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Red Tail Boa Help?

A

abbccjns

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I've been looking at the idea of getting a Columbian Red Tail Boa (MALE) and recently came across someone in my state that needs to rehome theirs. I was wondering though, what size are your adult males or adults males you have seen? My only concern is that if mine gets to large I'd have to feed it rabbits, which i don't really have the access to where I live besides not wanting to do. I'd like my snake to be around 6-7.5 feet and 8 the largest, which is why I'm definitely wanting a male since I want a smaller one. Does anyone have pictures and weights/lengths of their adult males?
 
A 6' to 8' male is almost unheard of. Well not unheard of, but not something you see every day. My breeder males are all under 6' and average around 4 1/2' and they're eating medium rats every 14-21 days. In my opinion rabbits will never be a concern especially for a male, so you should have nothing to worry about. If you did what a larger male 6' plus take a look at pure BCC's (Suriname, Peruvian, Guyanan, Northern Brazilian) as they tend to get larger than BCI's (Colombian, Cenral American, Island locals, etc.)

Good luck in your search! Please just do your research before picking one up.
(housing, temps, feeding, temperaments, etc.) vary from locality to locality.
 
Thank you! That is what I figured, but wanted to be sure before taking the snake in. Apparently this one is 5.5 feet and about 3.5 years old. The owner said that he got him around 1.5 years old from a friend who didn't feed him often, so he isn't sure he will be that large anyway, which sounds fine to me. I figured that males wouldn't get too large, but every caresheet and many people online seem to exaggerate just how large the males (well and females) can get. This snake that I am looking at needs to be rehomed by wednesday since the owner is moving out of state, so I definitely will be taking him now!
 
Large males are not impossible, I have seen a few that were definitely 9 footers. Most of those were before the current views on feeding took hold; though one of them had never been fed more often than 2x/month, or more than one item per feeding...and he still got huge.
 
I have a feeling this one won't get too large, either way he is coming with a large tank that will last his whole life and apparently is most likely not going to be too large due to barely being fed the first year of his life. :/ I wouldn't mind a 9 foot male, just as long as he doesn't need to eat rabbits is all I really care about lol.
 
(2) XXL/XXXL frozen/thawed rats every 14-21 ( maybe even every 30 days for a good part of the year ) would be more than enough for any 8' plus adult boa. I would feed my breeder Burmese females (1) large rabbit ( or 3 XXX F/T Rats ) every 21-30 days all year long ( except when they were gravid ) with out issue. The rat(s) "satisfied" the big girls just as the rabbits would have.

Point being you could have a massive, 9' Suriname male that would do perfectly fine on big frozen thawed rats ever 3-4 weeks.
 
Also, I was wondering what size Rats I should be feeding a 5.5 foot Male Columbian Red Tail Boa? (large, extra large, double extra large, or triple extra large)
 
Apparently he is being fed one of the XL ones, but not really sure which size exactly. Also he is being fed like (one rat) once every 2 weeks, is this a good amount?
 
Depending on his girth that sounds fine. All of my males (2 years and older) are fed an appropriate sized meal every 2-4 weeks depending on size and time of year.

For a healthy, 5' male (pet) boa 1 rat every 14-21 days should be perfect.

I also suggest using frozen thawed over live. A live rat (especially a XL or bigger) can really do some damage to a snake (even a bug one) Most pet stores and all reptile specialty stores should keep them in stock.
 
Don't worry i would NEVER even think of feeding live. I've had 4 mice and 3 rats as pets, I would never let them suffer like that or potentially hurt my snake. So just XL not anything larger is fine for the 5.5 foot male boa then? I'm going to buy some frozen ones from rodentpro
 
Look into American Rodent Supply, their
medium rats are plenty for our males.
Their large feed our 6' female every 5-6 weeks.
With RP's well known history, they just ain't worth the gamble.

The important thing is for the OP to invest
in alot more research on proper care of BCI.
 
Wait what is rodent pros history? I have only heard good of them and been recommended by all. The only thing I wasn't sure about was the exact size (either XL, or XXL) for the specific snake I have. I will look at American Rodent Supply though, if their's are labeled smaller but actually the same size and cheaper that would be nice.
 
All the current running forums have a SEARCH feature
Volumes of RP history has been logged.
Some folks like RP and sing their praise, others chose not to
gamble with the known/chronic inconsistency of their service
and prey quality
 
Perhaps I did not feel like searching? I DO realize I can look things up if I please.

A simple, "some feel their service and/or quality is inconsistent" would have sufficed since I decided to ask you after you decided to mention this, and not go searching for what other people had to say.

Thank you
 
abbccjns said:
Perhaps I did not feel like searching? I DO realize I can look things up if I please.

A simple, "some feel their service and/or quality is inconsistent" would have sufficed since I decided to ask you after you decided to mention this, and not go searching for what other people had to say.

Thank you
Click to expand...

Warning: This is not the BOI

It doesn't matter if you feel like searching, this is simply not the place for ongoing discussions about vendors. The comments leading to your question notwithstanding, YOU made the inquiry. Both Rodent Pro and ARS have BOI threads - if you want to find out about them, that is the place to go.
 
I asked 1 person's personal opinion 1 time. There was no discussion, only one question. He brought up about how I shouldn't use one place when I did not even ask ANYONE where I should buy from. I was only trying to find out general size of a prey item for the snake I have. That is all. I did not know hat 1 mention of a website was not allowed when saying what I'm going to purchase for sizes. Sorry
 
So when it was just brought up that the size difference might be something I can work with better I was curious about the size as well, which nomatter what vendor it was, apparently those prey items were larger so I was curious. Once again, I am sorry.
 
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