What breed of snake is my snake

andrewbrienstr · 11-15-14, 01:54 PM

Hello,

Can you please help me identify what breed of snake this guy is?
Store says red tailed boa, however I've heard that's a name that's just thrown around alot..

Please help!!

hondo-dan · 11-16-14, 07:28 PM

I'm not a boa guy but it is a red trail. What morph I'm not sure though.

LiL Zap · 11-16-14, 07:46 PM

Looks like a red tail to me. How did you obtain a snake that you don't know what the species is?

CrotalusR#1 · 11-16-14, 07:50 PM

Not a boa guy either but it's no morph from what I can see...looks like possibly a suriname/pokigron boa.
Nathan.

Mikoh4792 · 11-16-14, 07:51 PM

Looks more bci than bcc to me.

poison123 · 11-16-14, 08:17 PM

Agreed ^ Likely a Columbian boa.

**Tsubaki** · 11-17-14, 09:57 AM

It's just a boa constrictor, if you don't know what it is you can not put a name on it. Just like you can't get a mut from the pound and name it the breed it resembles the most, you can not do that with snakes either. Is is a pretty little boa constrictor, probably an intergrade of sorts.

Dilema · 11-17-14, 10:10 AM

Definitely not a redtail...

**Aaron_S** · 11-17-14, 11:45 AM

The third pic says Hogg Island with the white colouration.

BCI though but without knowledge of parents it's a best guess situation.

bigsnakegirl785 · 11-19-14, 05:50 AM

Not a red tail, but exactly what it is we couldn't tell you, and there are no breeds of snake. A wild-type boa constrictor. That prey item looks a bit big for your boa, too. You want to feed something about as big around as they are, and it shouldn't leave a bulge, although babies could probably get away with a small bulge.

**Tsubaki** · 11-19-14, 06:01 AM

I don't see any problem with this prey size, i always feed around 1,5 times the size of the girth. it Could even take bigger, it seems about the same girth as the thickest part of the snake. I rather feed slightly larger prey less often, and give their digestive system more rest in between feedings. Never had a fat snake or any dietary issue whatsoever.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigsnakegirl785

it shouldn't leave a bulge

Why not? it's completely normal to be able to see that a snake has eaten.

bigsnakegirl785 · 11-19-14, 06:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tsubaki

I don't see any problem with this prey size, i always feed around 1,5 times the size of the girth. it Could even take bigger, it seems about the same girth as the thickest part of the snake. I rather feed slightly larger prey less often, and give their digestive system more rest in between feedings. Never had a fat snake or any dietary issue whatsoever.

Why not? it's completely normal to be able to see that a snake has eaten.

Boa constrictors have extremely slow metabolisms, and it seems to be healthier for them to make their prey items smaller and lengthen time between their feedings. A couple of big names such as Vin Russo, who wrote the Complete Boa Constrictor, support this kind of feeding. I have implemented this kind of feeding with my BCI since December, and I've noticed increased health and body build. Granted, he's a young adult, but that kind of feeding supports a slow growth in baby boas, which has many benefits. I did admit that babies could probably do with a small bulge, but as they get older you really don't want to see that bulge.

**Tsubaki** · 11-19-14, 06:59 AM

The opinion on that subject varies a lot, and yes they do have a slow metabolism. I support feeding a lot less often than most people do, especially on adults (5+). My adult boa's (males in particular) would only eat a handful of times times a year compared to my other snakes, and they were very healthy. I do not agree that a bulge should not be visible, i did feed my boa's smaller on average than i did my retics. (Who i would easily give prey twice their girth or more). As long as you give the animal more than plenty of time to digest, and don't go to any extremes it should be fine. It is not an exact science, all you can do is mimic what they do in the wild. I believe their bodies should be put to work from time to time, always had adults glowingly healthy, lean, mean and shiny. I don't think there is a 'perfect' way of feeding in captivity, i don't think Vin Russo's method is perfect, i don't believe mine is perfect.. But i do believe there is more than one method in which the animals grow up to beautifully healthy adults, so i don't think either them is bad.(there Are bad methods out there though) Vin Russo is great btw, both my Nicaragua's were bred by him.

David VB · 11-19-14, 10:34 AM

This is still a young boa so it won't hurt him to have bigger prey, they need it to grow. Like Tsubaki said, once grown you should be more careful about feeding.

And this is no red tail, it's Boa constrictor sp.

bigsnakegirl785 · 11-19-14, 02:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tsubaki

The opinion on that subject varies a lot, and yes they do have a slow metabolism. I support feeding a lot less often than most people do, especially on adults (5+). My adult boa's (males in particular) would only eat a handful of times times a year compared to my other snakes, and they were very healthy. I do not agree that a bulge should not be visible, i did feed my boa's smaller on average than i did my retics. (Who i would easily give prey twice their girth or more). As long as you give the animal more than plenty of time to digest, and don't go to any extremes it should be fine. It is not an exact science, all you can do is mimic what they do in the wild. I believe their bodies should be put to work from time to time, always had adults glowingly healthy, lean, mean and shiny. I don't think there is a 'perfect' way of feeding in captivity, i don't think Vin Russo's method is perfect, i don't believe mine is perfect.. But i do believe there is more than one method in which the animals grow up to beautifully healthy adults, so i don't think either them is bad.(there Are bad methods out there though) Vin Russo is great btw, both my Nicaragua's were bred by him.

All good points. I've found this method best for me and my boa constrictor. He gets rabbits or rats from 1/2 his width to just under his width every 5 weeks. I'm also trying to fast him this winter as well, he normally eats all winter, never had him refuse a meal except when I was accidentally feeding him too large of meals (he should have still been on mediums but he was getting nearly jumbo-sized rats which I didn't realize at the time due to a lack of a scale and advice to step up his prey size). Right now I'm stocked up on rabbits, so that's what he's getting for now, but I might feed every 4 weeks on rats, but I haven't fed rats since I began this feeding regimen. Feeding depends on the prey item, the snake in question, and age.

I plan on trying this method with my next boa, and seeing how it works for babies (obviously 7-10 days rather than 5 weeks lol). Although I could feed him larger, I don't feel like it's important. Snakes are overfed as it is, so maybe stepping down on the food will improve their overall health. I'm still in the testing stages of this feeding method, but after nearly a year I've found this to be a very good method, at least for my individual.

The mouse is still rather large, though. It appears more than 1.5x the width of that snake.