Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've read all kinds of things about life expectancy, and of course it depends on your husbandry, LUCK, and the strength of the animal itself, but just how often does it happen that a boa lives to 20? Just curious. I have two three year old boas in separate tanks and I'd like to think I'll have them around for a LONG time. Am I being unrealistic to think they'll live to 20?

I do not have any boas over 20, but I think it is a very attainable goal. The reason you do not see a lot of 20 year olds is the fact that husbandry was not nearly as good 20 years ago.

My Father-in-law has his for 13 years now and hes still up and at it, even though the husbandry from my in-law isnt all that good. I guess hes one of the lucky ones. Good luck with your boas, im sure will go the distance.
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1.2 Columbians

I have one that is almost 17, bought her in October of '89

My friend that gave me my 1st pair of boas, had a male that lived 24 years. My veteranarians wife had one that was 28 yrs old before dying. My oldest was atleast 12-14 years, I usually sell them once they pass 8 ft.
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--aka DMOG68

We wont see any adult boas that are in the 13-20 year bracket in the future if we dont defeat P.E.T.A.-like laws that ban the keeping and breeding of these and many other snakes species.

Food for thought,

Fred Albury

don't get me started on p e t a
!! *grumble* !!

I just thank my lucky stars I live in Nevada and hope they never try to take away our exotics. What can we do?
For years I've thought about some sort of advertising campaign with some celebrities (you know, herp lovers like Alice Cooper, Chad Brown, Nicholas Cage, who else? I know they are out there!) to do some public service spots about the importance of proper reptile care and education or something just to try to shift the focus showing to HOW to care and WHY some reptiles do NOT make good pets.. instead of just banning them all. I just need lots of money and time to set it up! lol. But then again you can lecture someone over and over about why they shouldn't let their 10' snake free roam but many people are very selective listeners and you never get thru to them then they ruin it for the responsible owners.

la la la

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Fred!!!

Hey Fred - long time no chat! Glad to see you around - I just don't visit here much anymore.

How's your 5ft Charina? LOL

Ryan

Craig K made me think-20 years ago there was no Internet, (at least not like it's used today) not many books on husbandry,ect. There should be a lot more longer-lived captive boas in the future. At least the information is out there.

I adopted her in 1998. The woman I adopted her from in SoCal had rescued her in 1991 from the original owner, she was born in 1989 which makes her 16 years old now. She was the first boa I got. When I brought her home she was 5.5' and she is now just over 7.5' and has been bred one time, she had a litter of 34 babies, 1 slug and 2 doa in 2003. She's just a big normal. When I found this site I did all the postings "Is she BCi or BCc?", most people felt she was possibly a colombian and central american BCi cross. I think she is just beautiful!

I've always read boas can live for 30 years so I hope to have another 10 years or more with her...

...Several of my Rainbow Boas are over 15 years old. Some of them I do not know the exact age because I got them as imported adults in 1992 and 1993. A couple of them were large at that time and are probably now over 20. The oldest one I own that I know the age for sure was a WC baby Colombian Rainbow I got in 1989. I know of several people who have Rainbow Boas they have kept for over 20 years. Husbandry improvements over the last couple decades will result in much larger numbers of older Boas in captivity in the future. Losses in collections in the 1980s were often over 25% per year. Today many good snake keepers have annual loss rates below 5%.
Jeff

>>I've read all kinds of things about life expectancy, and of course it depends on your husbandry, LUCK, and the strength of the animal itself, but just how often does it happen that a boa lives to 20? Just curious. I have two three year old boas in separate tanks and I'd like to think I'll have them around for a LONG time. Am I being unrealistic to think they'll live to 20?

I assume she was born early that Spring(not the previous fall) based on her size, which puts her at 17 years old.

Somewhere I have a senior H.S. yearbook picture of me holding her.

Matt Harris
www.matabuey.com

I bought by first boa constrictor in 1973 (with my Dad's help lol)when she was about 4 ft long. She lived until 1999 and produced one litter back in 1985. I do have a Calabar burrowing boa that is over 20 and she successfully bred this year.
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Rick Staub
R&R Reptiles

I've got a big girl here that came into rescue 5 years ago. We kept her to use in our educational programs. The previous owner had her for 12 years, and mentioned that he'd gotten her from someone before that. So, we don't know exactly HOW old she is, but know that she's 17+.

My ex has a ball python that he bought in 1978. She bred for the 1st time in 1997. Don't know that he's bred her again since then (I doubt it), but she's now 27 years old. (Last I heard she was still alive, anyway.)

We have a corn snake here that came to me in 1998. She was wild caught in Jasper County, SC 17 years before that - and she was an adult when she was caught. That puts her at what - at least 27 years?? (I'm guessing 3 years to get large enough to be called an "adult".) Oh, and she's the most gorgeous corn snake ever - over 5' long, and an absolute delight.

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Bonnie Keller
VA Reptile Rescue
www.vareptilerescue.org

Some how I happened across this thread despite not visiting this forum often. Since others reported other species, I thought I would report a significant Rubber Boa.

RAAB female #1 was first found in 1971. She is still alive in my care. That's 34 years since found!! In 1971, she was a very large adult. Based on wild growth rates of other boas in the area, she was at least 15-20 years old when found. That's a conservative estimate based on the fastest possible growth rates. Likely much older than that!

50 years is not the tops for a snake, but it's way up there. Not much muscle tone, lost one eye, needs help to eat, but still kicking.