Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm thinking about getting a Rainbow Boa soon and it's going to be either a Brazilian or Peruvian. I was just wondering with either of those species, if their colouring get better with age. I've seen some babies in ads here and on some peoples website that look nothing like adult rainbows. I really want a dark orange red with bold black, but any of the babies I see are light in colour and don't show the "rainbow' in the pictures.

Also, people who have experience with both, which would you suggest, Peruvian or Brazilian? And are there any breeders on here or anyone who has a site that sells Peruvians that are captive bred. Thanks!

When you are selecting a baby be sure to look at both adults that produced the baby. That will be your best gauge on what the baby will likely color into. As for an individual I am seeing a trend that the more orange animals are easy to spot as babies and the more red ones seem to be harder to pick out. For example my favorite BRB in my collection, Skittles was actually a very drab looking baby. I couldn’t sell him because he wasn’t as attractive as the other animals I had for sale. However, as he grew his rich reds and orange came through. I would strongly suggest investigate the adults when choosing a baby.

Depending on whom you ask there are varied opinions on PRB and BRB. At the risk of criticism I don’t believe that there is a difference. I think that PRBs are really just BRBs that were collected in Peru. If you are looking for this locality Jeff Clark in Savannah GA produces them.

Hope this has been helpful for you and good luck on your choice of rainbow. Be sure to read a care sheet on this species, there are some subtle yet important differences in their care versus other species. You can find a good care sheet on most breeders’ web sites.

Skittles;

Thank you for your time, John Wiseman

Absolutely BRB's DO color up as they mature. One of the exciting/frustrating aspects of the species as not all color up equally. Like John already mentioned, the parents are the best barometer on where the babies will end up.

Pictures that accurately represent a individual are difficult at best. Most of us (myself very much included) are not professional photographers and is a process of trial and error. Iridescence is very difficult to capture since it depends on lighting and shows up MUCH better in real life than a still picture.
-----
Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count (02/01/2010):
42.61 BRB
27.40 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Very good info to know. That would also explain why whenever I looked up Peruvian Rainbow Boas on Google, I got more info on Brazilians. I think they look very much the same, but I thought the Peruvian pics I've seen look a little bit better.

I'm still waiting out for a bit, my parents won't even let me get one for atleast a few months (they're wanting me to sell one of my snakes I have now, but that's not happening!). I've seen some of the pictures in the classifieds from you breeders and honestly most of your snakes are beautiful!

Also, if anyone knows where I could contact this Jeff Clark, let me know please. This is not the first time I've heard of him and his Peruvian line and I'd be interested in learning more.

Thanks again everyone!