Reptile & Amphibian Forums

If I acquire a 5 ft albino boa from a breeder and its a male. Wouldn't the snake be hard to handle? Would it better to acquire a juvenile boa? I was just thinking that most breeders are not going to have time to handle there snakes and at 5 ft. it's problary at least 2 yrs. old.

It would all depend on the breeder. I am sure more of the smaller breeders will spend time working with there boas regularly. Additionally there may be larger breeders who have staff who work with the breeder boas also. It all depends on what you are up for. I have a male that I got when he was about 5ft. He had been handeled for about roughly the first year of his life and then left alone in bad conditions until I got him. Now it is about four years and he is just shy of the 8ft mark. He has not bit me and is not overly difficult to deal with although you can obviously tell he is not too fond of being handled. I pretty much just take him out to stretch a few times a week. I would suggest either seeing and holding the snake first or get a baby if you are not looking to put in the work it may take to be able to deal with an agressive large snake.
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- Jason F.

Thank you, Jason for your input. I will definetly take your experience into consideration. Would you recommend going to a herp show? There's one in Fla. next month I should be able to see many boa's there.

I noticed in the original post that the five foot boa was an albino. Is there a particular reason to get an albino instead of a normal or some other morph?

If the snake was intended to be a breeder, a two year old would obviously reach breeding age/size before a baby would. And that might make getting a five footer worth while, even if it's somewhat defensive.

On the other hand, if the snake is primarily intended as a pet, then I'd go with a younger snake that is more handleable. I would strongly recommend seeing a snake before buying if possible. This would allow checking the snake for mites, respiratory disease, physical condition, etc. A show lets you do a little shopping and compare snakes.

You might also consider boas that are not albinos. I tend to be a bit down on all albinos because there is a tendency to have inferior vision compared to nonalbinos. I've owned albino rats, albino pigeons, and an albino (AKA amelanistic) corn snake, and they all had poorer vision than the nonalbinos. The difference is small, but it can be seen. On the other hand, if you want an albino more than another snake, go for it. In my opinion, snakes are better able to compensate than other, more vision-oriented animals.

Hope this helps.

Paul Hollander

Thank you Paul, I really like the color of the albino burmese but the snake gets a little to big. So that is one reason why I would like an albino redtail. I never thought about the vision problem. Do you think going outside during the day would hurt their eyes? I wouldn't want to do anything that would cause pain.

Going outside should not be an immediate problem but I would think without the melanin there could maybe be some long term exposure problems. Can snakes sunburn? I don't know!!!

For the "breeder" albino, it really depends on the disposition of the individual animal. If it's coming from a caring breeder then the cage was regularly cleaned and it had to typically get handled a bit more then weekly. Even if not "played" with. I have many boas and of course don't get to take them each out as often as I could if I only had a few. All are mostly fine. I have a few 2005's that recently came in and were hissers. Every time I'd go into their cages, they'd hiss like the big bad boas they want to grow into. I just picked them up anyways and all three would calm down and none of them ever struck (so far). They have somewhat stopped the hissing response since it's doing them no good.
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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

You might want to check the color pictures of albino boas in various threads in the main boa forum. From what I've seen, albino boas do not have the nice yellow color of albino Burmese pythons. As color preferences are a Your Mileage May Vary situation, it pays to do some research.

I agree with Dave Colling (rainbows-r-us). As far as I know, human albinos usually wear sunglasses to minimize eye discomfort. I don't think going outside for short periods would do more than make the snake uncomfortable, particularly if it is kept out of direct sunlight. I do think that an albino snake can sunburn. Anyway, in these days, I'd be more worried about neighbors and passersby having negative reactions to the snake than about the reaction of the snake to sunlight.

Paul Hollander

Hi Paul, I live on 20 acres of land and a lot of trees. I fenced the front part of my property to keep strangers out. Hopefully, I can take pets out for a walk without any problems. But you never know. Kim

a few missed points. An ethical breeder will tell you about the temperment of a snake before you buy it. Some snakes are naturally nice even if not handled a lot. Some albinos do get real yellow, if that is your desire you will have to get an adult to be certain that they achieve that color for you, because that yellow comes out later in life in boas.

Good Luck,
Caden