A silly question on size

I have been offered the opportunity to purchase a female boa from a person through someone they know. NORMALLY I would flat out say no, but I am concerned and want some feedback.

Hello... Its XXXX from XXXX... I wanted to give you the heads up on a snake. My cousin has a Red Tail Boa that she is selling for $XXX and she wants it to to a good home. So I told her about you.

Heres the details:
Female
about 7 foot long (she taking it to get messured. the last time that she did it was 6'2)
around 6-7 ILBS
Healthy
Shes good around around other snakes... however she hasn't been with another snake in about a year and a 1/2.
My cousin still has all other original papers for her, she just needs to find them (she just moved recently)

My 5'3" male colombian weighs 5 lbs and my 7'3" female colombian weighs 16 lbs. Wouldn't an approximately 7' female red tail (of any type) be quite underweight at 6-7 lbs?

I would buy her just to get some weight on her if this is the case. I asked for pictures or to go see her to decide if I want her or not.

Based on what little info I have at this time...what do you think?

She sounds skinny.

The why of the skinniness is the real question.

Well, I have an idea that most people who have only one snake as a pet have no idea how to feed it.

The man I got my okeetee from fed him one small mouse every other week. For a 28-32" corn. I have had him for almost 4 years now and he is 50"+ and 538 grams and eats 1 jumbo mouse every 10 days. I have another snake, an undersized male (sex unverified) BP---35" and 532 grams (fed 2 rat pup 3 days ago)----that was fed 2 small mice every other week. He is over 5 years old.

I really want to see this snake. If she is as thin as I think I'll bring her home, take her to my vet, and get her to where she should be.

If the measurement is correct you may just be getting a wet shed from the snake. About a pound a foot is way too low of a weight for a boa. Are they sure it's a boa? You may go over there to find a pine snake being called a boa.

Well I tend to agree with these other posters. The snake does sound very light for it's length, but what is the reason?, Parasites?, Poor feeding habits?,
Lack of proper feeding? Poor husbandry?
I got a boa (B.C.I.) that was 28 inches long and very skinny at 2 yrs old from this kid who claimed that he only fed her every 2 weeks to a month, with a couple of occasions where he didn't have the money to feed her except every 2 months.
Well turns out after a yr and a little bit, as well as about $460.oo in vet bills (Parasites, R.I. & checkups) she is doing much better but I fear she will always remain a little stunted.
The biggest question I have is are you willing to take this financial burden on?
Add to this the cost of the animal, housing, etc. and this is a pretty expensive animal.
I myself am lucky as I do have the resourses to deal with this extra cost and considered it a rescue.

Shelly..



It may be worth the trip over just to see the snake. If this is someone that is not really into reps they could very well just be spouting off and guessing at the weight.

If in fact it is on the thin side you could use this as a bargining tool on the price... you know.. " Hey! This snake is too skinny!! You ll never sell her looking like this!.. here's $50 for her.. now I will take care of her.."

Know what I mean? That is if you wanted to rescue her if that is what she turns out to be!

sounds like a possible case of the big fish syndrom to me. I was talking to one guy and he told me a story about a 15 foot boa, sounded big to me but hey its not totally impossible, then later on the story came back again but it was about 10 feet. I brought the guy over to my house was showing him my snakes, pulled out my biggest Bp, maybe 4 and a half feet and he said maybe the snake was around that size. I don't know how a 4 foot snake can be mistaken for a 15 footer but who knows. In this case maybe they think its 7 feet and have weighed it in at 6/7 pounds or maybe its all just an inacurate guess. Let use know if you go to see it.
John

Well, I haven't heard back from the woman about pics or going to see the snake.....she went away for the weekend. Hopefully Monday I can get some information.

I had 3 snakes that were rescue BPs. The phone calls I got all said the same thing.....there is this boa that needs help. I am ALWAYS ready to take in a boa, but I have so much trouble with BPs that I'd just rather not. Now I have 3 male BPs left (one rescue, one gift, one I bought as a pet) and no one has "given" me a boa

Yes, I need to see it. If she is really that underweight there would be a problem. Hopefully it IS a boa, weighs more than they think, or is smaller than they think. If it's a BP I'm going to be very disappointed.