I've made up my mind to get a Boa since I've wanted one for as long as I can remember. I mainly need advice on setting up a tank. Any general tips/advice would be greatly appreciated, too

My mom said she's gonna kick me out if i get one.. hehe. Not like that's gonna stop me

I really wanted one too. That or a bat. If I get a snake, my dad says he'll kill it, and then kick me out (he's from some land far away.. I'm sure theres a story behind it.

yeah, it was either a boa or an iguana. Iguana's are cool, but boa's are just freakin' beautiful. And I can't wait 'till I can tell chicks I have a 9 foot snake

Funny.. I tell chicks I have a 2" snake, and they never seem to call me back.

I had a 4 1/2 foot python.. sweet snakes.. my brother has two redtail boas.. sweet as well.. only nonsweet snake I have is my lil garter, he's a evil lil warmsucking booger..but still my baby boy

I own a Columbian Red Tail Boa. There okay to own. I hope you buy your snake from a reliable shop or person. Make sure your buying a Boa with no mites or any other illness'. To avoid buying cage after cage, just buy a nice wooded or plastic 4-6 foot cage with plexy-glass windows. Habitat systems makes a good cage. For bedding you can use newspaper(very inexpensive) or Care-Fresh pet bedding. Feeding your snake is a toss up. Some people seem to think live prey is okay, while otheres think is bad because live prey carry bacteria and peracites. Its really up to you. When you feed your snake take it out of the cage and put it in a bag or box to eat. So he will get use to being handled by you. There is a lot more I'm forgetting but this is all I can remember off the top of my head.

I'm only going to buy a captive-bred snake. Definatly going to be doing alot of shopping around. As for the cage, I've read that you shouldn't keep a baby snake in a large cage because they like to be closed in. I think I'm going to start off with around a 50 gallon long tank, I don't mind buying a few new tanks. Then I can also use the old tanks to store the snake while I clean the current one.. For feeding I think I'm going to use the frozen mousies another bad thing I've heard about the live ones is that they'll sometimes attack the snake.

Well, time to go check out the pet stores. Thanks you guys!

Hope your' planning on keeping that snake in
Golden Valley.
Already got "BOB" as a neighbor.
Was told he is a Boa constrictor(or something like that)
I must of jumped 10 feet backwards,when my new neighbor introduced be to BOB.
As he is lifting his head out of the grass.
Was told, he likes to take walks (so to speak)
in the backyard.

Tina

I'll add some more cents.. hehe..

I feed our snakes live mice only, my garter live worms only hehe. If you feed it live mice/rats(depending on its size) .. it aint bad to buy lives ones, if the snake can't handle itself with the live one, just kill the mouse/rat.. and feed it like that, I dont use anything special to feed our big female, just plop her butt on the floor in the den(after waking her fully) and old the mouse by the tail near its mouth and let her pull it out of my hands, rather 'fun'. Our small male is picky about eating, So he gets fed in a box. my Garter however doesn't really care, when I first got em I fed em by hand, out of my palm. Got a good bit of bites myself from the lil thing. hehe, but he's cool. I personally want albino ball python, but up around 8grand is what I was told to expect to pay, and no way I'm paying that much for a pet unless its a Fiero.

I would kill to get an albino boa, I love the coloring. Cheapest I've seen for them has been about 1 grand... I'm not looking to spend more than $250...

the petshop I got to, and I'd suggest anyone in my area to go to, has 2-3 differant albino burmese's... they are his own and now for sale but they are beautiful. He has a 11 foot 80lb burmese.. way toooo big for me, I'll keep my lil garter and breed that fella.. lil don juan..

KRIKEY! <crocodile hunter>

Standard- A 50 gallon long tank isn't exactly small either. 10 to 15 gallon for a baby or juvenile is cool. Try to avoid glass and get plexy-glass if you can. It's really all up to snake as fare as eating goes. My Boa will not eat frozen mice, so I feed it live mice. When you buy mice or rats use common sense in sizing. $250 is way more then enough for a Columbian Red Tail, pay no more then $100. The other South American Red Tails are more expensive like a Peruvian. Good luck man.

Yeah, I went and looked at some tanks yesterday and the 50-gallon and up tanks all cost more than $200... so the 20 gallon long tank at $100 is lookin' really good.

Thanks again guys! I'm not gonna be gettin' the snake for a few weeks, but I'll post some pics when I get one.

Well the 20 gallon tank was 50 bucks, not 100. This is all coming out quite a bit less expensive then I thought it would so I'll probably be getting a snake much quicker than I thought. Found a good pet store with captive bred snakes that are very healthy and alert. Narrowed it down to either a red-tail BCC or a ball python. One of the red-tails seems to have taken a liking to me it stares at me whenever I'm there. He's my first pick, but if he doesn't check out I'm gonna look at the ball pythons.

My mom still says she doesn't want a snake in the house, but I think she'll get used to it once it's here. And once I sneak up on her with it a few times

Of course, I wouldn't do that because I'd be too scared of her hurting the snake... but I can always imagine doing it.. hehe

Well, I did it. Went and got my snake Colombian red-tail BCC. It's a female, so she's gonna get pretty big. Just curled up in the corner of the cage right now, I took some pics just need to get the film developed. Now I gotta figure out a name...

Thats what I'm stuck at, a name for my female ball I just got. Not as big as my first ball, but she will be even bigger. Perhaps one day I'll get lucky and breed her and get a albino out of her. I'd love to have a albino ball.

I decided to name her Kula

One question though... when you first bring home your snake how much exploring does it do? Mine's been climbing the sides of the tank a bit. Doesn't seem like she wants to settle down. It's soooooo hard to leave her alone. I can't handle her so I've had to be content with staring at her for hours

my girl crawled up to the top of her cage and fell back down and tried it again, couldn't let her fall again so I had to grab her. hehe, Depends on the snake I guess. The only time mine really likes to explore is when I have her around my neck, she'll play in my hair..

oh yeah, I named her Leia..

Well Kula finally settled down. Found her hides and she's soaking in the water bowl right now. I dropped the film off to be developed today so I'll have pics on wednesday.

That's really cool. How big do these snakes get and what size aquarium do they need to live in? I love keeping fish. I've got a 40 gallon freshwater and I'm going to try my luck with a small reef tank. I was thinking of turtles in kind of a planted habitat type tank, but a snake would be much more hands-on and personable. How long do they live and what are their basic requirements?

Well, a female red-tail Boa Constrictor Constrictor (BCC) grows to an average length of 10-11 feet. Sometimes even bigger. Males are usually a bit shorter, usually 8-9 feet. They live about 30 years.

The first year after they're born they usually grow to 3-5 feet. The year after that they grow another 3-4 feet. The rest of their life they only grow a few inches a year.

They require a tank with a temperature gradient, about 85* on the hot side and upper 70's on the cool side during the day, and a little cooler at night, about 80* on the hot side. The ambient humidity of the room should be fine as long as it's above 30% and the boa has a water bowl big enough to soak in. They also need at least 2 hides, one on the hot side and one on the cool side. A branch or something for them to climb is also helpful.

When they're young they eat about once a week, after they get older usually about once every 2 weeks. They eat mice and rats, on up to small rabbits and guinea pigs when they're older. The food should be as big as the widest part in the snake's body.

That's about all I can think of right now... If you have any more questions just let me know!