Columbian Red Tailed Boa Questions

[sapphire_moon]

Ok I am researching different types of snakes that I one day hope to have. And was wondering the requirements for these beautiful snakes!
How big the snake it's self gets , cage size, meal size, are they more of a tree snake or land snake, humidity, and heat....and if anyone had directions to a care sheet that would be awesome to... if I you think there is more to know then just let me know....!!!!
Thank you all in advance for the info!!



:w

[sapphire_moon]

Any info would be great! Me and my partner just decided that a Red Tailed Boa would be our next snake. So any experienced herper info would be nice........

[Zoe]

Well, do you mean BCIs or BCCs?

Size: BCI: 6-9 feet, BCI: 8-11 feet.
Cage size: width = 2/3rds the length of the snake, depth = 1/2 the snake's length and height = 1-2 feet.
They are terrestrial, but will make use of branches.
Temp is 82-89, humidity is ~60%.

There are a million caresheets online... just go to yahoo.com and search Boa Care or Red-Tailed Boa Care.

Zoe

[sapphire_moon]

BCI 6-9ft......I did, and nothing came up.....I'm still searching though......

[Jeff_Favelle]

BCI 6-9ft......I did, and nothing came up.....I'm still searching though......


You're kidding, right? I did a search on Yahoo! just to see and I got 427 sites!!!! Look, here's what my screen said after I typed it in. Are you sure you looked?




http://members.shaw.ca/j_favelle/boa_yahoo_hits.jpg

[Zoe]

sapphire - here, I spent a few mins searching for some sites - based the assumption that you are inept when it comes to search engines!

http://coloherp.org/cb-news/archive/careshts/boacare.php
http://www.anapsid.org/boa.html
http://www.petco.com/assets/articles/caresheets/pdf/rasredtailedboa050803.pdf
http://www.herphangout.com/caresheet.php?sheet=58
http://www.repticzone.com/caresheets/40.html
http://lllreptile.com/v2/content/info/care/care-sheets/snakes/colombian-red-tailed-boa.txt

All of these were from MY FIRST SEARCH. I went to yahoo and typed in "Red-tailed boa care" and came up with all those results. Please, don't tell me you searched when if you had followed my simple instructions you would have found those exact results.

[sapphire_moon]

As I did your simple instructions. And it did not go properly. As I had started searching through yahoo, msn, and askjeeves. Yet since we had a storm and not only was the computer acting up but so was the internet connections.....so please do not assume anything about me.......remember

"Assumption is the mother of all f*** up's...." so don't assume anything about me, as I DON'T assume anything about you.

[TheRedDragon]

Woah woah woah guys, chill out.

Now I have some search tips for you guys.... 1. Use Google :) (www.google.ca) 2. Using "quotes" searches for the EXACT phrase within the quotes, this can severely limit your search. Use words or phrases preceeded by plus signs, like this:

+Redtail +Boa +Care

That way the search engine will find webpages that contain all of these words but in no paticular order.

[hip]

Well hey all! yup the silly hip is back well for a brief interlude in time anyway, putting in lots of hours saving for a house that I can fill with boa's!!!!!!!!!! yay more boa's.


Sorry just a little rant.


Ok sapphire moon here goes

B.c.i what many call red tails have varying amounts of size .There are many insular forms such as hog island boas which will for the most part not get over 6 feet or so for a female somewhere between 4-1/2 to 5 feet for a male but some can be a bit bigger(male and female)There are also Central American B.c.i's from various countries that stay in that range (but temperament can be questionable at times)If you stick with standard Colombian boa's expect somewhere between 6-10 feet with 10' being something much less common (but not rare it does happen sometimes) Temps for Colombians and most insular forms and the better part of the Central Americans should be around 80-84 in the "cool end" and a hot spot of 88-92 on the warm end.A nighttime reduction of 4-5 degrees on the cool end and keep the warm spot unchanged thusly the snake can regulate it's own body temperature as required (especially after feeding)Humidity is just about perfect between 50%-60% Most B.c.i's are good feeders and don't have to many problems (just keep prey size proper) and you should have few problems.



B.c.c are a whole different ball of wax Like Zoe said expect 8 feet and even up to 12 feet for a real big female. This goes for all the true red tails (Peruvian’s might not quite fit this average but they can be very close) temps are a little warmer about a degree or two more than B.c.i hot spot staying the same night time reduction (in the cool end about 2-3 degrees a bit more if trying to breed and way too much to get into)True red tails can be fussy feeders at times and can have regurge problems for the first year or so(prey items that are too big or fed too often) Humidity in the 65-75% range and a large water dish to soak in if the need arises.




Food size can and will vary depending on the size of the boa in question.Large boa's (B.c.i and B.c.c) can eat rabbits as long as the prey item is not bigger than the largest girth of the boa.So be prepared to feed at least large rats if not jumbo rats and or rabbits of varying size depending on the size of the boa you have.This can be a daunting and expensive endeavor if you have a big female boa to feed.



I agree with Zoe on enclosure size but when in doubt build bigger 6'x3'x2' will do most large boa's but not all of them some just get too big, and some stay small enough not to need that much room(hog's come to mind) Most boa's will climb from time to time (even as huge adults) keep that in mind before you decide on a certain height in your enclosure.If you have the space provide enough height for a climbing branch of sorts,If not you will do no harm to the boa by keeping it as a ground dweller(say 1-1/2'-2' high would be ok)





I can't stress enough the importance of keeping notes on the progress of a boa (or any snake for that matter) This will allow you to make adjustments in your husbandry methods to provide the very best living conditions for any boa you may keep in the future.This will allow you to fine tune for each boa (they are all never quite the same)



I would caution you a full grown Boa Constrictor (B.c.i or B.c.c) is a very large and powerful creature (driven buy instinct) They can never be fully trusted and can be dangerous (prepare to get bitten from time to time) Any boa over 6 feet is a handful for one person and 2 people is a much safer way to handle a boa of this size.I can't stress enough how much power they have (always play it safe)



I love boas and that will never change and I hope you (if you do get a boa) get the same pleasure and peace from yours as I get from mine.They are without a doubt amazing creatures worth our attention time and compassion.




Word to Jeff F (the one who is)
Word to Cranwill (How did it go in Guitar Town man?)
Zoe (as lovely as ever!!!!) do I get points for that? lol




Time to make the doughnuts lol



Hip

[Zoe]

Sapphire moon it is understandable that your computer had problems. But lacking any further explanation than "I tried but didn't find anything" (Which MEANS that you tried to look and didn't get a single result), I read what you said and didn't need to ASSUME you anything - you told me yourself that you didnt find anything AFTER looking.

Like I said, computer problems happen, and I appologize if you took offense to what I said, but there is NO reason to get vulgar, just because I thought you were not doing the research I suggested you do based on something you said.

Hey Hip good to see ya! Sure, you can have points for that :D

[sapphire_moon]

Yes I agree. and I am sorry, I did not mean to take my anger out on you! Bad storm, hail, windshelid gone.......*sighs*.....have I said that kansas sucks yet? Thank you all for the info.....I'm doing research yet, if you look in other parts of the forum you will see me asking basicly the same questions there. I just like to ask the people that actually own the snake what they are like, what they do good with.....etc.....I do not plan to get another snake for a few years, and definitly not a large one (over 6ft) until me and my partner can aquire a house, Atleast not more than one snake that gets over 6 ft. But we both think that the common boa (red tailed) is a beautiful snake. But I think that if we tried to get one now and moved from kansas to maine, all in a drive, not flight would probably stress the poor thing......so for now it's all research! Thanks again for the info!

[Jeff_Favelle]

Holy Crap, HIP is back!!!!!!!!!!!

[Jeff_Favelle]

hip, man, you forgot to say "hi" to the Rev!!!

[hip]

Yes jeff I did so here is homage to the reverend Sterling Kyle and Boid keeper (how those kenyans doing man) So Jeff just remind me if I forgot anyone else (a mind is a bad thing to loose you know) But I have been brushing up on Zero Point field theory as of late and how it relates to propulsion in a micro gravity enviroment next up will be a brush up on super string theory as well (nice light reading in my spare time) so i only got about 2000 pages to go!




well back to it I guess




Hip

[Jeff_Favelle]

Hip, I have a headache now. Try to dumb it up a little bet next time eh?

LOL! :D

[reverendsterlin]

hipster bro!!! ya told me to e-mail with you and then didn't give me the addy :( welcome back buddy