Pre-Purchase Research for Kenyan

[BoaBurrows]

Salutations,

After some thought, I have decided on purchasing a Kenyan sand boa as my first snake. (They hooked me by hiding and reeled me in by their docile temparment and of course their short and thick stout appearance is so adorable.) I'm strongly leaning to a male due to them being smaller then the females but I'm being put off slightly due to I'm reading a few posts that males tend to be being more picky about eating then the girls. How common is it really? More specifically, if I bought a young little boy would it be close or over a 75% chance of this happening? If so I might look into females, space not being a problem just the idea of having a smaller snake as the first snake was appealing.

Is there a rough estimate about what size tank my future baby will need? Like if he's X amount of inches he should be in a Y sized tank. I'm kind of (okay so I'm notorious) about housing critters in too big of a tank. (One lone leopard gecko was housed in a 50 gallon tank for a little over two weeks before I came to my senses. :p) I know an adult male can be kept in a ten gallon and an adult female in a twenty-twenty long but I'm more referring to while he's maturing and growing up to his adult length. For example, if he's only half of his adult size (7 inches or so) should I have him in a five gallon tank?

The breeder of my choice feeds live prey only (of course with no problems but I know I would be the rare case a mouse did damage to a snake). Is it any easier to switch a snake over to frozen while they are still on pinkies or is it pretty much the same no matter what they're eating? I'm -okay- with feeding live pinkies considering they really haven't developed enough to hurt my future baby but once he starts needing bigger, more developed food, I'll be going all out to try to switch him over to frozen but if it's an easier switch while he's on pinkies, I'll start trying to switch after the second feed. (Just want to make sure he has enough time to settle before making any drastic changes.)

I plan on feeding him in his enclosure to limit stress and of course I'm concerned about impaction. The setup in my mind's eye is composed of a couple inches of play sand with a top inch being carefresh. Would this help reduce the risk of impaction? I will not do calci sand due to personal experiences and I'd like to avoid the wood shavings because the pet store only carries monster sized packages of the stuff so it would be sitting in my closet for lord knows how long.

Long down the road I would like to breed. What color/morph would be a wise investment for male and/or for female? When I start off my breeding collection, I would probably only have one male and two females. (Then I'll have ten times as many questions! Lol)

Alright that's all I have the questions (for now ;)) Thanks for the help. :)

[The Snake Guru]

Well first off welcome to the forum.

Sand boas are pretty neat....what you've already found about the males is true, actually true for a lot of species....males tend to get into the breeding season rut a lot heavier than females so they tend to go off feed for periods of time, can be a little nerve racking for people new to the hobby.

I would say a 20 L for the adults would be just fine, I actually grow mine up in 5 1/2 gallons and move them later as they mature.

Switching snakes over to F/T can take some patience, however Sand Boas are fairly easy....even if you just tease feed them with F/T (which is basically jiggling it in front of him with a tongs)

I've kept Sand Boas on sand for years and never had one get impacted.....they are sand boas afterall, and used to this type of terrain. LOL

If you are looking into breeding later on, I would buy your Female now, it is best to get them to an Adult breeding size first, or at least give them a good head start on the male....females take a little longer to become mature than males. Depending on the types morphs you like should really be your deciding factor, not many of the sand boas really have what I would consider "high end" morphs, you aren't going to make a whole lot off them so it would best just to choose something which you enjoy....personally though I rather enjoy the Snows always something neat about those snakes. Flames are another very fetching color morph.

Anyway hope this helps.
~B~

[BoaBurrows]

Thank you, it indeed helps! The male's breeding rut and their food issues makes complete sense to me! As for the morph, I'm quite partial to the albinos myself. :)

[The Snake Guru]

Albinos are nice too, to tell ya the truth there aren't any snakes that I don't find unique and facinating...I just really like the snows, some of the paradox albinos are rather interesting looking as well, like an Albino with black pepper spots.

~B~

[rosky19]

I'm looking for a pair of kenyan sand boas. I fell in love with them when I bought one for my son at a pet store. Now I want a pair for myself. I'm looking for good breeders any suggestions.
Oh mine is in a 10 gallon and he is about five inches.