Reptile & Amphibian Forums

what boa stays around the 5' mark, and is naturally pretty calm/tame?
then could someone suggest a site for care sheets and a breeder?
thanks

i would suggest a brazilian rainbow boa...they hit 5-6ft. i would suggest myself as a breeder but i don't have any babies for sale...but i bought some awesome ones from frank fusaro at mother earth reptiles...i've included a pic of a baby. i don't know of any good care sheets online...although i'm sure there are some...but if you want some general husbandry info, email me and i'll send you some as soon as i get a chance...

best of luck, chris
chrisolsonreptiles@juno.com

sorry, that last pic is a 6ft adult female...here is the little one

bleeding alot! My Brazilian rainbows were the nastiest little biters on the planet. I eventually got rid of them because of it.

I would suggest either a male BCI (one of the smaller, tamer, perhaps island locals e.g., Hoggs), Ball python, Rosy, Sandboa (kenyan, roughscale, johni), Jungle Carpet, Children's python, or spotted python.

SSSammy

My BRB is one of my tamest snakes! Go figure.
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"The serpent crams itself with animal life that is often warm and vibrant, to prolong an existence in which we detect no joy and no emotion. It reveals the depth to which evolution can sink when it takes the downward path and strips animals to the irreducible minimum able to perpetuate a predatory life in its naked horror."
Alexander Skutch

i've never been bitten by a brazilian rainbow (other than a couple of insignifigant nips from neonates). all my adults are very docile. they're like any snake, they need to be handled when there young. generally people get bitten when the snake is unhappy with it's living conditions...

chris

The only way you could know that "generally a snake bites is when it is unhappy with it's living conditions" is if you were a snake yourself, or you were able to speak snake and one told you so. I am offended because you are implying that I supplied bad living conditions to my rainbows and that is why they were nippy. This is in no way true. For the sake of entertaining this ridiculous notion, let's test your theory. So, snakes that are notoriously nippy are just unhappy with the living conditions (i.e., many venomous speceies, many other boas & pythons like bloods, retics, amethist, etc.).

Snakes are individuals like us. Some are mean and nasty, some are nice and delightful. Some tame down with handling, some don't.

I suggest you be very careful what you say here, as you can easily put your foot in your mouth. And you have no idea who you are speaking with.

To make generalizations about all snakes and the people who keep them is generally not a good idea.

SSSammy

well i certainly didn't mean to offend you...so i apologize if i did. but you are the one that made the generalization...only to buy a brb if you like to bleed. by your own logic, which i agree with, some animals will tame down, some will not.

i don't believe that blanket statements about a particular genus or species disposition are responsible. you had a negative experience with brb and i have a different experience to share....the point of it all was to help the originator of this thread...

i believe that the animals you menchened (such as venomous, retics, and i think you said scub pythons as well) are rarely or never tamed because the are not or CANNOT be handled when they are young...safely, or they cannot be trusted as adults due to there menacing size.

i don't think there are many aggressive snakes...just defensive ones. but i think behavior can be conditioned. just like many species that prefer birds or lizards can be conditioned to eat rodents, so to they can be conditioned to tolerate handling.

as for the comment about poor husbandry, though it was not DIRECTLY aimed at you...i confess that i was hoping to get a reaction out of you...i just wasn't expecting a threat. i due apologize for insulting you. i'm sure you are an intelligant, capable human. i've read some of your comments on the forum in the past and i think you are on the level. so i will rephrase my statement...

i respectfully disagree with you. i believe that a snakes environment influences it's behavior...BECAUSE each one is an individual. snakes can't talk...as you pointed out...so when a snake is unhappy with it's environment, that unhappiness will often manifest itself as defensive behavior. discomfort=vulnerability=defensive behavior. i don't speak snake but is that theory sofar-fetched?

so the idea that many...and i dare say most snake bites from boids are the result of keeper error (even though that isn't the case in your situation) not the result of a species specific attitude problem.

boy...i've gone on a little bit here.

i think i'll start a new thread with the topic of disposition. i hope to see your opinion there, and i hope now you understand where i'm coming from...if not, feel free to email me(in my first message)...i'll be glad to discuss it with you further.

best regards, chris

as you are right, my original post did generalize BRB. I was merely offering advise from my own personal experience. I appreciate that you offered me an apology, however one wasn't really necessary. I too will offer up my apology to you for allegedely threatening you, although I don't think I did. That's just not me. However, I am sorry that you interpreted it as such. Anyhow, no hard feelings here and I hope you feel the same.

SSSammy

yeah, no hard feelings here...just another day on ks, huh. lol

chris

I agree... while an unhealthy snake will be nippy (my blood became a bit aggressive due to low humidity), there are plenty of extrememly healthy, very CB snakes that are just nasty. I've also found that being handled when young or being handled often doesn't have as much to do with it as you might think. And species temperments are just an average.
That's why I said 'Go figure'. Because well, everyone can have a different experience with the same species under the same care. Go figure!
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"The serpent crams itself with animal life that is often warm and vibrant, to prolong an existence in which we detect no joy and no emotion. It reveals the depth to which evolution can sink when it takes the downward path and strips animals to the irreducible minimum able to perpetuate a predatory life in its naked horror."
Alexander Skutch

i agree with you alexander, and i should have been more specific, and less pompous when i addressed SnakeBiteJunkies, but i was in a rush.

the facts are these...there are any number of factors that can influence a serpents behavior, environment, genetics, and who knows what else. but it's good for us to discuss these things, learn from one another, and help the ones who are asking when we can.

i have species that are "suppose to be" aggressive but are very docile. on the other hand, i have a pair of 8 month old burms that won't relax despite careful husbandry and lots of handling. i'll tell you, at 8 months old the bits are really starting to smart! anyways, that's probably a better topic in a different forum...

SSSammy,
. Any and all Rainbow Boas can be tamed. I have tamed over a thousand of them and out of all of those there was not one that did not calm down and become totally tame. If you cannot tame a BRB you are either keeping it wrong or handling it wrong. When someone tells me they cannot tame a BRB I know it is the person that is the problem and not the snake.
Jeff

Rainbow Boa webpage

Because you don't even know me, but have no problem accusing me of improper husbandry. I will admit, I'm not perfect, and have made a few mistakes regarding proper husbandry over the years. However, your statement about being able to tame 100% of all BRB, in my opinion, is wrong. There are always exceptions to the rule. Don't get me wrong, I'm not attempting to bash BRB. I love the species. They are a very beautiful, and I have no doubt that they can be tamed. The person that initiated the thread, was asking individuals for advise regarding smaller, tamer, beautiful snakes. I was simply offering my advise, based on personal experience.

SSS

SSS,
. I don't have to know you. If you had BRBs that you could not tame you were either keeping them incorrectly or handling them incorrectly. Your advice may have been based upon your experience but it was wrong.
Jeff

>>Because you don't even know me, but have no problem accusing me of improper husbandry. I will admit, I'm not perfect, and have made a few mistakes regarding proper husbandry over the years. However, your statement about being able to tame 100% of all BRB, in my opinion, is wrong. There are always exceptions to the rule. Don't get me wrong, I'm not attempting to bash BRB. I love the species. They are a very beautiful, and I have no doubt that they can be tamed. The person that initiated the thread, was asking individuals for advise regarding smaller, tamer, beautiful snakes. I was simply offering my advise, based on personal experience.
>>
>>SSS

yourself. 1000's of rainbows, yeah right! I once caught a fish so big... Anyhow, my experience with BRB was just that MY experience. You can blab all you want about how great you are, how many millions of boas you've had, and how you are God's gift to BRBs. It don't amount to jack squat. My advice was to perhaps consider other small, tame, easy to keep species such as BCI, Ball Python, Rosys, Sandboas, etc. How is that wrong?

>>yourself. 1000's of rainbows, yeah right! I once caught a fish so big... Anyhow, my experience with BRB was just that MY experience. You can blab all you want about how great you are, how many millions of boas you've had, and how you are God's gift to BRBs. It don't amount to jack squat. My advice was to perhaps consider other small, tame, easy to keep species such as BCI, Ball Python, Rosys, Sandboas, etc. How is that wrong?.

you obviously are clueless about BRB's as well as who you're talking to. Jeff Clark is THE breeder for rainbows...he HAS had thousands and has the BEST reputation around for those offspring. Get over yourself and try to learn something.

>>yourself. 1000's of rainbows, yeah right! I once caught a fish so big... Anyhow, my experience with BRB was just that MY experience. You can blab all you want about how great you are, how many millions of boas you've had, and how you are God's gift to BRBs. It don't amount to jack squat. My advice was to perhaps consider other small, tame, easy to keep species such as BCI, Ball Python, Rosys, Sandboas, etc. How is that wrong?

who was asking about which smaller, tamer, attractive, easy to keep boas were recommended. I admit that I mistakenly shared my negative experience with BRB to a previous poster, which may not have accurately represented the species as a whole. A mistake that I will apparently never live down, as the lashings continue to this day. Nevertheless, I offered up my recommendation for several other options to consider and have been beaten down, accused of everything from mistreating, mishandling, not providing adequate husbandry, etc. by people that can't possibly know what the real deal with my BRB was, because they simply weren't there. I don't care if the person we are speaking of was actually raised in the jungles of Belem by BRBs; if that person ignorantly claims to know for a fact what I was or wasn't doing with my snake and say's I was wrong for merely suggesting that someone (who was asking for advice) consider other options, then I'm going to have a problem with that.

Relax people! I love all snakes, including BRBs, and will be the first to admit that I still have a lot to learn about them (and people too). Anyone that doesn't admit that are just kidding themselves, no matter how many hundreds of millions of snakes they've kept, bred, sold, caught, or otherwise.

I was only trying to help someone who was requesting advice. Is that so wrong?

Please forgive me for stepping on the toes (or spurs) of our beloved BRB.

SSSammy

as I agree each snake has its own personality. However, supposed personality difficulties CAN come from other things, such as improper handling or incorrect husbandry conditions. Just because we as keepers don't always understand the reasons our pets act out doesn't mean they don't have a physical reason for doing so other than just being testy. Regardless, my contention was with your insinuation that Jeff Clark was exagerating (or lying about) his expertise...when he is indeed an expert in regards to rainbows.

with anything and everything, anyone that claims to know all about any given topic is just kidding themselves. Without any knowledge of my situation whatsoever, other than I said that I got rid of mine due to the fact that it was a bit too nippy for me personally, I was blasted with absolute certainty that I had done something wrong by that animal, and the species as a whole by opening my big mouth about it. I grant you, this could be the case in some (perhaps most) instances, but one (no matter how awesome they are) can't profess to make a conclusive determination about anything based on the information I provided. Now if someone who had seen or actually heard about my animals behavior, their set-up, and the way I cared for and handled them, told me that I was doing something wrong, then of course, I would likely feel differently about the whole situation.

Although some species are typically docile by nature and visa versa, individuals are capable of, and sometimes do not conform to the mold. Obviously, I feel that my experience was one such case. Could I have been at fault? Yes, maybe. But don't tell me you know more about my situation/experience than I do if you weren't there.

Respectfully to all (even the dead horse, which I admit I was partially responsible for killing),

SSSammy

Wow, that sounds just like my Ex-Wife

what about hog island? red tail? dumerils ground boas?

My female Dumerils is the tamest snake I have ever expierenced. More tame than my Ball Python and Corn Snake. But, her feeding response when she was younger was scary! She met you at the door! LOL! Now she just slides over and swallows only half attempting to constrict. I have only owned one Dums, so you may have a different expierence.