Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Does anyone who has owned both find any diffence in personalities. As I posted before I am going to get a new snake and have encountered only one boa and it was a biter. I do realize this was years ago and the kid that owned him did everything wrong so I cant really use that as a good example. And owning only one python that has a very friendly and calm demeanor I am not sue if this is typical..I am mostly wondering about the jungle Carpets or Coastals versus the Redtails or common boas..I still am leaning toward the JCPs though...Thankz for any info....Ray

Can't call it that simply. Some pythons are biters...some not (even within the same species). My experience with Retic's was of a bitting species....but then the same can be said for the Garden Tree boas, Emerald Boas and Chrondo Pythons (again...I am not saying all individuals). on the other side Boa constrictors and ball pythons are usually benign. I suggest picking your snake individually rather than aiming at a prticular species. Anyhow, we all get bit eventually, and then it's no big deal.

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

There are dozens of species of boas and pythons. Some pythons (Ball Pythons) are dog tame and others (White-lipped Pythons) can't be trusted. Some boas (Rubber Boas) never bite and others (Cuban Boas, Amazon Tree Boas) are very likely to bite and difficult to tame. You have to compare one species to another.

I am mostly wondering about the jungle Carpets or Coastals versus the Redtails or common boas..I still am leaning toward the JCPs though

Carpet Pythons tend to be somewhat nervous as juveniles but get tame very quickly. Of course, Jungle (and Irian Jaya) carpets stay smaller than Coastals, on average.
Common (Columbian - B.c. imperator) Boas stay reasonably sized and are usually very tame and trustworthy. Some of the "red-tailed" boas (B.c.constrictor) tend to get larger and be more colorful, but their personalities are more unpredictable.
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Chris Harrison

I have to agree that while you can start off by species you still have to go by individual snake. Most ball pythons are very tame..but the snakes I have been bitten most by...ball pythons. We have chondros in this house that are tamer than a few ball pythons I have met. In contrast, there are a few chondros here that you WILL get bit by if you go in the cage.

Your best bet is to start off with a species that is known for it's tameness and look for a snake in that species to own.