Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all! I am new to boas (about to get one) And had a few questions. I own a cornsnake and definately want a redtail. Is caring for a corn about the same as caring for a boa? accept maybe boas need higher humidity and definately a bigger enclosure...? Also, somebody at a pet store (not credible at all ) told me there is a breed of redtail that only gets 6-7 ft. (the female that is) I think he said an american boa....which I am guessing is just a regular redtail with a twist? I am just wanting a redtail nothing too fancy, no hets or anything. I will be going to the tulsa show on Saturday. what kind f deal you think I could make on just your run of the mill redtail?

.. learn more!

Start here....
http://www.riobravoreptiles.com/intro_boas.htm

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Gus
A. Rentfro
RioBravoReptiles.com
www.riobravoreptiles.com

"Quality is not an accident. Perfectly healthy animals are a minimum requirement.. everything else is just salesmanship" gus

Your information continues to service herpetoculture well!

Well of course I I plan to learn more before I buy.... This isn't my first snake. I just had a few things I wasn't 100% on for the boa genus.

Hogg Island Boas stay smaller...maybe that's what the guy was talking about?
Enjoy your new boa when you get it!

hog island and cay caulkers are two of the dwarf species of boa which are on the top of my head but there are others. in almost all species of snake i believe, the female is the larger of the two sexes. as everyone else said, read up and good luck, but if your looking for a small boa go with a male of one of the dwarf species, or at least a male bci.

Welcome!
I started by taking care of a friend's ball python, then I rescued a corn (he's in the pic, RIP 2002) and from there moved into the wonderful world of boas!

Boas just need more heat, more humidity and as you said, more room!
Need to have a warm end at 90 and night cool end at about 75, you don't want the temps to drop below 70 or so. (and NO hibernation/brumation for boas!) Keep your humidity around 60% or higher and you should do fine. Tank size depends on the snake, I start mine out in smaller cages and move them up eventually into 4x2 boaphiles as adults, none of my boas are over 8'.

As far as small size boas, well, there aren't any boas that are guaranteed to stay a small size, but as others have mentioned the island boas (such as hog isle, one of my favs) do tend to stay around the 5-6', males are almost always smaller than females.

Deff get some good boa books, I like the boa manual, captive husbandry of boas and pythons, and of course good web sites like Gus! (ps, if you want a nice island boa, check with Gus)

I'm not sure about the show, but based on my past experience you should be able to get a nice normal colombian boa for about $60-100. I don't know what hog isles go for but typically a little more, say around $100-150?

Biggest diff between the two is their size of course...

Whenever I take out any of the 'big guys' 6'+ I make sure someone else is in the house and knows what I am doing... just in case! So that if and when this happens... I can have some help to get the big snake off haha

actually that was a bite from a small 5' female.
It wasn't as bad as it looks.

Nothing quite as impressive as a nice large normal boa...
I love them, they are Best Of All!

good luck with whatever you decide!
-April

The hog Island boa looks great! But I have a question about the coloration.... do they most always have those unsightly speckles all over them? I am more of a clean pattern kind of guy Also how is their disposition? If they only get 6' What is the smallest enclosure you would go with as an adult? (55 gallon ok or always go with custom cage?) Thank you all!

Well, hog isles *can* get over 6' (there was a post of one a few years back and lots of people didn't beleive it was a hog!) but typically they do not get that big (don't overfeed). I would suggest a male hog since they do tend to be smaller. Hog Isles can have a temperment, esp when small, mine used to hiss and strike (all bluffs) all the time, but with regular handeling (like once a week or so) he calmed down pretty fast.

As far as speckles, well that is in the eye of the beholder. There are deff some out there with low or almost no speckles, and some people breed for this, personally I love the speckles!

This is my hog isle... this pic is from late 2002. He is over 3 years old now and just about 3.5', I feed my snakes over 2.5 years old once every 2-3 weeks.

Cage size... a 55 gallon would work as long as the snake isn't bigger than 5'. If using a fish tank there is a lot of wasted height space so if possible, put in some boxes to create shelves and/or branches to try to use more of the height, plus this provides good exercise of course. I plan to move mine into a 3x2 cage soon.

I haven't handled him much in the last year, so now he gets hissy when he is hungry and doesn't want to be bothered by the camera..
hahaha