Pure colombians/not-a-dwarf-cross?

[mainbutter]

Long story short:

With life settling down, I want to get back into snakes. BCIs are at the top of the list, and I'm pretty dead set on wanting a "big" snake.

I know the majority of BCI locales, especially SA boas, tend to be known as "smaller varieties", with the standard big boa being what were imported as simply "colombian redtail boas".

Can I assume these days that pretty much all BCI morphs, and their more normal looking offspring, are dwarf or "smaller variety" crosses?

If I was dead set on wanting an animal that would likely be "not a dwarf, but full-sized", how should I go about looking for one?

Thanks for any tips or suggestions! I'm just trying to figure out what options I have to compare.

[ldydrgn]

Re: Pure colombians/not-a-dwarf-cross?

If you want big, look into Peruvian Bcc or Argentine Bco. Those are generally going to be larger than the Bci. As far as Bci morphs... I have seen monster hypos and jungles. If you inquire as to the size of the Dams and Sires of the litters when talking to boa breeders, you can get an idea of how big the babies will end up being.

[acephantom903]

Re: Pure colombians/not-a-dwarf-cross?

From my knowledge, most of the South American BCIs are larger in size than Central American BCIs... Columbian BCIs can get quite large depending on many things. A member of my local Herpetological society has a brother and sister Columbian BCIs who were previously owned by two people who power fed them. The male is 10' long and 60 pounds and the female is 12' long and 100 pounds. He is bringing them both back to healthy weights (mainly the female) under his care. Don't think that they will stay small. If you expect them to stay small, they will get big. If you want them to get big, they will stay small. It just depends on genes and feeding. Power feeding is a bad thing and should never be done intentionally. Those 2 snakes I mentioned probably will not live to be past 15 years old.

Snakes will get as big as they need to. We should not intentionally make them grow slower or faster.

EDIT: Like what was said before me, ask about the parents. Most dwarfs bred with normal sized will tend to be normal sized but this is not guaranteed. That is why there are some groups of people who like pure lines because you know what to expect. With morphs, it all depends. For example: The Motley morph. We don't know a huge amount about it other than the basic genetics. It has only been around for just over 20 years which is within the lifespan of one snake. The super form is linked to underdeveloped muscles, but we don't know if it is in the normal form. I'm no expert on morphs or genetics so this is only my interpretation of what I've been told.

[mainbutter]

Re: Pure colombians/not-a-dwarf-cross?

Thanks for the replies.

I'll probably just start surfing various classifieds and asking about parent sizes for now. If anyone has specific lines I should look at, please suggest them!

[Varanis]

Re: Pure colombians/not-a-dwarf-cross?

Generally most of your morphs are Colombian based and get good sised.
A lot if people will cross in the smaller insular varieties calling them dwarfs but it doesn't work that way.
The pure locality boas like the El Salvadorans and the Mexican boas tend to stay smaller.
Here is a comparison between an El Salvador baby "the smaller" VS. A Colombian het Kahl albino "the larger"
The El Salvadoran is about a week older.
.

Most CA locality boas are smaller than Colombian types, for true dwarfs like above you're best getting pure local.
In general most of your non CA morphs will get fairly sizable.

[walla2GSP]

Re: Pure colombians/not-a-dwarf-cross?

I know Zaphod42 has some animals on here that look pretty nice, but I think to give you a good recommendation people will need to know a little more what you are interested in. There are dozens of morphs out there, and it seems like everyone has a little different angle on breeding programs. Which is great because it keeps the animals diverse, but you need to do the research to find what you want. If you want a labyrinth I would call Boaphile, you know since he discovered it and is the only one selling offspring as far as I know. What enclosure do you have for the animal? Do you want an adult or hatchling? I'm fairly new so I'm still doing a lot of research and thinking these things through myself, but there is a wealth of knowledge here once you know what you are after.

[bcr_229]

Re: Pure colombians/not-a-dwarf-cross?

Long story short:

With life settling down, I want to get back into snakes. BCIs are at the top of the list, and I'm pretty dead set on wanting a "big" snake.

I know the majority of BCI locales, especially SA boas, tend to be known as "smaller varieties", with the standard big boa being what were imported as simply "colombian redtail boas".

The largest boas are actually BCC, such as Surinam or Peruvian. If that's what you're looking for then stick to breeders with pure/known lines.

Can I assume these days that pretty much all BCI morphs, and their more normal looking offspring, are dwarf or "smaller variety" crosses?

Actually no, most "morphs" are not dwarfs. Like with the BCC, people who work with the dwarf localities strive to keep the lines pure. It's a big of a marketing gimmick - and an excuse to overcharge IMO - to label a boa as a CA or CA-cross since it won't get too big. Many buyers these days seem to want boas, but not a huge snake.

If I was dead set on wanting an animal that would likely be "not a dwarf, but full-sized", how should I go about looking for one?

If all you want is a common BCI that will get up to a decent size, look at your local Facebook groups or even Craigslist for adult female boas. Lots of people get that cute little worm when it's just a few months old, without doing their research, and they're surprised a few years down the road when she's outgrown the 40-breeder and they have to shell out for expensive caging. If you have a good eye you can find some real gems out there.

If you want a morph there are a ton of breeders, I would just suggest researching sellers on the Fauna BOI before sending money.

[mainbutter]

Re: Pure colombians/not-a-dwarf-cross?

What enclosure do you have for the animal? Do you want an adult or hatchling?

Yeah I've got a 4x2x2 in storage and a 4x32qt rack in the bedroom and snakeless, pretty set up for anything but I'm looking to get a young animal that I raise up.

My priorities in looking for options:
1) did it have an ancestry of big genetics?

2) cost

3) something a little more interesting in the paintjob department than just the normal bci you'd see at corner shops in the 90s.

With carpet pythons I always knew what kind of growth potential I was likely getting, because even crosses are pretty well documented as to what crosses they are. I've had difficulty nailing down information on ancestry of various morphs, lines, etc. with the history boas have with crossing, selective breeding, and creating combination morphs.

[acephantom903]

Re: Pure colombians/not-a-dwarf-cross?

A 4'x2'x2' cage is only large enough for a growing boa without being a minimum size or it is a minimum size for a male adult. A nice size for a male is 6'x2'x2' or larger. Female 6'x2'x'2 is a minimum and 8'x2'x2' or larger is nice.
Unless you mean meters, in which case that is a very nice size.