I love boas and carpets, I love snakes I guess. I make a modest income and still manage to keep upwards of 20 snakes... In my opinion, snakes are less upkeep than most other animal. They require minimal electricity if you have a warmer house, don't require uv lights, usually only need cleaning and fed once a week, and even less than that as they age.
As for boas (some of this applies to carpets also), males would be easier to keep generally (IMO) since they do not grow as big and therefore need less space and can be fed smaller prey. If you buy mice/rats/rabbits from a pet store they will sometimes charge quite a bit for these things. Usually I've seen around $2.50 for a small rat and up to $5 for a larger rat, could be worse of course. Bunnies can range a bit as well, but commonly I see them for $10 ea. but once you are feeding rabbits your snake is at the age where you are feeding less often, so it evens out somewhat.
I think it is easier than having a large dog (which I also have) who can go through a bag of dog food in a week and a half that costs around as much as a barrel load of rats depending on brand. LOL! So, I think snakes are cheap to keep compared to other pets. An adult female boa however, you'd need a larger cage. Many build their own, but I always recommend something preconstructed by a make like boaphile, animal plastics, etc. There are a lot of choices, but like I said, usually a male will need less space... if that helps!
Good luck!
Steph S.
ps- You came to the right place to ask, there are a lot of experts on here... I am NOT one of them! ;p

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