Adopting a red tail

My buddy is giving me a 2 year old columbian. I know for a fact that it was underfed. I think its about 3.5 ft (just a guess) how long should a boa of that age be. ive never owned a red tail it currently in a 55 gal tank, heat lamp and uv, all the norms, but do they need a higher humidity than say a burm or is there anything that i have to do that is different than for anyother snake.

Thanks.

COLOMBIAN BCI need a minimal of 80-85*constant, max 90* humidity 50-55% constant up wards of 65% during shed cycles,prey items should be slightly larger then the largest lower third of the animals body mass.Tanks are good *temporary* enclosures(difficult to manage but can safely contain smaller animal).Heating should be done with under tank sources and not over head light fixtures.

thanks but do you know how long a healty 2 and a half year old RTB should be??

Length of a 2 1/2 yr old Boa cannot be accurately determined by age. Even among litter mates, you can have some that just grow slow, and others that grow fast.

As an "average" I'd say 4-5 foot. But you said 2 yr old to start out. Where'd the extra 6 months come from? 6 months can make a huge difference in Boa growth, especially the first 3-4 yrs of it's life.

Advice....Instead of worrying about how big it "should be" just worry about getting it on a proper diet, and nature will take care of the rest if it's a healthy animal. Setting some sort of expectations for size can lead to disappointments. In more than one way.

I was just typing fast this morning and made a mistake 2 years is what i meant. as for the expectations i have for the size, i have none. i just want the animal to be healthy of course. I was just trying to figure out how malnourished it was. my friend would never admit it to me but his girl friend told me at one time he was feeding it once a month. But any ways i will be picking it up on sunday and will give a more accurate description

Pictures may help to give better advice if you can post some when the time comes.

Good luck
Rick

ya so i got the RTB what you cant see from the pics is that it has creases and raised scales on its sides is it because it wasn't humid enough?? there is a heat pad under the hide, should that stay on all the time or should it go off at night. Also should the water dish be big enough to soak in if so then the one provided is to small. and last do they need a UV light? it is a beautiful and very docile snake. is there anything else anyone can tell me about owning a boa compared to owning pythons, which i do have.

Thanks

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...XxV/RTB005.jpg
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...XxV/RTB002.jpg
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...XxV/RTB001.jpg

Do the scales look like this?




If so, I don't know what causes it. It's just an anomaly I have been told. I have some that have it, others that don't. It's never seemed to affect their health or shedding though, so I quit worrying about it. LOL

Believe it or not, that snake really ain't THAT skinny IMHO. A little thin, but not really emaciated or anything. Boa should have a lean muscular body all the way down. Personally, I think a regular feeding schedule of every couple weeks would show a difference in just a couple months. Nice looking animal though. Hard to say, but it looks to me to have characteristics of BCC and BCI. May be a cross of the two.

I leave my hot spot on 24/7 and check it several times a day. You need to regulate it in some way, like a thermostat, or at minimum, a rheostat, so that it does not get too hot. Some of the UTH units have a rheostat built into them. But don't rely on the units readings by themselves. Get another temp unit like this from wally world or something as an independent way of measuring temps for safety.

Water bowl should be big enough for the snake to soak in, if it wants to. Some soak, some don't. Humidity should be around 50-60 constant, with higher RH during sheds. The unit mentioned above will have a humidity reading to help with this.

As far as the difference of keeping Boa and Python, I'll let someone who actually does this speak up. I haven't had pythons for years, so rather than ill advise, I'll chime out.


Good looking snake. I hope it turns out to be a nice pet for you.
Rick

ya the creases look exactly like the pic you posted. the heating pad doesn't have a thermostat built in, i will get one. y is it better for boas to use heating pads insted of lights?? i have heard horror stories about burns and scars, so i have allways been steered away from them. What is a BCC and a BCI??

Thanks for the help Richard