Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have been looking at adult Hog Island boas and is it me or are they getting bigger. I am used to looking at smaller animals but some of these are really big.
Could it be from been CBB, diet or what?
If anyone knows plese reply.
Thank you,
Joel P.

I believe it is a myth that all boas from the Hog is. started out super-dwarf and speckled and dark.. There's an image of a boa on a vine on Cayo Cochino (grande, I believe) at a tourism website.. it shows a 5' pink boa with not many specks. Mind you a 5' Boa is still not a monster! .. but it is larger than many say a real Hog Is. boas 'should' be.

Helping this myth is the fact that most we have seen ARE real small, and breed small.. my theory is that importers just like to buy (and pay for shipping on) small Boa.. and if you've worked with WC HoG Is. snakes the dark grey or brown look gets much lighter after just one or two shed-cycles.

And.. people just like to feed their Boa too much.. they all get bigger than the average snake seen in nature when kept that way.

Here our Hog Is. boas are 1 meter to just about 2 meters in length, with the males averaging somewhat shorter and much less massive than the girls.. I stll have females drop at age 3 at 1 meter in length.. but by the time they've had three litters many do push the envelope of what we consider proper Hog size.

If you like tiny grey Hog Island Boa.. go with it (they are among my favourites too, but I like all of them). While there are some crosses out there and sometimes they are hard to pick out from a quick pic.. there's too many questions left unanswered about the cumulative effects of captive conditions, selective breeding and more to automatically question the heritage of any Hog Island boa we see that is really pretty and over about 5' in length.
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Peace out!

-----
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

both my Western Costa Rican imperator, and Panamanians came very dark, and after one to two sheds have lightened dramatically.

Am I missing something? That is the weirdest Hog Island I've ever seen. Was it born with all the hair?

Seriously, not to dissapointed because that is a georgeous buppy you've got there. Male???? My little girl is winking!!

.. big black Doberman (96lbs) very early this year off of a wire rope at a junkyard in central Texas. The guy say's "the dog is out in back, if you want to look at him".. I asked his name and went out.

I came back with the dog in tow, pulled out my wallet and asked how much.. He says.. "If he likes you well enough to not bite you and do what you say, that's your dog, buddy". He wouldn't talk money.. I was thinking the dog was stolen or who knows what.. but the guy was in tears when he said goodbye to it!

It is a good dog.. but he just busts tennis balls when he fetches them and won't bring them back!

Gus.
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He's georgeous. I wonder if he likes them fat. My baby girl (8 1/2 years old) is a fatty. She got hit by a car a few years back and lost 12 pounds and the vet told me she was where she needed to be but she looked amaciated to me so I had to fatten her up again. She is only 78 pounds so I can imagine the size on him and he doesn't look fat at all.

They are the best dogs. I trust mine 99.9% with my children, even the 3-year-old. The only problem is that if somebody broke in to my house she would probably give them the TV for a little bit of belly rubbin, or show them to the valuables for a rub on the neck.

Hi there.

This is my female, unfortunately I dont know her age.
But here she is, she is about 2meters (6.5ft).

Best regards,
Miro af Crotalus.se

WOW, She is very nice and if you just got her she will get lighter after the fist shed or second shed. HUGE!!!
NICE!!!!!!!

let see if i did this right, this is a shot from a research group( led by dr.bob reed) on cayos cochinos of a girl holding a wild caught "pink boa" from the 2004 summer study at the islands research facility.