Dumeril's a good choice ?

[Kron]

Was just curious as to your thoughts on a Dumeril's as a first boa. My first choice was a columbian red tail. I'm 42 now and looking at this with best hopes in mind I could possibly be wrestling with the odds of a 9' plus snake at 60 yrs of age. It is my luck for it to go to the large size with me owning a 13 lb house cat and a 150 lb Akita. Just trying to look down the road and not just for selfish reasons now to own a big snake

I thought the smaller size of Dumeril's may be more fitting, I love the looks of them anyways

[Dan84]

I was asking myself the same sort of questions about 6 months ago. I ended up getting a 3 month old female Dumeril's in March. The advantages are that they are very slow growers, you will maybe see 3 1/2 feet at the first year and 4-5 feet at year 3 or 4, which will give you time to set up the final enclosure. They also don't need as hot of an environment (75 - warm side -88 hot side) or a high humidity. And finally, they are quite calm, well at least mine is. She hasn't hissed or snapped at me once, not even at her food. She just calmly swallows it without striking.

Some negatives might be that they are not a display snake. All I see on mine is her nose sticking out of the shavings. They are ground snakes and will probably be quite clumsy in your hands when the get larger. And although the don't get long, they can get heavy and that can be equally as difficult to manage as a much longer, thinner snake. And depending on the snake itself, they can be pick eaters as juveniles.

I have no regrets and I would make the same choice again, even if money was not a factor.

[Dan84]

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/s365/djlewis84/DSC_0041_zps5a8eefd0.jpg

You will essential have a pet head.

[Kron]

great to hear Dan, I new they liked to bury themselves but not to that extent. Still a very beautiful head. Is she always covered up ?...I was thinking of building and enclosure of a tub, that way she could crawl down into it through a hide. You think just having an enclosure with deeper substrate would be better?...Either way,you have an awesome looking snake.

[Kron]

I meant building an enclosure over a tub...sorry for typos...just woke up.

[Snakesitter]

LOL. Good line!

[Dan84]

I think the deep substrate would work best. The purpose is to leap out at prey, although mine does not do that. During the day she is in her hide and at night she is beneath the shavings. I believe they grow out of this behavior to some extent as they get older.

[freedumbdclxvi]

Dumeril's are amazing boas. Great temperament, nice size and just beautiful. Our big girl has a good feeding response, and she enjoys a nice soak now and again. I would say they make an excellent first boa.

[RBDTerrell]

I personally love the Dumeril's Boas and that was my first big Boa I owned. They are cool to watch ambush food from under their substrate and they are typically pretty placid. At least the few I have come into contact have been.

[AbioticApple]

I love Dumeril's boas they act similar to a red tail boa. very good for a first boa

[Sublimeballs]

The only dum I have experience with was a huge female that was found in a field in winston salem nc that animal control picked up. She was ruffed up a bit and they took her to the first vet that would just take the snake. One of my friends was a vet tech there and called me. She was around 8.5 feet and heavy; even after all she went through she was the calmest snake right off the bat. I ended up rehoming her to a buddy and have kicked myself ever since. I'd highly recomend one and wouldn't worry too much about the size. They usually stay in the 6 foot range. Even the 8.5 foot female was super easy to work with.