An ex-girlfriend bought me my first boa in 1997, it was a yearling. I bought my second one, a juvie at the time, in 1998 from a friend who wanted money to go to New Orleans. They are both 12 with the second one possibly being 13. I bred the second one last year for the first time, and plan to breed either her or my first boa this coming year.

They are both in perfect health, but have had problems on occasion. They had mites once, and my first boa had her first respiratory infection early this year while being cycled for breeding.

We probably don't see as many older boas for a few reasons. A lot of boas are overfed to get them to breeding size leading to shorter lives. Older boas (mostly normals) get tossed around as peoples "projects" change and eventually find an owner that either doesn't care or doesn't know how to keep them correctly. People that use internet boards on a regular basis tend to be "newer" herpers.... That is they started keeping later than 1995. It's hard to have a 15 year old boa if your first baby was bought in 2005.

I had an older Red-eared slider that I got as a baby in 1984 when I was 7. Ohio changed it's laws regarding keeping native wildlife, and decieded to include the introduced Red-ear. I found him a "good" home out of state, where he died (got eaten by a dog) a year and a half later at just over 22 years old. He'd still be here if I'd have just kept him.

[ Show Entire Thread ]