Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently took in this Adult boa from A vet I used while my vet was out of town.

The vet told me that it was originally his boa which he purchased as a baby 12 years ago, he further claimed it was a Surinam which had some type of infection and his color changed late in life?????

After his proposed treatment of my python I realized he was cluless.

Anyway he gave this snake to one of his other regular dog owning patrons, who consequently had no idea how to keep a snake.

The poor animal suffered multiple, almost constant respiratory infections and barely ate over a year span.

If you made it this far here are the questions:

1) I know this is not a surinam so is this the typical coloration of a colombian redtail???

2) do you think there will be any long term effects from the constant RI's ??

He is currently on a round of Amikacin, and he also eats everything I give him. He is just under 7' and has gained 3 lbs since I got him at the end of November.

Thanks for any replies
TomChambers

Well lets see i hope that i am as helpful as possiable.... First there still could be a chance that your new snake is a Suri.... The saddles and color of the tail seem to show that, i dont know what kind of an infection could have caused such a severe color change but from the pictures he looks like he is eating well and getting good weight on his bones... I long term RI could have some effects on the life span of the animal and also it makes them more suseptable to mouth rot and other infections, Im glad to hear that he is putting on weight and i would find yourself a vet who has some experiance with Reptiles cause it seems as though this one didnt know anything about snakes... I hope he keeps doing well and im glad he has an owner who will take care of him now... good luck..

Sincerely,
Rose Hipskind

PS If you have anymore questions please email feel free to email me.... srsnakes@yahoo.com

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I do appreciate your reply, but I am a little suprised that no one else could or would tell me if this is the normal appearance of a columbian boa.

You indicated his tail was somewhat consistant with a Surinam, but he is so dark almost black, and he doesn't resemble any of the photos I've seen of Surinam boas.(I'm not buying the infection story, although since he was giving me the snake for free why lie)

Do the common Columbian colorations have a vast variation like say a normal python regius, and my snake fits in there???

Anyway, thanks again for your reply, and I do have a good regular vet, but I thought I had an emergency and he was out of town, so I was forced to go to this other vet. I would never go back to him except to show him his snake is doing well.

Almost forgot nice snake you have there, that thing has got some girth!!
Also do you know how much a typical adult weighs ??

TomChambers

It looks like a dark Peruvian too me.

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Thanks and take care - Joe Rollo
'Tis not the stongest of the species that will eventually survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change' Charles Darwin

np

In regards to whether or not the snake 'could' be a Colombian Bci, yes it is possible as they come in a WIDE variety of color ranges before even getting into the true color morphs. Most typically you will see Bci that are some shade of tan with brown to black saddles, but there are a number that show shades of silver and grey in the background with black saddles. I am by no means experienced with guessing locality by looks and am relegated to the masses that have to take someone's word for it though I can usually pick Bci from Bcc. With that in mind, it doesn't look like any pictures I've seen of true redtails. As for an infection causing a color change, I don't buy that. I could buy scarring from burns or skin infections, but that would be in spots and not uniform all over. For what it's worth, most baby Bci (or Bcc for that matter) do not stay the color they start at birth. I have 5 adult Bci and 3 juvenile Bci...all slightly different in color and all definitely plain old Colombian Bci. I raised two of the adults from babies and neither are the color they started out. Even my three juveniles are not the same color they were at birth, nor do I expect them to carry their current colors exactly to adulthood. Bci are variable in color between animals, even between littermates, some even change their shades and tones throughout the day (getting darker or lighter in appearance). There can be long term effects from multiple RI's - a suseptability to get another RI or even other types of infections. I think keeping the snake in the proper conditions will go a long way toward alleviating those risks, add a bit of extra caution knowing the history, and the snake should be fine. Best of luck with him, he's a beauty!

Raven

a local boa breeder also thought he was puruvian.
I'm not going to breed him or anything, I just was curious

Thanks again for all the replies

TomChambers