Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm sure you guys get questions like this all the time. I see it in the corn forums and it annoys the hell out of me by now, so I'm sorry....

I'm looking to get either a boa or python of some sort for my next snake. I have experience with corns, but I'd like to go bigger. What's a good beginner boa? I'd like to try to stay away from the ball python if at all possible just because I don't like the look of them...but if it comes down to a ball or none at all, I'll go with a ball. Are there any arboreal boas that are suited to someone of my experience level?

Ignore the ball python comment in the last post there...I posted this whole thing in the python forum too and my mind was there when I originally typed it...

You want to go bigger so we'll rule out sand and rosey boas. Now everything depends on how much cash you want to spend but for it being your first boa lets go inexpensive. The 3 that i think might work for , 1 The good old fashion normal Columbian ( my favorite by the way so i am biased to them )Many different morphs if you plan on breeding them down the road. 2 The Dumerels boa mostly a real nice snake bigger than a corn but for the most part a smaller boa , Some have had feeding problems but put in the dark with a f/t prey items has solved all the ones i know of. And the final one would be an Argentine boa , a nice boa in its own rite and there are some intergrades with columbians out there now. All these unless there morphs should be found in the 50-125 price range. Hopes this helps if you have any more Q's ut them here. Paul

I was looking at maybe a Columbian... there were a ton of them at the last two reptile shows I was at so I figured they must be fairly easy to keep in relation to the other boas out there. What's the right size enclosure for a full-grown one? I seem to remember seeing 6' x something at some point... Do they have the same kind of problems with going off feeding for no apparent reason? That's another part of the reason I want to stay away from Ball Pythons, but I haven't seen much about that problem with boas yet. Thanks for the help by the way.

- Jeff

Mine never go off feed except for cooling and thats cause i don't offer food to them. With a gravid female some will feed and others won't. As far as cageing i build my own si make them 5 foot wide 3 foot deep and 2 foot tall for my adults. there are many plastic cages out there and i would suggest a 6 foot cage for an adult some like 4 footers but you need 1 sq foot of floor space per foot of boa as a rule of thumb. Normal Columbians is a great way to start. If you get a baby they do grow fast in 2 to 3 years you'll have a 6 foot plus boa. Hope this helps Paul