Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ok..first question is are they the same as the viper boa?...There isn't much info on them on the net...not for the Papuan anyways...we pick the snake up in a few days so we need to get it's enclosure ready...we have other snakes...10 ball pythons a redtail and a nicaraguan boa...we are getting the Papuan Ground Boa at our local pet store for 40 bucks (she owes us for selling our pet rat when she was NOT supposed to)still don't know if that is a good deal..I read on how to sex them..seems fairly simple...spurs male no spurs female...I would love to try and breed them (I succefully bred my ball pythons) ..anyways..if you guys can give me info on this snake i would appreciate it...This one is agressive...one reason why my BF wanted it so bad...seems he likes getting bit and the only snake he is scared to get bit by is our 115 inch redtail...but Tiny shows no aggression...she's a BIG baby..I will post pics of the snake when we get it home...one thing about it that caught my eye is that it soaks alot and seems to have a white film on parts of it's body...The lady that owns this pet store really is very uneducated when it comes to the reptiles she sells, snakes particularly, so when i saw that it made me want to rescue it sort of...because at least i will research how to take proper care of it to make sure it is healthy...just not too much on the web about it...thanks in advance guys for all your help

Boas sold as Papuan Ground Boas are often Viper boas. I am sure that's what you have, based on your description of it being nippy.

Jerry Conway has the bible of Candoia with everything you need to know here:

http://www.kingsnake.com/candoia/

As for the white film and soaking, can you describe the "film" in more detail? It could be a mite problem, Candoia love to soak when they have mites...
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John R. Stebbins
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1.1 Candoia bibroni australis
0.2 Candoia carinata carinata
1.0 Candoia paulsoni
2.0 elaphe guttata guttata

We took the snake out and looked at him real well...we didn't see any mites...the film would rub off.. like he soakes so long the shed skin got too wet or something...we haven't gotten him yet...but when we do I will post pics to show what I mean...He is about a foot and a half long so about how old would that be?..and is 40 bucks a decent price for him

Hard to say how old he is...a wild guess would be a couple of years old.

$40 is a good price for sure...good luck!
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John R. Stebbins
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1.1 Candoia bibroni australis
0.2 Candoia carinata carinata
1.0 Candoia paulsoni
2.0 elaphe guttata guttata

PAPUA NEW GUINEA AND IRIAN JAYA....THAT IS WHERE VIPER BOAS OCCUR....SOME DEALERS USE THE TERM PAPUAN GROUND BOA INSTEAD OF VIPER BOA....SAME SNAKE....THE WHITE FILM IS NORMAL...PARTICULARLY WITH IMPORTS....THAT WILL MOST LIKELY STOP ONCE THE SNAKE HAS SHED ITS FIRST TIME AFTER BEING IMPORTED....MAKE SURE THE WATER BOWL IS CHANGED EVERY 2 OR 3 DAYS WHETHER ITS DIRTY OR NOT...MAKE SURE THE SUBSTRATE IS ALWAYS DRY....GOOD LUCK, JC

thanx for the info guys