.
I do absolutely love my corn snakes. Absolutely. Youngsters can be escape artists for certain, but they’re not necessarily flighty. If they do escape, and are found by a cat, that can be lethal depending upon the cat. I’ve kept lots of corns as classroom pets and they’ve been calm, curious and friendly. It’s more than possible to get a corn who is happy to hang out and watch tv. Mine are accustomed to having cats and dogs around, and they’re don’t mind them one way or the other.
Whatever you decide, I look forward to seeing you and your animals around here. Again, welcome.
I have had lots of locality over the 48 years of owning boas. My two favorites are pure Colombian BCC and Northern Brazilian BCC. My first boa was a Colombian BCC she lived for 18 years.
This is Aphrodite, my Northern Brazilian BCC. She is 18 years old now.
Thank you for your introduction and photos. Your leachie is really cool! It’s great that you got to meet the breeder in person and visit his home! But oh my goodness Luna is Awesome! It’s heartbreaking that you lost her so quickly. She looks quite comfy sitting on your lap like that. I would love to have seen the green iguana as well!
