Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I picked these guys up on Saturday at the NVRE in Manassas, VA. They really caught my eye, and I enjoy working with animals that are a little different. Their care is supposed to be pretty much the same as redtail boas, but any additional information any of ya'll have who might also keep these would be appreciated.

Here's the male (currently in blue):

This is the female:

And a close-up of her face:

So far both are pretty calm about being handled. They're really stunning looking in person with all the irridescence on their scales. I caught a little of it in the pics, but not enough to do them any real justice (a professional photographer I'm not! lol). Anyway, thought I'd share them here as well (posted them in the boa forum, too) since their related to the rainbows.

Raven

You did a great job of catching the rainbow effect. Are these recent imports? They look to be pretty healthy.

Mike
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If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you are reading it in English, thank a soldier.

but I don't claim credit for the pics turning out, it's all my idiot-proof camera's doing.

They are captive bred and not imports. Another vendor friend from the show contacted me to find out if I wanted more background info on them when he saw my post in the Boa Forum. He knows the original owner, as I actually got them from a middleman of sorts. Needless to say, I'm all for any extra information I can get, so I'm waiting for that now.

I'm letting them settle in to their new surroundings before I start handling them much, but I'm really looking forward to it. The female seems so very calm and sweet tempered from what little I handled her on Saturday. Even in full blue, the male was calm and allowed me to handle him as well with no fuss. I'm hoping that will by how they behave typically. While I'm not afraid of being bitten per se, I don't exactly relish the idea.

Raven

They are positively captive bred and three years old, produced from WC parents imported by Tom Crutchfield per the original owner. I didn't doubt the captive bred part, as they are entirely too tame and flaw-free to be imports, but it's good to have it confirmed. It's also good to know actual ages, at least to the year, for my records.

Raven

Too bad I missed the show, you don't see those that often. Glad to hear your pair are calm to handle. Approximately what size are they? I was comparing Haitian's (I've had them in the past)to Cuban's and the information I saw said that Cubans get up to 12".
Good luck with them, very pretty snakes!
Lora

Sorry you missed the show, too. There's one coming up next month - Oct 24th at the Holiday Inn Kroger on Midlothian. I intially thought they were around 4 feet long, but they are actually closer to 5 feet long each. I just put them in a melamine cage I built for them that's 3 feet long by 2 feet deep, and one of the pair was stretched completely across the back plus a curl of tail left over and then up the side. They're only 3 years old, so there is definitely more time for growing. I've also read that they can reach lengths up to 12 feet, but in reading information in emails and posts from people who've owned them, the average seems to be 7-8 feet in length. So far they're both pretty docile, but I've kept handling to the bare minimum while they settle in. We'll see how they behave once they're acclimated.

Raven

np