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adding a boa to your collection?

ozone

ozone

New member
Hello,

I've been a happy cornsnake owner for about a year now, and recently fell in love with the Dumeril's Boa at a local reptile expo. So, for the past several months I have been researching what it takes to own and care for such a snake. Oh, and dropping subtle hints to my wife that i would really like to have a boa. She was originally hesistant to get a corn snake, but after she held one at the store, she was sold on it (as a pet for our son)...it won't be so easy with a boa. :)

Does anyone have any experiences (positive or negative) they'd like to share regarding making a move from a relatively small pet cornsnake up to the Boa? I'm looking for things that you have discovered which may not be written about in your typical care sheet.

The Dumeril's Boa is known to grow not as long as other boa types, and is supposedly quite docile. I have held and enjoyed several babies/yearlings, as well as an adult (although he was not quite full-grown). They are definitely amazing creatures.

Even though I want this snake quite badly and think about it all the time, looking at it from an objective perspective, I do have a couple of reservations (most of which I know only I can answer):
- cost is not a concern, but space may be...would have to find a location in the house that did not cause stress to the snake, or stress to the family members (aka, the wife) and guests (aka, the mother-in-law). The office/retreat adjoining my bedroom is the best spot, except we could likely hear the snake rustling at night, which may wake the light-sleeping wife.
- having to store/keep large feeder rats. Perhaps I could buy them one at a time.
- Will i realistically spend a lot of time handling (and truly enjoying) a 6-foot snake? or after watching it grow from a baby to an adult, will it not seem quite so big? or for most people do they become (due to logistics or interest) at some point a snake that one simply observes in the viv much more frequently than actually handling it?

I've been scouring the boa related forums, but they are not nearly as active as this forum, so I thought I'd see if my fellow cornsnake owners have gone through a similar experience.

thanks!
 
I do not own a Dumeril, but I own a lovely Central American Boa. She has a fairly good personality and is a pleasure to handle. I like how a lot of boids are more laid back then colubrids.

I had started out with BPs, and had snuck this girl into my house much to my fiance's annoyance. He though, fell in love with her. When she was a baby, she was a nippy little thing. He has named her "Little Mean Snakie," though now she's about 4' long.

I think, unless paying $5 a rat isn't a problem (from a local pet store), you should just go ahead and go to a local show and stock up for about 3 months at a time. I breed my own mice and rats, so I never have a problem...but if I didn't do that, I would deffinitly buy a 6-12 month supply.
 

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I actually do have a baby Dumeril and I love their colors. Mine is a bit nippy but it is still a baby. We also have a 6 foot retic that my husband handles quite well. Now, retics are far more powerful then Dumerils so I don't think you should have too much of a problem handling one. As for the rats, we currently only have 3 breeder rats (1 male and 2 females). We get plenty of babies out of the 2 females. I prefer to breed my own since I have so many snakes. Eventually we will get rid of the rats since we are breeding rabbits now.
 
I own several boas. No dumerils, however. Female Dumerils can get up to 7 feet, so make sure you are prepared!
 
I've never owned a boa, but a friend of mine has one that she absolutely adores. This boa is so tame from being handled quite frequently, that she will get the snake out, put it around her waist and go about her business as usual. The snake just "hugs" her body to stay on. It's quite amusing to see my friend, a petite 5' tall woman, have an almost 7' long snake wrapped around her body. For her, the size of the snake is not a problem. It may be for you though, but that's something only you can answer.

As for storing the rats, have you considered buying a separate freezer just for your frozen rodents? There are some small units out there that only cost about $100.
 
blckkat - that's quite a beauty you have there!

madamwlf - i won't be as fortunate...breeding rats around here will definitely not get a green light from my wife. :)

ChaosCat - That's exactly why I plan to get a male Dumeril, as they tend to be 1 to 2 feet shorter than a female. :)

Amanda - good idea. i was definitely considering a small freezer for the garage, assuming I can ween a Dumeril onto frozen/thawed.

Thanks all for the input! Much appreciated.
 
I have a BCI and two Dumerils. They are a lot of fun. The BCI is about six feet long, fun to play with, and very tame. I enjoy taking her out in the summer and to watch tv. She has the best personality.

The two Dums are about 6 months old. The female was nippy, but has settled down nicely with age. It took me two years to find a pair that were pretty enough and had good looking parents. I didn't want a Dum that would turn dark as it got older and the parents of my snakes were very colorful even though they were full grown.

As far as feeders are concerned, I keep a nice supply in the freezer. You never want to feed a live rat to a snake since they can hurt the snake. After a fashion, they will take frozen thawed.

BTW, Dumerils take a long time to reach maturity and don't grow as fast as red tailed boas. I'd GO for it! LOL
 
i have sonoran dwarf and a common boa
both are great to keep
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common boa
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sonoran dwarf boa

lee
 
My adult female is about 6 years old now, and she's almost 6'. She prob won't get much bigger. My male is the same age and 5 feet long. They are also much more slender than columbians and other boa constrictors, only being surpassed by the insular (island) species.
 
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