Hey everyone,

I have an odd question for all of you who keep both boa and python species in your collection.

I have a decent-sized colony of green tree pythons, who are my pride and joy. They are the main focus of what I keep, along with a couple carpets and colubrids. However, I've kicked around the idea lately of possibly obtaining another rainbow boa in the future (a BRB was my first snake) or maybe looking into a BCC. I really miss my rainbow, and to me, the BCC is an ideal "bigger snake" for someone like me who mainly keeps the medium-sized guys.

My problem is, the threat/scare of IBD is keeping me from feeling comfortable adding a boa into my collection of pythons; I know boas can be asymptomatic carriers, and I don't know how I would recover if my chondro colony was wiped out, either emotionally or financially.

I know that there are definitely big-name breeders out there who work with both boas and BPs, for example, so I figure folks can't all just be sticking to exclusively boas OR pythons all the time.

So my question is, if you keep both boas and pythons, do you keep them in seperate rooms with strict quarantine-like procedures between the two? Or do you feel safe keeping them in the same herp room? What steps do you take to determine the health of your new arrivals, and are there sources of boas out there that are generally considered "safe" (I know reptile shows and pet shops are out, of course)?

Thanks for any info you can provide. I am a long-time admirer of boas, especially redtails, and hope that this post doesn't come across as anything but genuinely curious and hopeful. Thanks!

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