Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have recently aquired a female redtail boa who is 7ft long and weights 15.4 lbs. She was purchased from a man who allegedly 'breeds' snakes. She apparently dropped a clutch of slugs and therefore was no use to him anymore. I got her for a steal. Here's the catch - She apparently had gone off food and was not eating. He claims that she was up in the 40lb. range prior to going off food. She also had a burn scar on her back. He claimed that she was very tame and docile. Immediatly after bringing her home, we took her to the vet for a basic check up. All looks good and she appears to be the picture of health. I do believe that the previous 'owner' doesn't know squat about snakes. Just a personal observation. She ate well for us. 2 live large rats on week 1 and 2 live rats jumbo on week 2. Despite the fact that she was apparently on frozen for her whole life (3-4 years) She is a pretty girl who will allow you to remove her from her enclosure and allows you to touch her head and face. She hisses almost constantly when you are just holding her (a barely opening the mouth hiss that almost sounds like a cold but vet assured us it was a hiss) She then waits until you are least expecting it and firmly and quickly BITES your forearm. Always in the same place. Always lets go. No coiling. Then she is fine again.

I have come to think of her as a bit of a testy little thing.

Here's where my question comes in. I have a male I purchased a while back. He is about 5 1/2 ft long and slimmer than she is (he has not been weighed) He is a verocious eater and a quick killer. But aside from eating he is as tame as a kitten. My 4 year old handles him regularly with out any problem. I know that males are generally smaller than females and they are the same age. But I was wanting to build an enclosure that would house them both. With a separate enclosure for feeding and the day after feeding. But with her snappy little temperment and size advantage I am unsure about it.

Any advice about how to tell if they would be compatible together in an enclosure? Are their sizes too different? If she wasn't so bite happy during handling I wouldn't have thought twice about it. But now I am just not sure due to her strange temperment. And I don't want to loose one in the process. Any ideas/advice?

It is my understanding that you have good intentions, but your plans are not the best in my opinion.

First and foremost, I highly, really highly suggest feeding your snakes frozen thawed or prekilled.
Second, since you are speaking of a male and a female I am assuming you are thinking about breeding. I would suggest you read up more on housing, care, and selling a large litter of boas.
Third, I would also suggest not housing the two boas together for the exception of attempting to breed them. Additionally you should quarentine the snakes for at minimum a month. There are many reasons for not housing the snakes together, especially two snakes who have not been in your care for an extended period of time.

I will be glad to go into further detail about any of the topics. I strongly support my suggestions, both through personal expreince as well as the lessons learned through the expreience of others.
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- Jason F.

other points for consideration :

If they are housed together and one gets sick, which one is it and is the other now sick as well?

I have seen pics of a baby BCI that ate not only a mouse but it's larger sibling who had also eatien it's own mouse. That's a total of one larger sibling and two mice, was not a pretty poic and the poster never replied as to the eventual outcome of the "winner" It may well have died from too large a meal.

Same can get stressed out from cage mate, your female is already more than aggressive enough. What if she got worse, or if the male was now agressive as well.

If kept together, very possible to have babies, but when??? Would you be ready to house possibly dozens of babies??

And of course the live prey issue, anything with teeth can and will bite. The rats will almost always lose, but they won't go without a fight, bighting anything they can. Including but not limited to:
eyes
tongue
head
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
10.22 BRB
10.15 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats