Colombian good for a beginner?

[Snakess2014]

Hi,

I think dominican red mountain boas are great snake for beginners. The snakes are very docile and they use musking as a defense mechanism and hardly will strike. They get 5-6' max, so its a good full size.

Columbians i used to work with too and they're also good snakes. I do think they're more aggressive than the DRMB's (dominican red mountain boas) and they have a potential chance getting rather large; i believe the avg is 6-8' but up to 10-12' (mostly females). I attached a photo from google.

I had my DRMB breeder female down at the SD reptile show last year, and one of the guys from PetKingdom came over and was handling her. She started acting strange, rubbing her nose up against his hand, opened her mouth twice and then closed her mouth. I mentioned that it was strange that she had never acted that way, and he mentioned he had just handled some rats. I never handle my snakes after feeding though. Its just nice to know even after handling rats, the DRMB female still wont strike.

Hope its some what helpful

[bigsnakegirl785]

Originally Posted by Snakess2014

Hi,

I think dominican red mountain boas are great snake for beginners. The snakes are very docile and they use musking as a defense mechanism and hardly will strike. They get 5-6' max, so its a good full size.

Columbians i used to work with too and they're also good snakes. I do think they're more aggressive than the DRMB's (dominican red mountain boas) and they have a potential chance getting rather large; i believe the avg is 6-8' but up to 10-12' (mostly females). I attached a photo from google.

I had my DRMB breeder female down at the SD reptile show last year, and one of the guys from PetKingdom came over and was handling her. She started acting strange, rubbing her nose up against his hand, opened her mouth twice and then closed her mouth. I mentioned that it was strange that she had never acted that way, and he mentioned he had just handled some rats. I never handle my snakes after feeding though. Its just nice to know even after handling rats, the DRMB female still wont strike.

Hope its some what helpful

That's a BCC in your photo. Not many Colombian BCI are going to get that big, the biggest Colombian I have ever seen/heard of, male or female, was 9', maybe a few inches over that. BCC are going to be bigger on average, and have the potential to get 13'.

Originally Posted by trailblazer295

Do you have a picture of him? I'm trying to get an idea how big they are full grown.

Yeah, I've got a few. But you're going to have to keep in mind I'm 5'1", so the pictures where I'm holding him, he isn't as big as he seems.

This is him in his enclosure, before I replaced his hides. The measurements are 6'x2'x3' (LxWxH).


His head in my hand.

[trailblazer295]

Originally Posted by jjhill001

I think other than the size their care is actually pretty simple comparatively speaking to other herps. It's more a matter of how you want to address added cost of rats vs mice and if you can afford the housing. There is also the consideration of this species being considered potentially dangerous in some city limits and also obviously you have to take precautions in general with any snake, but particularly with something that has the size to be dangerous to humans. Basically I can say hey little cousin 9 years old not stupid) hold this corn snake walk to another room and come back. No way would I leave said kid with a 6-9 foot boa.

Edit: I have no first hand care experience with the common boa constrictor just those are the things I considered when I was considering one as a potential pet. Every adult I've ever held has been lapdog tame though.

Originally Posted by bigsnakegirl785

That's a BCC in your photo. Not many Colombian BCI are going to get that big, the biggest Colombian I have ever seen/heard of, male or female, was 9', maybe a few inches over that. BCC are going to be bigger on average, and have the potential to get 13'.



Yeah, I've got a few. But you're going to have to keep in mind I'm 5'1", so the pictures where I'm holding him, he isn't as big as he seems.

]

Thanks for the pics. It was the other pics like the one of the BCC that makes me think twice. That would be far to big for me. However your is a manageable size. Doesn't appear to be much different then the 5ft colombian I held a few weeks ago, though I think it had more girth. An adult size in that rough size is still manageable for me. What are you using for substrate? How long did he take to grow from a juvie to 6ft?

[bigsnakegirl785]

Originally Posted by trailblazer295

Thanks for the pics. It was the other pics like the one of the BCC that makes me think twice. That would be far to big for me. However your is a manageable size. Doesn't appear to be much different then the 5ft colombian I held a few weeks ago, though I think it had more girth. An adult size in that rough size is still manageable for me. What are you using for substrate? How long did he take to grow from a juvie to 6ft?

In person, there's a good difference between a 5' boa and a 6' boa, but not in a way that makes them unmanageable.

He reached 6' even when he was 3 years old, but was only a few inches short at 2.5 years old. That's unusual, though, so I wouldn't necessarily expect a 6' boa before it's 3 year. Slow-grown and fed properly, it takes them years to get to a big size (I think he got so large because I accidentally fed him jumbo-sized rats when he should have still been on mediums - my untrained eye thought the bulges were reasonable but now I know they weren't). Cloud is only 3.5 years old, and is by no means done growing, he could still get 7-8'. He was large for his age, and I still see him growing noticeably, they seem to reach about full size when they're around 6 years old. Some say they grow their entire lives, but I'm dubious on that.

As far as substrate, I used expanded EcoEarth bricks, it has done wonders for my snakes and is easy to maintain.

As far as the cost that was brought up - my boa only eats a little less than once a month. His cost to feed yearly is comparable to feeding my ball python for the year, even though his food might be more expensive. Buying rabbits, it might be a little more, but not by much. I also buy in bulk, so it doesn't affect my food prices much. My next shipment of food for 4 snakes will only be ~$50 for 6 months. I am only getting 3 months of food for Cloud, though, as I'm stocked up on rabbits. Just want to mix rats into his diet again.