• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

I love mah corns but...

Zombiegirl

Zombiegirl

New member
I find myself becoming more interested in BCI...I have been reading about them and they are probably the MAX size I would go in a snake. Those of you who own BCI, what can you tell me about them from YOUR experiences? Are they a good species to keep?
 
Love him love him love him!!!!
My baby. Got him when he was a newborn and he is just awesome.
 
I would only say from keeping dozens of juveniles and subadults over the years of owning a pet shop, in my experience, the smaller island variants (Nicaraguan, Caye Caulker, etc.) were exceptionally high strung; whereas the "Colombian red tail boas" were almost always very confident and docile. I got attached to a few and would have kept them but I swore I'd never again keep anything that eats food other than f/t mice. A good friend of mine has bred boas for almost 20 years and swears that you have a lot of control over their size and that any 8 foot plus boa was fed rabbits or other large prey items. Big snakes have big poop, of course, but other than that and feeding rats I can't think of a downside. They make marvelous pet snakes.
 
Chip would you say the same for a Hog(g) Island Boa? I've been reading about them today and from what I've read they seem to be fairly docile like the larger "Columbian red tails"?
 
I can't really speak with any firsthand knowledge, but definitely get a male BCI if you want a smaller one.
 
Yeah I am leaning towards a male for sure, at least for my first one :) See how that goes...although if they are anything personality wise like my corn and hoggie hopefully he wont be a total little jackass lol.
 
From what I know, some people do end up with meanies, but I haven't personally experienced anything but calm, confident, inquisitive, wonderful Columbian boas. Mine curl up on me and just sit (sometimes up my shirt!) or just very calmly explore. A male should end up around 5-7 foot; a female around 7-8, on average, sometimes bigger, but it sounds pretty rare. I agree with everything Chip says, as usual. Lewis25 has a hoggie. You might seek him out. I don't know much about hoggies' personalities, but I have also heard that they are not as jumpy as some of the other island boas. I will say that my dumerils boa is a nervous Nelly who goes on long hunger strikes, which seems kind of typical of dums. Best of luck on your quest. I have a great PDF (72 pages!) for boa care (not mine and not taking credit for it) and if you want it, let me know; I can email it to you or point you to it online.
 
PM'd you a link. If you have any trouble with it, let me know and I can email it to you. Enjoy!
 
I've owned a 3 year old BCI for 2 days. I'm totally loving her already!

I'm so happy to hear positive things about them, too.
 
They are an amazing snake. That's about all I got. I've had Isis for 4 months now, and she is hands down the most awesome snake I've owned or handled. So huge, yet so gentle. Very chill sometimes, and little miss curious the rest of the time. I love her much. Even my flatmate who has an unwarranted fear of large constrictors, loves holding and handling her.
 
The best species for handling, BY FAR, as far as I'm concerned.
I have 10 of them and I could easily see myself with more.

Do a bit of study about localities, Hog Isle are a popular choice but they aren't considered "true dwarves".
You have even smaller localities- Nicaragua being VERY affordable(sometimes dubbed Central American, or CA), even with morphs... Panama, Corn Isle, Caulker's Cay, Sonora desert... some of them might be a bit more feisty but they all usually settle down... I strongly encourage you to get a baby.

Boas are confident, which is why handling them is fun... they aren't busy running away from you all the time...

So... yeah, BCI are awesome.
 
Thanks for the input guys, much appreciated! I'm not looking for dwarf specifically, but BCI in general is the biggest I would be comfortable with. I do like the look of hog island which is why I was curious :) keep the posts coming!
 
I had a bunch of Columbian RTB's over the years and they always were calm and curious.
I'm just chiming in to say that the morphs are really spectacular and reasonably priced like this sunglow at Hell Bent Reptiles.
 

Attachments

  • sunglowboa.jpg
    sunglowboa.jpg
    84.8 KB · Views: 63
Last edited:
Now that you have asked about them, you are pretty much in for one. I found a post where I was asking about temperament ... I didn't realize it then but I was fated to have a BCI. Except I was totally content just to LIKE them because I knew my husband was not comfortable with a snake that got that big.
 
Zombiegirl said:
Chip would you say the same for a Hog(g) Island Boa? I've been reading about them today and from what I've read they seem to be fairly docile like the larger "Columbian red tails"?
Click to expand...

My adult female Hoggy is probably the most mellow snake I have. I acquired her as an 8-year-old adult, so I don't have any experience with hatchlings/juveniles. However, her previous owner bred her twice, and said her babies were calm as well. And they're very pretty snakes, in my opinion. :)

Kathy
 
I have a pair of 2012 tarahumaras and they aren't the most pleasant things. The female especially likes to launch herself at my face. I keep hoping they'll calm down since I've only had them a few months. I held their parents and they were really mellow.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top