Great post the two of you. I am only 16 but I feel that I have learned a lot in my 2 years keeping boas. Those whom I have the most respect for are people who purchase a Boa because they love them and want a pet they can enjoy. Sometimes that person will buy another and have fun with their little BABIES, maybe later they breed them. At this point they have learned a lot in care for the animals, and by selling some offspring are able to offset the expense of keeping their two animal, and maybe make a few bucks. They share their experiences and add to their collection, all the time bettering the hobby they are a part of. Sadly there are many who see $$ and don't care as much about the animals, or the people the affect. These people buy cheap adult boas and try to breed them, usually unsuccesfully because they are in it for the wrong reasons. They did not want to learn about an exotic and interesting animal, but wanted benefits a breeder recieved.

I remember before I bought my first boa, I had two ball pythons for a year. I researched so many different boids, spending all my free time at school on the internet looking up anything that caught my eye. I remember researching Carpet Pythons for months, then decideing nope. I made the decision to purchase an Amazon Tree Boa, I got a hold of a breeder and did so. I loved her dearly, except the biteing, lol, but I did not buy her on impulse I did a full two months of research and had a cage completely set up for her before I even began looking to make my purchase. Later on that summer I bought a large melamine cage and went through the smae routine and purchased a baby female boa constrictor. While I had done research on care I didn't know about the different colors, I found one for $125 and another for $65 both captive bred and born in the U.S. I asked a lot of questions, many of which I knew answers too, I wanted to be sure that the breeder was knowledgable. I ended up paying the extra money and was glad I did. Time went by and my interests grew.

I had found an interest in other boas and wanted to try and breed them. At a show in August of '03 a vendor had a proven pair of Rough Scaled sand boas, I had seen babies before and knew they didn't get large. The female was 24" and the male 18". I had asked for a stup for a sand boa for my B-day in July, and my mom bought it for me. I planned on a Kenyan Sand boa, I liked the Rough Scales but couldn't find information on them. Thankfully the gentleman was very helpful, I met a person looking for a tree boa, I mentioned I had one. I then purchased the Sand boas and the other guy came by that night and bought my tree boa (I wasn't able to handle her as much as I liked). January of '04 came and I had seen no activity in my sand boas toward breeding. I talked in person to a breeder at that month's show and he said it should have happened in the fall. Two weeks later the male began courting the female and May 1st I woke up to a surprise, two little heads poking out of the substrate. I ran down stairs to my mom who was watching TV and eating breakfast, I told her to come upstairs right away. My female sand boa had six babies, all big eight inch babies and no stillborns or slugs. By takeing proper care of my pets, and watching temperatures to be sure they were optimum they rewarded my with baby boas. The show was the next day and I was telling everyone I knew. When they shed I fed them live pinks, all but one took them, the other ate a week later at the second attempt. They ate a small fuzzy by their fifth meal and I took them to the show to sell. I kept a female and sold the others, I traded a pair for a beautiful baby Brown Water Python. If I wasn't already I was hooked! At the time I had my three sand boas, my new python, and an Argentine X Colombian male.

I saved up my money from refereeing soccer and purchased a beautiful male Anery from a law student that was going to graduate school and was afraid he would not have the time to give the animal the attention it deserved. I continued my research as I quickly grew attached to Boas (BTW, my mom never liked snakes, she just saw the good that came from them, I had 107% in Biology). Last summer I was fortunate enough to meet some great breeders through email and purchased a Hypo with a lending of money from my dad (which I later repayed) and the help of Tom and Amanda Burke aquired a pair of 66% het bloods. Thanks to the great people I have met since then I have built a collection of 14 Boa constrictors, and my female sand boa I kept from my litter.

This year I hope to attempt breeding my first Boa constrictors in a very unique and special project, so far exclussive! With careful business and help of breeders I have been able to aqcuire quite a collection.

This hobby does a lot of people a lot of good, those that help others learn are those whom deserve credit that can never be fulfilled. I plan to continue for as long as I am capable!

In addition to knowledge gained in genetics and in exotic wildlife I have been able to attain valueable information in business. One has to study the market of investments to be successful. It is odd, I am often asked if I plan on doing this as a career, or if I am going into genetics, or business. I answer no, I have always wanted to be an engineer and plan to go to school for Aerospace Engineering. This is just a hobby, one I hope to pass on to my own kids one day.

Enjoy everyone,
Christopher
Junior at Upper St. Clair High School, PA

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