As far as boas go, I've never heard a legitimate case of one killing a human either. I would be more worried about carelessness regarding infants, as long as you have common sense... larger snakes can be awesome pets! Of course, I no longer consider 6-8ft to be all that big and a male boa, as you mentioned, fed correctly should stay around or under 6ft; although I have heard of larger, but I'd assume they were fed well!
I am a small/average gal and I manage my animals alone a great portion of the time. I have mostly boas. They are intelligent and inquisitive animals, and by far my favorite of all my collection (which is mostly boas, LOL!). My largest female is about 10ft approx. and as big around as part of my thigh, aside from her weight, even she has never been a problem. Although, I am very cautious regarding her feeding response when taking her out of her cage because a smart person errs on the side of caution and probably doesn't want to get bitten by that large a gal!
All my males though, are very unmanageable sizes and easy to tote around... once one of my larger females gets an idea to go somewhere and gets hooked on or around something, then I'm in trouble! LOL! Also, depending on locality, some males (and females) are even smaller than your average noted sizes associated with boas. My Hog Island male and central american males are both well under 5ft, in fact my female Hog Island is just at 5ft or so. I wish I had exact measurements, but they are not big at all IMO.
I think boas are a great choice as a pet for an informed juvenile-adult person aware of their potential size and care needs! Good luck!

-----
Steph S.
Boas...
1.1 Albino boas (Loki & Hope)
1.4 07 Het. albino boas (Petty & Lady,Sierra,Madeline,Lola)
0.1 Reverse stripe poss. het albino (Cookie)
0.1 Salmon/hypo (Scarlet)
0.1 Anery poss. het snow (Missy)
1.0 Anery (Reno)
1.0 Probable Super Salmontine(Kahn)
0.1 Salmontine (Sonya)
1.1 DH Sunglow (Gabrielle and Bonnie)
1.0 Hypo het anery (Don Juan)
1.1 07 Hypo pos. triple hets (Rico Suave & Pumpkin)
1.0.1 Het. Anery (Guy & ?)
0.1 2007 Mostly striped boa (Andromeda)
0.3 Normals (Ophelia, Sasha, & Lulu)
1.0 Surinames (Solomon & Surreal(deceased)
1.3 Hog Isles (Mr.Orange & Peaches, Tang, Isis)
0.0.1 Central American (Sassy)
1.0 ATB (Satan... seriously!)
Pythons...
2.1 GTPs (B., Monty & Jewel)
0.0.3 BPs (MJ, Precious, Houdini)
1.2 Carpet Pythons (Jackson, Charlotte, & Cassandra)
0.1 Blood python (Akaia)
1.2 Children's Pythons (Spot, Freckle and Speckle)
Misc.
1.1 Mandarin Ratsnakes (Jack & Jill)
1.0 Boxer/Pitt Mutt (Tyson)

[ Show Entire Thread ]