The right boa for my particular situation? 🤔

[caron]

Awww. He’s a cutie!

[caron]

Tom you always look like you are standing in a park! Beautiful setting!

[smite]

BCI for the win but I’m biased big time. For me the overall demeanor makes up for a few feet of length and a couple pounds. If a boa constrictor is what really grabs your attention then I wouldn’t get too hung up on the handling aspect. A male fed conservatively and from parents that were not excessively large will probably end up around the 5’-6 mark and not super heavily bodied. 5’ sounds long but it’s not such a length or weight where you would need to put the animal around your neck/shoulders to handle it comfortably. I’m not big on doing that, I don’t find it very comfortable haha. I like to “walk” my boas with my hands and let them explore. Start with a young BCI that comes from a breeder you trust to pick you out a more naturally docile animal.

[tommccarthy]

I have a very big yard. 2 acres and it backs up to farm land and National park.

[slpocrnich]

Make sure to go threw a reputable breeder. I had a pet store boa as a kid. That I had for 23yrs. He was 9ish foot when he passed away. Outlires happen…but less likely with someone who knows how big the parents/ grandparents are. I always had my suspensions he was a BCI/BCC cross. Or a direct Colombian import. But never knew for sure. I miss him.

[tommccarthy]

I think you would be fine with a male Colombia BCI boa or some type of BCI cross.

I personally don’t like most dwarf boas. They tend to be more aggressive in my experiences. Most will tame down but I will never trust them 100% like I do with my BCI, BCC and BCA boas I own. I know BCA’S do fall in the dwarf boa range but they are at the bigger end. Mine BCA are all over 6 almost 7 foot.

Most male BCI boas top out at 6 to 7 foot and 15 + lbs when they are adults. I would get a baby boa, don’t buy a adult one. This way the boa will grow up with you. When he is adult he will not be afraid of you. He will associate you and your scent with a safe place and be very comfortable around you.

There are a lot of people here on MM selling baby boas. You should be able to find one you like. Just be picky and get what you like best. As he will be your favorite pet for the next 20 to 25 years and possibly longer.

I know Randall and myself just had babies. Not sure when I will be selling any of mine. As I have friends and a few people around me who want them. Here is a link to the post about my BCA X BCI babies.

New babies born today

My female Southern Brazilian Amarali had her babies today. Dad was a super sunglow BCI. 11 healthy full term hypo het albinos and 5 slugs. This makes all the babies also BCAXBCI crosses. Mom is doing great. Was fun getting her out of her cage. Washed her up and her cage. I find washing the female boas right after birth, and their cage very good, helps getting them back to being tame quicker. Need to get all the after birth cleaned up so the female can’t smell it anymore. [20230615_2047…

Most of my boas are very tame and I trust them more then my dogs.

[caron]

Well no wonder it looks like you are in or near a park! My ideal location would be somewhere in Montana or Wyoming with a nice log cabin at the foot of a small mountain…….

[slpocrnich]

Gosh those are all such beautiful boas!

[caron]

@tommccarthy I certainly agree with you Tom about starting with a beautiful baby male boa and not necessarily a dwarf. I got Red when he was so small he could fit in the palm of my hand. He was so sweet then and an absolute puppy dog now at 5 years of age. I do think he knows me.

And those pictures are a ton of beauties!

[lumpy]

Yes! That is what we all need to hear lol!

[mattschubarth]

They, Dums, are a true ambush predator- even some of my nicest adults ambush me once in a while if I don’t let em know its me first. They have the power of a large blood python in a strike. I appreciate their inherit thickness. Nice one right there!

[mattschubarth]

Cornsnakes are have really taken a backseat to Ball Pythons due to all the new colors in the last 2 decades but I’d say Corns are still one of the most ideal all around pet snakes. They are active, not shy at all, curious about their environment, and always eat. Great for and with kids too.

[caron]

Yep you are so right about corns! They are kind of a one size fits all!

[adra]

@mattschubarth

They, Dums, are a true ambush predator- even some of my nicest adults ambush me once in a while if I don’t let em know its me first. They have the power of a large blood python in a strike. I appreciate their inherit thickness. Nice one right there!

What is a sure way of alerting your snake that “It’s me! Not a dead rat!”? XD Tapping on the enclosure before opening the door, then giving them a minute to notice you and take in your scent? Actually, how good ARE snakes at picking up on a scent from the other side of the glass?

When I was younger and first taking an interest in snakes as pets, I really wanted a corn… The thing that kind of turned me off of most colubrids was hearing from a few sources that they have the most smell-related issues. Because of greater likelihood of musking, more frequent feedings, and more… malodorous… byproducts. I feel like I’ve never actually witnessed a heavy-bodied constrictor musking, or even heard of it. I’m guessing they use musking primarily as small babies, when they have little other defense against predators? I do remember that back then (almost 20 years ago now…), corn snake morphs were the majority of listings, with a handful of bp morphs listed beneath them. The tables have definitely turned, lol.

Speaking of bps… I kept meaning to ask this, but never got around to it: are there cases of fussy-eater bps that simply WILL NOT go for any of the usual feeding tricks (scenting, alternative food items, leaving them alone with f/t prey in a smaller space, etc., etc.), to the point that it came down to live feeders or else the snake starving? That’s my big fear with them. I could not handle live feeding anything, as it would stress me immensely (largely out of fear of the snake losing an eye or worse, but also because I get attached to things… very quickly). They’re adorable, and low maintenance enough that I wouldn’t mind keeping one just as a pet (not for breeding) at some point… but the possibility of having no option other than live feeders would be a dealbreaker. I’m happy to go to pretty much any other length though, including tracking down harder-to-buy f/t, or paying more for specific prey items that they prefer.

A male bci would honestly be fantastic… just so long as I was confident that in any event (even one where a normally docile pet was behaving strangely for whatever reason), I COULD control him. I’m not sure how much difference in actual STRENGTH there is between different boa species or regional variations… I wouldn’t want to be in a situation where I, by myself, could not wrangle a scared or defensive animal back into their enclosure to calm down.

On that note… Do you have to worry about a snake (especially a powerful, larger one, or a very small, fragile one) escaping and possibly getting into a confrontation with another animal (dog, cat, or even a reptile from another enclosure?). I would never leave a snake to free-roam unsupervised, since they could get hurt or try to hide behind an appliance (because heat source)… but I also know that accidents can happen, big snakes are very strong animals, and snakes in general are known to be clever escape artists. What are safeguards you take, if you have other animals in the house?

@tommccarthy

Most male BCI boas top out at 6 to 7 foot and 15 + lbs when they are adults. I would get a baby boa, don’t buy a adult one. This way the boa will grow up with you. When he is adult he will not be afraid of you. He will associate you and your scent with a safe place and be very comfortable around you.

There are a lot of people here on MM selling baby boas. You should be able to find one you like. Just be picky and get what you like best. As he will be your favorite pet for the next 20 to 25 years and possibly longer.

Beautiful boas in those photos! They look like they’re having a good time in the great outdoors, haha.

[solarserpents]

@adra

When I was younger and first taking an interest in snakes as pets, I really wanted a corn… The thing that kind of turned me off of most colubrids was hearing from a few sources that they have the most smell-related issues. Because of greater likelihood of musking, more frequent feedings, and more… malodorous… byproducts.

Musking is not a huge issue with corns. Some of my fresh hatchlings musk me and I have one adult who is very feisty and will musk every time I handle her, but she’s the exception. Their musk is also quite mild. I don’t even find it offensive. It just kind of smells like wet leaves or forest floor to me.

Their poops also are not too stinky. They’re also much smaller poops than large constrictors’. A fresh poop from an adult corn will be a bit smelly, but they dry up pretty fast and then they basically have no odor and are really quick and easy to pick up and throw away. Baby poop is so tiny, I don’t even notice an odor with it. Frequency of pooping for corns isn’t super high either, usually only one or two poops per feeding. Adults usually only get fed once every 10 to 14 days, so poops aren’t super frequent.

[mattschubarth]

Was not aware that a cornsnake musked at all and I’ve been keeping them on and off since 96’. Perhaps has more to do with crossbred corns with other colubrid- milks, kings, bulls(gopher) and ratsnakes.

[mattschubarth]

Also, Dumerils can and do get very large and live 40+ years. Quite a commitment. I had thought the first 3 I kept from a 98(2, 8.5 and 9.5 feet, both over 30 pounds and a 99(1, he’s dwarf so only 4 feet) litter were ancient- then I see the zoo folk with 40 y/o still having babies. Amazing really.

Never had a Dum latch on or anything like that… tippy tip of a finger/palm twice in all this time but the do have a much longer fang than a redtail. Had a tooth from the 2005ish palm landed bite that seemed to have no end to it. I had segments of that fang in my hand that grew from that spot ever few months for years. And she was a lil 5 footer back then. I will say she knows me well by now and me as well. One of the most loyal types I have after all this time. But admittedly, keeper error in both cases which I had said.

[mattschubarth]

Recently started keeping Blue Racer and always assumed they were stanky snakes- turns out they just come from stanky places, reparian swamp. Ha!

[tommccarthy]

I have owned several corns over the years and still have one. None of them have ever musked me. I did have one adult female boas musk me a few times. After about 6 months of owning her, she stopped doing it.

[caron]

I have never been musked by a corn and I have had/been around several of them. In fact I didn’t know corns did musk! My milk and my GBK snake? Oh yeah! But they are growing older and getting a lot better about that!