Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I went to a pet store a few days ago. They have a Columbian Red tail boa there. Its about 2-3 years old and about 4 feet long and about a soda can wide. Ive gone back a couple of times to hold him and play with him to see his temperment. Im going back again this week to watch him eat.

Its a male, stripe tail and he is 50% het for albino

Now my only worry of concern is that the boa is sick. It has what i thought was him hissing/growling but its him breathing. He oppens his mouth wide every once in a while to breath. There are bubbles in his mouth when he is breathing. The guy said that he had a mouth problem and the breeder told him to sweat it out of him. It looked like there was a little brown on the side of his lips but then when i went back it was gone. He had a little problem sheading on his face. The rest of his shead looked like it was one nice piece though.

He seems very active. Moves around a lot when i hold him. I tried to flip him over on his back and see how fast he rights himself up but i couldnt really do it that well. Are there any other tests to try?

He is 299 but the guy said he would give it to me for 225 but i think i can get him for 200. What does everyone think.

According to the symptoms you've described the animal has a respiratory infection that could cost hundreds to cure with a stay at the vets office. With so many healthy animal available why would you want to take on a problem one like that unless you're into doing a rescue? I wouldn't think twice about buying it for that kind of money. Chances are someone bought it as a baby, raised it up, and now that the novelty has warn off, gave it away to the pet shop. To ask even $200 for a sick snake is rediculous. And it is sick let there be no mistake about it.

Never with the knowledge of the animal being sick would you want to purchase it! It could be a simple RI or it could be something much worse. It could be as simple as a round of Baytril or it could be much much worse.

Again you'd never want to purchase let alone introduce (that is if you have other snakes) a sick animal into your collection. Don't be fooled, 'Sweat it out'-yeah right

Buy a healthy snake, and save your self the money and trouble! The vet bill alone would be the discounted difference, and could be much more.

All the best,
Justin

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Derek Roberts
Sonoran Reptile Breeders
sonoranreptile@cox.net
"As we wait here for a sign, we are greeted by the end of time." --Zao

and personally I would never give business to a place that does not take proper care of their animals, much less is selling a sick one.

You can get in contact with a very large number of respectable breeders. Many, if not all, will sell Male 100% het albino (Kahl strain) Colombians for under $200, the average on current market is $150 for a het albino male.

Be careful, and don't make a mistake.

The pet shop that you are dealing with is either unreputable or just uneducated. Assuming that it is simply a URI that is wrong with the snake it will cost about $100.00-$200.00 dollars to cure it in vet bills and medication. If the Snake has IBD then it will die in the next year or so and the money is all for not. I would suggest to the pet shop that if you are willing to pay for it's health care that he simply give you the snake to get the sick animal off his hands.
Assuming that you do not have any other Boids that you will be infecting with this one. If you do, then you should leave the snake alone completly or you might loose the ones you currently have.
Furthermore, $300.00 for an adult colombian is a good price for anyone to get for a normal snake, you can normally get extra adult males for $100.00 or so at most of the shows, add to the fact that snake is in poor health then you have one over priced sick boa.
Good Luck
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Jim Hopkins "Hoppy"
Hopkins Holesale Herps
Hopfam1@aol.com

Dont buy a boa that already has problems.. there are plenty of healthy beautiful animals out there that wont give you the headache this one might, plus it doesnt sound like the owner of the store is giving you good advice.. that animal should see a vet and get on antibiotics... thats just my opinion, the owner isnt being straight with you i wouldnt go through with any deals

Sincerely,
Rose Hipskind
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www.srsnakes.com