Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I posted this message on the boa forum with no reply. Everyone over there is to busy posting photos instead of answering questions.........Can anyone tell me what would be a good beginner boa? I have corns, a milk and a jungle carpet pyton. I was thinking of getting a boa but don't want a BIG boa.
How are the hog island, rosy's, and cay caulker boas? I know they are smaller then the normal BCC or BCI's.
Is their care basically the same as corns or my JCP? Are any of the ones I've listed usually found at reptile shows?
There is a show in Tucson next month I'm hoping to get something then. Thanks anyone.

Also...how much do those I've listed cost for a baby or yearling?

When you use the word boa, you are talking about a family (or at least several subfamilies of snakes). There are the Boa constrictors proper, in their various morphs and localities, the other new world boines, such as
Rainbow Boas
Island Boas from the caribbean and antilles (~10 species)
Tree Boas (4-5 species)
Dwarf and Rough-scaled Boas (10 species)

Then there are the Madagascan boas (3 species), the Pacific Island Boas (3 species), the Rubber and Rosy Boas (generally regarded as 2 species), and the 10 species of Sandboa. Plus a few others I have forgotten.

A good place to start learning at least what species there are would be www.embl-heidelberg.de/~uetz/families/Boidae.html. After you have a little more info on what species there are, there are great websites and books available with more information about most of the species.

The reason I suggest you do some more research on your own is to avoid the trap that many fall into here on the forums. They post a question about what kind of snake to get, the get a response from an inexperienced person saying "I have a Hog Island Boa and I love it. Get one of these." You may find, by doing some research, you really want a Brazilian Rainbow Boa or a Dumeril's Boa instead.

Off the top of my head, I have kept and enjoyed the following boas, over the years -

Mexican Boa (Boa constrictor imperator)
Central American Boa (mainland) (Boa constrictor imperator)
Surinam Boa (Boa constrictor constrictor)
Haitian Boa (Epicrates striatus)
Brazilian Rainbow Boa (Epicrates cenchria cenchria)
Colombian Rainbow Boa (Epicrates cenchria maurus)
Dumeril's Boa (Acrantophis or Boa dumerili)
Solomon Island Boa (Candoia carinata)
Rosy Boa (Charina trivirgata)
Rubber Boa (Charina bottae)
African Burrowing Boa (Calabaria reinhardtii)
East African Sandboa (Eryx colubrinus)
Rough-scaled Sandboa (Eryx conicus)
Indian Sandboa (Eryx johnii)
Desert and Black Sandboas (Eryx miliaris ssp.)
Tartar Sandboa (Eryx tataricus)

I could recommend most of these species. Surinam boas can get large, but the others are under 6 feet and many don't exceed 3 feet (I have a 10 year old male rubber boa who is less than 15 inches and still eats pinkies).

There are also several small species of python you might consider (Spotted and Children's Pythons come to mind).

There is a show in Tucson next month I'm hoping to get >>something then. Thanks anyone.

Do some homework, decide on a few species you are interested in and check out the expo. Remember, you may not find every species at every expo, so if you go with you heart set on one particular species, you may be disappointed.

Also...how much do those I've listed cost for a baby or yearling?

Once you get an idea of what species/morphs you are looking for, then do some surfing of the kingsnake.com classifieds to find out the general price ranges.
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Chris Harrison

Thanks for the info! That is great advise. I have been doing some research. That's why I asked here. I will read the site you gave me more. Thanks again.