Last Summer I bought a female common boa just for the heck of it that I saw advertised at a reasonable price. I rarely do anything so rash, I have lots of boas to take care of and there is always the risk of bringing in some new parasite or contagion that could be bad news.
The people were nice but a little too business-like for me to believe that they were simply pet-owners that wanted to find a good home for the animal as they said. I had a hunch that there was some snag in the deal but like all boa keepers we do silly stuff in Summer while waiting for babies!
The boa was pretty much as they described and looked better than the pics. She was tame and fed well, not too big for her age, either. But it was plain after the initial inspection that she had either a tumor or a retained egg-mass about 2/3 of the way down the body. Either one of these conditions can be serious, especially in a breeder. I didn't go after the sellers, I put it down to either they really didn't know about the problem or they got to me for $100.00, either way I just filed the info away.
To my surprise she ovulated and bred this Spring, I watched her and for a while it looked like she was a goner.. the lump was really interfering with the way her pregnancy was going and when she was due it was obvious she was having trouble delivering. Well, while I was out of town this weekend she passed a huge discolored infertile that was hard as a rock, a couple of slugs and this very nice pile of babies! A couple were a little premature, I found the awful remains of their yolks, but she watched over them carefully and had them ready for me when I got home.. She was coiled around them and offered only mild disagreement when I found them.
I've got no idea what her genetics are, but these are nice looking little Colombians and the mom is a sweetheart..
Gus
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Gus
A. Rentfro
RioBravoReptiles.com
"Quality is not an accident. Perfectly healthy animals are a minimum requirement.. everything else is just salesmanship" gus
