Should I do it??????????????

[trailblazer295]

I didn't know where to put this so I put it here. Mods please move if it's the wrong place.

As some of you know I'm in the process of trying to sell my kingsnake. I had an offer tonight to trade her and her glass cage for a 3ft female salmon boa. No history on her beyond what the current owner told me

Where did you buy her? Any history? Do you know how big her parents are?

"Sorry got her from a kid who dint know anything so did it all my self pink sides is salmon and the orange tail and light tan body is the hypo and i sexed her my self she will get anywhere between 7-10 feet over her life span and as thick as a 1L cocke bottle "

He doesn't sound like an idiot just has no idea what he has but if you're buying a baby boa off a kid how would you. Question to everyone is whether or not should I make the trade. She also comes with her tub. My banzai was $300 a poss super hypo jungle hatchling. I was asking $225 for king and her setup. This is the best offer I've had to date other then some guy that keeps saying he is interested and vanishes. I like salmons and I like boas so I'm a bit weak on this one. I'm still waiting for pics.

[Minkness]

Well, to begin, I know you have a set limit number of snakes you want to own. So first, ask yourself if this is a snake you would otherwise actually WANT.

That being said, if you know you can properly house an adult BCI then sure.

The only pro I see to this myself, is tue ability to breed in the future as it sounds like they have matching genetics.

It's not a bad deal, in fact, it's a REALLY good deal. It's just wether ir not you really want it.

[trailblazer295]

Got some pictures of the girl

[Minkness]

Well...I'd do it! She's gorgeous!

[RAD House]

Minkness lecturing on having a snake limit, now that is rich. She not wrong though. You need to decide if this animal is something you actually want or you may regret pick it up. May I ask why you are rehoming your king?

[trailblazer295]

Minkness lecturing on having a snake limit, now that is rich. She not wrong though. You need to decide if this animal is something you actually want or you may regret pick it up. May I ask why you are rehoming your king?

I'm going in a different with my collection. Even if I don't want to keep this boa knowing my contacts in the local herp world with stores a salmon boa is easier to sell then a cali king and worth more too. So it's kind of a win win.

I have set a personal limit of 5 snakes which Mink is aware of that's what it's a reference to.

[trailblazer295]

NEW UPDATE

She has been fed a medium rat weekly or a large bi weekly.................either this snake is a lot bigger then stated or it is over weight. My limited knowledge of boas says they gain fat easy and lose it hard. Is this worth it? Should I take a badly treated animal from someone that doens't know and either care for her proper or sell her for a profit???????


My 40in ish boa is 1.5yrs old and eating weans. He is long and lean. She sounds short and fat to eat a large every other week.

[Minkness]

From the photos she looks about like Treasure does. He gets fed the same way, but he is also 3 years old and 4.5 feet. So the owner coupd just be off on the length.

You won't know for sure until you see her though. Keep in mind that you (and some others on this site) feed on the conservative side.

Edit: I'm sorry, I read this wrong. I thought it said medium rat bi-weekly. That being said, the pics look fine, so maybe the guy thinks a medium rat is a large? Not sure at this time. Most you can do is look at her.

[bigsnakegirl785]

The snake is definitely big enough to physically take mediums, looks roughly as big as my new ghost guy (he's in the 4'-4.5' range eating smalls). Maybe bigger, depending on the size of their arm. In the photo of him on the arm, the snake definitely has a huge poop butt waiting to explode. Which either means the prey size is a little large (more of a matter of metabolically too large than physically - as you mentioned boas are overfed easily), or they REALLY hold onto their poos.

A boa eating mediums every 1-2 weeks is definitely overfeeding in and of itself, it should be eating every 3-4 weeks on something that size. A large rat shouldn't even be offered to that snake at all. Although a lot of Colombians have stronger stomachs than some other subspecies/localities, feeding a boa that size a large rat is a major regurge hazard.

Honestly, the snake looks in good shape from those photos. Just put it on a small rat every 2-4 weeks and it should shed any extra weight. My boa Cloud used to be a pound overweight (6' and nearly 10 lbs), and that took a year of dieting and 2-3 months of that being fasted to shed that weight. Now he's half a foot longer and about 9 lbs, 8.5-8.75 lbs coming off a fast. This one looks leaner than he was, so a few months on a proper diet should be plenty.

As far as whether or not to get it: listen to your gut. If you feel uncomfortable adding her, don't get her.

[RAD House]

Ah got you. Do you have any better pictures of the head? It is hard to tell if there is something going on or just its patterning. I would definitely want to see the animal in person before making any decisions.

[trailblazer295]

These are the only pics of her I have. I don't know a lot about boas but I thought the feeding to size was wayyy off. I'm going to sleep on it and decide tomorrow.

[Tsubaki]

It's your own discision of course, sounds like you want it. She doesnt look badly cared for, could be a good pairing with Banzai in the future if you would ever want to try breeding. The useful things have been said already.. I just wanted to add, that unless she has documentation (which is probably not the case if he knows nothing) it's an Hypo and not a Salmon, doesn't matter that much same basic morph. Salmon is a specific breeding line, an Salmon is always a hypo but a hypo is almost never a Salmon. She looks pretty and not necessarily unhealthy, she's stll young so I agree with BSG she could be alright if slowed down now.

[Andy_G]

$225 for the king and set up may be a bit too rich for some people because of market values and housing needs, but who knows? I'm not a huge fan of most kingsnakes (central american milk subspecies aside) so I would be jumping on that trade personally, it's a nice hypo. At the end of the day it's all up to you and what you want, though.

[trailblazer295]

I decided to go for it. Still working on arranging a day to meet. Even if I decide not to keep her the market is better for a boa then a California King.

[trailblazer295]

Well the guy did not live locally and wanted me to drive 1.5hrs each way to his house. I decided to pass on that.

I recently picked up 2 used 4x2x1. Got a good deal on the 2 cages and 2 large exo terra hides that will fit mushu perfectly and were the exact ones I was considering for him when he upgraded so win win. One cage will be for mushu (top) and the other is Yzmas new and permanent home. I moved the LED strip from Mushus old cage which broke during my big cage move. A work buddy fixed the LED strip so I put it in her cage so I can view her. She is a good display snake really as she is often on the move exploring or at the very least hanging out in the open which was part of why I wanted to upgrade from a 36x18x18. Even though as kings go at around 40" she isn't big she kept lapping her old cage carving paths in her chips. Also glass cages as nice as they look make stacking a pain and knowing my future plans and caging it would be more difficult with the space I have and the cages I plan to add in the future. The 2 black stacked cages looks really slick. Happy with the new look. Mushu will have to wait another night or two before he moves. The cage is cleaned but at this hour I don't feel like going through the uninstalling and reinstalling all the heating and all the sensors.

You can see Yzma exploring her new home. This is my new view from the couch where her old one used to sit. I'm still tweaking her stat setting to compensate for the PVC vs glass but I've got it 83f so I'm close now. I've got the probe on the underside so it's reading the UTH temp not the inside so my IR gun is getting used a lot tonight.

Update: 85f and what do I find PEE!!!!!!!!!! 10min in a fresh cage with fresh sani chips and spoils it UGH!!!! ungrateful little #@&$%@&^#%@^%#@^

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd120/scottwaslenko/A451848340BDDFFAA2FDB3100FB085BD5B8B1BA27FD44BE179 pimgpsh_fullsize_distr.jpg (http://s225.photobucket.com/user/scottwaslenko/media/A451848340BDDFFAA2FDB3100FB085BD5B8B1BA27FD44BE179 pimgpsh_fullsize_distr.jpg.html)

[SWDK]

That's a good looking setup. Never fails on them messing up a fresh cage.

[EL Ziggy]

I'm digging the enclosures Blaze. Don't you love it when they mess up a freshly cleaned cage?

[Tsubaki]

Looks great :D and nothing better than messing up a new cage! Number 1 snake hobby.

[trailblazer295]

Thanks everyone, of course she had make a mess right away. Tried to be nice and not re use the chips from her old cage which wasn't even that old. I will gut all my cages with cypress or aspen and start over every 2-3 months. Hers was probably a month old.