Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello to everyone on the forum!Me an the wife got tired of doing nothing around the house all day!So we decided to take a little trip to one of the towns on the outskirts of our town about an hour each way,so not a big trip!lolI knew their was a local petstore in town so I bagged up one of my baby female circlebacks that my wife was afraid of!She would bite her almost everytime for somereason!Never me!An off we went!We finally got their an as soon as we walked in the door we seen this 16 ft burmese python,This thing was huge!It could have ate my beagle dog with no probs!Thats the biggest Boid I have evr seen in real life!It was awsome!They had a few baby ball pythons!An a couple of pretty nice normal redtail babies!An I walked around the corner an bamm!He nailed the side of the tank!No wander poor fellow was as cold as ice!I havent measured him but he looks to be 7 ft or so!He is a completely connected circleback with ver dark side diamonds that have white centers!Very clean light background color with pink highlights threw out it an every one of his saddles have some sort of abberent holes in them every one an a connected head stripe!But the most awsomest thing about him is his tail!I have never seen[except on here]in person a boa of this age that has kept its tail coloring it hasnt blackened out or dulled to a brick color,it is ver orangish red!I went to open up the cage,yes even after he struck the cage an the owner said becareful,I AM SCARED OF HIM!An I got him out,he told me you got more nerve than I do!He said I cant sell him cause he mean!An he seen the bag that my wife had an asked to see littlebit an we showed him her an he said you wanna trade!I flipped why heck yes!I held him for a short period an put him into a snake sack an brought him home an treated him for mights,didnt see any!An have him quarenteened away from the others to make sure he isnt sick!Knock on wood he hasnt showed a sign of being mean yet!Sry I dont have no pics yet,but I was wandering about how old do you all think a boa of this size is,it is a male?I figured about 6 to 8 maybe but I am no expert!He isnt big or fat either hes been kept slim!Well just wanted to share our little trip an the awsome find we found!Thanks all Eric[HYPOBOA]

and it will also depend on how the animal was fed along with it's genetics. I have two females that I got in 2002 who were both born in 1999 that were already 7 feet long (and still about the same length now actually). The male I got with one of the females is also 7 feet long and he was born around 1995 or so. If I had to guess, I'd say your guy is at least 4 years old, but could be older (my original male - now 13 yrs old - is still only 7 feet long). On the flip side of that, I have an 11 year old female who is only 6 feet long and has not grown (at least noticeably) in 5-6 years. The one holdback (a female) I kept from that original pair was born in 2000 and is roughly 3-3.5 feet long...the same as a pair of 2002 juveniles I own that my best friend produced.

Sorry. Don't know if that really helped much, but that's what I've seen in my personal collection.

Raven

Appriciate you taking the time to read my post an thanks for helping out on the size information!I believe he must have been used to eating live in that petstore,cause I offered him a prekilled medium rat an he nailed it like a wild boa an missed the rat an hit himself!He still ate it though!I offered him two more after he got that one down an,I believe he realized that they were dead cause he just snatched the other 2 out of my hand an ate them with no problems!1 question though!After his feeding responce is calmed down,the wound where he bit himself,I know to clean it an treat it with neosporin,is their anything I should check for?Thanks Eric[Hypoboa]

No problem, glad to help. Sorry it's all such a guesstimate in regards to actual age though.

As for the feeding response, it's possible he was eating live but he may just have a wicked feeding response. Most of my boas still nail and 'kill' their f/t prey...which I offer on long hemastats to avoid being mistaken for the rat. Granted they were all most likely started on live prey (I know my original pair were, as I'd never heard of prekilled or frozen thawed back when I got them) so that could be a factor in them 'killing' everything still.

As for where he struck himself, I would simply take a look at the site of the bite and see if there is actually any broken skin. I've had a few of my snakes do this from time to time and haven't ever had one of them actually break skin yet...probably because of the protection their scales provide. However it wouldn't hurt to clean the area with clean water and apply a little Neosporin or triple antibiotic cream. Just make sure that it does not contain a pain killer...it needs to be the plain stuff. I can no longer remember the site I read it on...may have even been something posted here...but some of the painkillers can be toxic to snakes and other reptiles. As for what to look for, if there are any actual cuts in the skin keep an eye out for any swelling that may develope - a sign of possible infection. With most illnesses or infections, they can take a while to develope in reptiles. Should the area show any swelling, I would be sure to take the snake to a qualified herp vet for treatment.

Good luck!
Raven

No Post!Eric!