Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ok I have been afraid of snakes for most of my life. Friends have owned them and I have always thought they were beautiful and interesting but the second i hold them they start to scare me. we at the pet store a few weeks ago, the owner had caught a copperish rubber boa and was showing me, he handed it to me and before i could say no it had cuddled right into me. Well now i must have one... I stayed in the store for a good hour holding the snake. I love how smooth and soft they are and how docile. I have been looking at breeders, but I have only found two and they are both out. I found a wc online but she is not eating and I just don't want to risk my first snake dieing. So my question is where do i go to buy one of these gems? I dont mind wc as long as it is eating. i would prefer not to have a tiny baby, but would take one if i cant get a bigger one. Any one have any for sale or have any hints?

have you tried south mountain reptiles?
click here

yep they were out

I tried them to know someone that bought rubber from them looks great but they are out. Oh well spring isnt far away imagine more than.

Supperabby,
Since my interest is in research, I am not knowledgeable about the pet trade. The only place I have noted where the Rubber Boa has been for sale is in the Kingsnake classified section. A year or so ago a gentleman by the name of Bob in Bellevue, Wash. had some boas for sale. He apparently breeds the species just for that purpose.

If you live in a region that has the species, perhaps it might be more satifying to find one on your own. There have been a number of occasions in which individuals have traveled to Oregon and I have taken them out to find their own boa.

Concerning your mentioning of he copper colored boa, the photo below by my son Ryan is only the second specimen I have seen with that coloration. Was the specimen you observed in the pet shop the same color and if so, do you happen to know where it originated?

The majority of the species do not normally take food this time of year as in the wild, they are hibernating. Most of my boas stop feeding in Sept. or early Oct. I leave them at cool temperatures until mid to late Feb. when I place the males in a cage with a low level heat source. The females are taken out of brumation conditions a month later. This is pretty much what occurs in the wild here in northwestern Oregon. The point being that just because the wc female was not taking prey at this time a year does not mean she is a non-feeder.

Most of what might be leaned about the species can be found on my son
Ryan's rubberboas.com web site. If you have any further questions, you can contact me at charinabottae@earthlink.net.

Good luck, Richard F. Hoyer

. Well now i must have one... I stayed in the store for a good hour holding the snake. I love how smooth and soft they are and how docile. I have been looking at breeders, but I have only found two and they are both out. I found a wc online but she is not eating and I just don't want to risk my first snake dieing. So my question is where do i go to buy one of these gems? I dont mind wc as long as it is eating. i would prefer not to have a tiny baby, but would take one if i cant get a bigger one. Any one have any for sale or have any hints?

yes the snake he found does look like the one in the picture your son caught. he found it in the santa cruz mountains, off of empire grade road in a medow that runs along a redwood forest up behind UCSC. It is a male and about18 inches long or-

http://www.cornsnakes.net/otherprice.php3

Can't say I've ever bought a non-corn from him, but he's a great guy to deal with.

-Kat
-----
"You keep WHAT in your freezer?"
"Mice. And rats. If that bothers you, I can call them 'cows' instead."

That was the first suggestion by showofhands, apparently Don's all out of bottae.
Ryan