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Dwarf Boas

Charlotte

Charlotte

Derp snake says hi.
Unfortunately, it looks like I just don't have the room for the Dumeril's boa that I so desperately want :( My available tank space is only about 3 1/2 feet and I'm not going to shove a 6 foot snake into that.

Soo.. I am starting to look into dwarf boas. I'm reading that they range from about 3-5 feet which is definitely manageable. Anyone on here have experience with them that they'd share, or breeders that they know of? Or other small boas?
 
I'm so confused. Now I'm seeing that Dumerils can mature ~5 feet, it's just not that common. And I have a lot of options besides actual Dwarf Boas (most of them seem to be in the UK anyways) - the Mexican boas tend to be smaller? Help, someone just sell me a fully mature 4' boa :laugh:
 
Charlotte said:
Unfortunately, it looks like I just don't have the room for the Dumeril's boa that I so desperately want :( My available tank space is only about 3 1/2 feet and I'm not going to shove a 6 foot snake into that.

Soo.. I am starting to look into dwarf boas. I'm reading that they range from about 3-5 feet which is definitely manageable. Anyone on here have experience with them that they'd share, or breeders that they know of? Or other small boas?
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I don't think ball pythons get all that big
 
If you mean Mexican boas as in the Mexican BCIs, yeah, they're dwarfs too. :) Rosy boas are also small (corn snake-sized) boas native to Mexico, but a very different animal from the Boa Constrictor complex.

If the largest you can provide is a 3.5 ft enclosure, then your best bet is to find a nice male dwarf locality boa. Vin Russo is a well known and highly regarded breeder of dwarf boas in the USA. There are other good dwarf boa breeders out there, of course, he's just the only name I know off the top of my head.

As far as Dumeril's, the males will stay smaller than the females (not sure how much smaller), but I'm still not sure a 3.5 ft enclosure would be quite adequate for one.
 
My boy Dumerils is every bit of six feet, sheds every couple months and is growing like a monster.(yes he is shedding and growing more frequently than normal, I've had him since Feb. and he arrived to me sick so he may just be catching up.) That is the typical large size for a male. Females usually top at 8 feet. I couldn't tell you from experience on that one as my female is only about a month and a half old :) Sand boas are cute, they are the smallest of the boas if I'm not mistaken. They are cheap, and even the normals are very pretty. Hmm, you could get a baby Dumerils, they mature slower than most boas according to the research I've done, takes 3 to 5 years to mature where red tails can be adult size in 2 years. So by the time it's getting big you can have money saved to get a bigger viv.
 
Weda737 said:
Hmm, you could get a baby Dumerils, they mature slower than most boas according to the research I've done, takes 3 to 5 years to mature where red tails can be adult size in 2 years. So by the time it's getting big you can have money saved to get a bigger viv.
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The issue with this is that it's not the money - well, it is - but I just don't have the room. The most tank space I can utilize is 3 1/2 feet long.

I've looked into Kenyans but they just don't have the dog-like boa face that I love so much.
 
Look into:
Nicaraguan Boa, Caluker's Cay, Corn Isle, Mexican, Costa Rica.
3.5 feet is the total, or just length?
 
Go with Kokopelli's suggestions.. he's the boa guy!

And with the comment about ball pythons.. DON'T do it!
 
Ball pythons aren't so bad, sure they miss a few meals but mostly they have the girth to sustain them. But... I'm no expert, I only had 2 as pets.
 
From my experience, balls are terrible beginner snakes. It's not the missing meals, it's the fact that one little thing goes wrong on their husbandry and they stress out so bad you think they'll die. Ramesses had terrible sheds, stopped eating, and his scales starting splitting in half.. all because his cage was too tall/light. His humidity, heat, etc was spot on. As soon as he moved into a boaphile rack, he resumed eating in a week, and stopped having bad sheds.
 
BP's are recognized and renowned EXCELLENT beginner snakes... let's put things in perspective.

I've had veracious Boas stop eating for 3 months because they didn't like their new cage(within 5 minutes of returning to the old cage- bam, strike fed).

Quite a few that would simply NOT eat until you left the room, in the dark... for at least 30 minutes.

BP's are usually easy to work with. The periods in which they stop eating is consistent with the needs of their metabolic system, which is very slow... they are small predators from a land where huge predators roam- they rely on eating infrequently to survive and they are FINE with that.

Boas have their own set of concerns... some find them very difficult to breed.

Having said that, I find BP's boring... that's all. They have less of a personality, IMHO, and are a bit too lazy.

@Alicat37- I can't argue with your description since you can't check something that already occurred. However, I assure you that more than one thing changed when you changed the vivarium, which is why things corrected themselves. The fact that two things occurred simultaneously does not mean that one is the direct cause to the other.
 
Vin emailed me back and said that he can't sell snakes to minors.

I didn't even think that that could be a possible roadblock... grrrr.
 
I respectfully disagree with balls being good beginner snakes. I have yet to see a ball python that is healthy looking unless it is owned by a breeder. Every ball I've ever seen has looked dull with scales chipping off, and people constantly tell me that shedding in millions of pieces is normal for a ball python. I already mentioned that it's not the finicky eating that is a concern with them, nor is breeding. I'm talking about husbandry related ease.

I like boas better too, mine is probably my favorite snake. I have found his care to be simple. He's never had a bad shed, never missed a meal, never had scales break apart, etc. Plus he's got a huge personality, which I love.
 
AliCat37 said:
I respectfully disagree with balls being good beginner snakes. I have yet to see a ball python that is healthy looking unless it is owned by a breeder. Every ball I've ever seen has looked dull with scales chipping off, and people constantly tell me that shedding in millions of pieces is normal for a ball python. I already mentioned that it's not the finicky eating that is a concern with them, nor is breeding. I'm talking about husbandry related ease.
.
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You have to realize that your experience, respectful though it may be, does not represent the average.
It can be any number of reasons... there are still WC animals out there(normals), and animals that go through hell since they are cheap and sold by the hundreds... if a person gets such an animal than yeah, health issues can occur... this is true to all snake species though.

BP's are not so prosperous because they are difficult to keep and have a high mortality rate.
I personally had very healthy BP's, and I know many people here who successfully keep them and they are not by any means breeders.

The literature is quite available, and the conditions that need to be provided are quite easy to maintain.

So... it's ok to base an opinion on experience... it's sensible... but it is preferable to weight that against the wealth of experience of the collective of keepers.
 
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