Bite Club

[bladespark]

I've been bitten by a rainbow boa. It was gorgeous. It looked about like these guys and was about that size. It didn't really hurt, just startled me a little. I've been hurt more wrestling with Kali, who sometimes forgets she has claws.

A few weeks ago JJ's mother noticed a sign for a reptile store. She knows I'm interested in snakes, so she mentioned it to us, and we went by last week to check it out. Well, last week they were moving things in and weren't open yet, so we decided to come back later. Later turned out to be today, and we dropped by for a while to see what they had.

The building itself is something of a hole, and we were rather expecting yet another dingy purveyor of imported animals of dubious health, but what we actually found was a tiny, sparkling clean, really spiffy place where they breed their own turles, and buy all their lizards and snakes from a friend who breeds. Nothing imported or wild-caught, or even captive hatched (eggs collected in the wild, animal hatched in captivity) everything was captive bred.

That's a really good sign, and I am very pleased! I'd been thinking I'd probably have to get a ball python shipped to me from somebody on line, because all the local sources have captive hatched, or wild caught, and I just don't want to deal with the health and behavior hassles, not to mention the dubious ethics, that come with imported reptiles. But the gal we talked to said she could almost certainly get me in a baby ball. I'm honestly tempted by the rainbow boas though. They get a little larger, but if she's got a male... They're so pretty! See? It was quite funny when I got bit. The gal picked the snake up out of the tank, and was handing it to me saying "They're tiny and nervous, so they're a little strikey." (strikey meaning "tending to strike," which many baby snakes are, just because they're food for everything, so they tend to be twitchy.) And about half a second after she said that, as she was putting the snake on my hand, sure enough it struck at me. Really fast, and for a bit I wondered if it had actually bit me, or just headbutted me hard or something, because I didn't really feel anything. But I have a little cluster if tiny red pinprick marks, so it did actually get me. They grow out of that though once they get a couple of feet long. It's really, really tempting... they're totally gorgeous, and the males don't get much longer than 5 feet, from what I'm reading, though not all sources seem to agree.

They're a different care hassle than ball pythons. Ball pythons are fussy eaters, rainbow boas are prone to over-eating and getting fat. Ball pythons are semi-arid, rainbow boas need lots and lots of moisture. I'll have to think about this some more before I make up my mind.

(I should add, the store had Columbian rainbow boas, rather than the slightly more common Brazilian type. I still can't find two sites that agree on exactly how big they get, but they're supposed to be smaller than the Brazilians, on average.)

Comments

[svashtar.livejournal.com]

Rainbow boas get between 6 and 7 1/2 feet long.

Pip was never strikey or particularly headshy. She was born mellow and has remained so well into her fourth year.

Pip is just over six feet long.

I've never worried about over feeding her. She gets fed a medium rat about every two weeks. As for the moisture, just keep a blanket over the enclosure and pour a gallon of warmish water into the tank once a week. I use shredded coconut husk for substrate, since it holds moisture really well.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Aha! Somebody who actually knows what she's talking about! *chuckles* I've found four different sites, and they all gave different sizes and had different proper temperatures and different everything! It was starting to annoy me.

[svashtar.livejournal.com]

First of all, this is Pip.


Second:
Heat - no more than 85-87 degrees. Too hot and you're going to cause problems for the snake. They can do all right with temps in the low 70s or so.

Humidity:
80% is fine. Don't let it dip lower than 70% or the snake will have trouble shedding properly and can wind up with a respiratory problem.

Feeding:
Rainbows are voracious eaters. When you get them as neonates, you can feed them large fuzzies, and they will start eating hoppers very quickly.

I had Pip eating rats by the end of her first year. She was being fed rat fuzzies before I put her on mice for a short time. She will not eat thawed frozen. Never has, and probably never will. Offering her such will cause her to turn up her nose at the food.

These snakes seem very mellow. I have yet to meet a twitchy rainbow.

They're easy to care for, if you know what you're doing. They are not a beginner's snake. But then, neither is a Ball python, which is a mistake a lot of novice snake owners will go for. Balls are temperamental when it comes to eating, and that is their only fault.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

*nod* Well, I'm a novice, but I'm at least a well-read novice. I really just can't see getting a cornsnake or other actual beginner snake. It'd be fun for a week or so, just because it's a snake, and then I'd be bored silly, because I don't really like them. I'd rather get something I loved, even if I have to put a lot more effort into it, you know? Because then I /would/ put in the effort. Most colubrids I'd just end up ignoring, I don't like colubrids. Not sure why, but I don't.

I'd like to find a good book, or really inclusive website that has everything anybody knows about rainbow boas, if there was such a thing.

And Pip is beautiful!

[svashtar.livejournal.com]

There isn't a lot of literature about Epicrates cenchria. Your best bet is to head on over to kingsnake.com and poke around their "other" boa forums. Or the Python forums for the Ball.

meh, both rock...

[aazhie.livejournal.com]

I have three balls and only one is REALLY fussy eater. if you buy one from a reliable breeder, they will sell you their beginner babies. I think balls are more tolerant of temperature and humididty fluctuations, at least in your sort of area. It doesn't snow where ya live does it?
Rainbows are so pretty, I have always wanted one, after white lipped pythons. Both white's and rainbows are fairly difficult to find individual books about them :P but my local store sells both, so someday i may get one of them... :D
I would advise getting as experienced with as many snakes as you can, even colubrids, even if you never own one, it is nice to get used to handling and seeing what different snake's temperments and activity levels are like. I would say go back to the store and talk them up about all the snakes you like and try and handle a lot of them. Ask how they deal with feeding/temp/humidity issues and all that crud. Don't be shay to ask to hndle their snakes, get in as much confidence with them as you can. You should be able to ask to watch them get fed too.
Having one of your own can be a little wierd, i imagine it's something what new parents go through on a smaller scale :3 just being responsible for someone else is a big thing, lol, so it's nice to have the experince of handling and possibly helping care for them before you get one!

Re: meh, both rock...

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

We get no snow, except on very rare occasions, when it's all anybody talks about for a month afterwards. Also it's fairly humid here to start with, which should help, though of course it's not nearly humid enough We're in a temperate climate and not too far from an actual temperate rain forest, which is awesomeness. So anyhow, never gets really cold, never gets really hot either. Makes regulating temperature much simpler.

And I intend to visit the store as often as possible, and handle the snakes as much as possible. Especially now that I'm considering buying there. I always felt guilty at the other two local pet stores when asking them to get out a reptile for me to hold, because I knew darn well that I would never in a million years actually buy a pet at either place, they're both rather dodgy. One is an outright hole, I wouldn't even buy a feeder mouse there. The other's okay, but it's the kind of place where they'd probably sell a kid a reticulated python, you know? They take good care of the critters but they're only in it for the money, so anything to get a sale.

I've certainly had pets before, so I know what you mean. Keeping a cat can be, in some ways, much more work than keeping a snake. You don't have to worry about environment as much, but you certainly have to feed it, clean up after it, and play with it much more often! I love my cats though.