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Dumerils Boa. Do you recommend them as a pet?

nathan8194

nathan8194

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Thinking about getting a Dumerils Boa later on down the road and im just doing research. What are your guy's thoughts on them as pets? Size? Size tank? Easy enough to obtain? Thanks!

-N
 
I have a massive 8 foot female who is sweet as pie. Keep her in an 8x2 and feed her a 6 week old chicken every two weeks. She is somewhat exceptional, though.
 
Dumerils make great pets IMO and I think 8" is a really big one. Get a male and I doubt it will hit 6 feet. I seem to recall years ago Bill love saying he never saw one over 6 feet in the wild while he was doing his Madagascar eco tours. They do seem to eat less as adults than other boas. Like Chris, I found a 2 week schedule to be preferable. If I tried every week as often as not mine would skip one anyway and I was just wasting rats.

I've had burms, balls, red tails, hog islands, and argentines over the years and the Dumerils have been by far my favorite.
 
sschind said:
Dumerils make great pets IMO and I think 8" is a really big one. Get a male and I doubt it will hit 6 feet. I seem to recall years ago Bill love saying he never saw one over 6 feet in the wild while he was doing his Madagascar eco tours. They do seem to eat less as adults than other boas. Like Chris, I found a 2 week schedule to be preferable. If I tried every week as often as not mine would skip one anyway and I was just wasting rats.

I've had burms, balls, red tails, hog islands, and argentines over the years and the Dumerils have been by far my favorite.
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Wow thank you very much! Are they relatively easy to care for? Also are they easy enough to obtain? I know python like the White lipped python are hard to obtain. Havent seen many people selling Dumerils either:/

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Care is like any red tail. Fairly simple to maintain. They are not as common as red tails because IMO there are no morphs. No morphs translates to less money which translates to less interest. There are people trying to hawk "high pinks" for higher prices sometimes but personally I wouldn't fall for it. Those pinks almost always fade to a normal looking adult.

You should be able to pick one up for $100.00 to $150.00 bucks depending on the source. Just keep looking. I'd be kinda surprised if you don't get some PMs from this thread. Keep an eye out at the local shows (I think you just missed Daytona) one should turn up before long.
 
sschind said:
Care is like any red tail. Fairly simple to maintain. They are not as common as red tails because IMO there are no morphs. No morphs translates to less money which translates to less interest. There are people trying to hawk "high pinks" for higher prices sometimes but personally I wouldn't fall for it. Those pinks almost always fade to a normal looking adult.

You should be able to pick one up for $100.00 to $150.00 bucks depending on the source. Just keep looking. I'd be kinda surprised if you don't get some PMs from this thread. Keep an eye out at the local shows (I think you just missed Daytona) one should turn up before long.
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Yeah i did miss daytona. I worked all weekend:/ Thank you so much!

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I have four, two regular size and a pair from Tom Prato's dwarf lines. The dwarf critters are definitely smaller in size and it's not from being underfed.

These guys like to run just a bit cooler and dryer than BCI which makes them easier to care for. Like all boas they tend to be garbage disposals, and mine will hit both rats and rabbits with gusto. Because they run cooler I give my adults a small-ish (for them) meal every two weeks rather than one that barely leaves a lump after three weeks.

Unlike my BCI's they are less active and flighty while being handled, and when I had long(er) hair my big male loved to drape himself across my shoulders, get under my hair, and just chill there for hours.

They are heavy-bodied and surprisingly strong for their length, so they can give the feeling of handling a big snake without it being overly long.
 
I had a 7 ft female that weighed just under 40 pounds. She was a fantastic animal, but make sure your arm is nowhere near when you offer prey items. lol. Tame as a puppy dog when it wasn't feeding time, and dang was she strong! I loved working with her. I've owned balls, RTBs, colubrids, sand boas, and the dumerils female.
 
nathan8194 said:
Thinking about getting a Dumerils Boa later on down the road and im just doing research. What are your guy's thoughts on them as pets? Size? Size tank? Easy enough to obtain? Thanks!

-N
Click to expand...

Nathan, I have kept them for about ten years and I would state as a whole they are one of the calmest and easiest species to work with. I have yet to meet a cage aggressive one. Two thumps up for a "pet" snake to keep.
 
You may have already gotten one .. or certainly should be sold on them after all the comments here ... I am of the same mind-set and opinion as Dennis .. I have several which are 6+feet and find them very docile and easy to handle .. no cage aggression and they amongst my favorite larger snakes I have ... I can't say enough good things about them and definitely recommend them!!
 
acecurl16 said:
You may have already gotten one .. or certainly should be sold on them after all the comments here ... I am of the same mind-set and opinion as Dennis .. I have several which are 6+feet and find them very docile and easy to handle .. no cage aggression and they amongst my favorite larger snakes I have ... I can't say enough good things about them and definitely recommend them!!
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I haven't gotten one yet! Still doing as much research as I can! But my wife and I held one the other day(a 3-4 footer) and we both fell in love!

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Considering how easy they are to keep and how laid-back they are I'm surprised they're not recommended more often as a first snake.
 
It takes many years for them to get up to full size though. Get a baby and you have more than enough time to prepare for it to be an adult, and as it grows you learn how to handle it.
 
bcr229 said:
It takes many years for them to get up to full size though. Get a baby and you have more than enough time to prepare for it to be an adult, and as it grows you learn how to handle it.
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But people know that they can get up to 6ft and that might intimidate people. Who knows!

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My two favorites that stay at 5-6 feet would be my Dumerils and my Black Milksnakes ... same length but different girth ... but I wouldn't trade either ... you don't get the morphs you get with some but they are just fantastic snakes!
 
I have to agree with everyone here. I have a baby male dumeril's named Kovu. I got him from I think Repticon orlando earlier this year. There was a young woman with a super small table with a couple snakes on it, and my sweet Kovu and one other Dumeril's was on it. He was I think $100 and worth every penny.

He's super sweet, and I really don't care if there aren't any morphs, because their normal look is extravagantly beautiful. Also, like someone else said, he is a garbage disposal. He has never refused anything I've given him and eats consistently every time. He's a pig though, he'd probably eat every day if I would let him lol. I really think a Dumeril's would be a great first snake. So easy to care for, and so nice, and so pretty.

Kovu and I say goodbye and if you do decide to get one, you won't be disappointed!

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