FAQ

The growth of your animal all depends on your feeding schedule and size of the food. The more food you feed your animal the bigger and faster it will grow. The care and husbandry is very similar to keeping the Common Boa or, boa c. imperator, (BCI). The Florida Redtails Lineage of Suriname Locality can grow in excess of 8-9 ft and weigh more than 40-50 lbs. You can manage the size of your animal by following a strict feeding program. If you desire a smaller more manageable size animal don't over feed it. You can easily keep a 6-8 year old animal under 6 ft. if fed sparingly. Boas can go a long time without food. This is by design.

This is probably the most controversial and argued topics about keeping boas we know of. So..... rather than jump down this rabbit hole and tell you what to do, we will just tell you the schedule and process we have adopted successfully for the past 25 years. Among the most important is a strict and disciplined schedule beginning after the first shed. We first introduce frozen thawed prey to initiate a successful feeding response. If this attempt does not work we then offer live prey. Once they begin feeding on live prey we convert them to frozen thawed. We feed all our newborns on various sizes of mice for the first year to 14 months. Rats are introduced after that in various sizes throughout most of there adult life. We also like to advance the newborns to hopper mice, or small mice as soon as we can. The older preys tend to have less, or none of the mothers milk ingested prior to being euthanized. This fatty and lactose high cocktail doesn't seem to digest well with some of our neonates. Regurgitation and or runny stools has been observed over time so we move on as soon as we can. All our animals have graduated to frozen thawed food items soon after birth and maintained that way throughout there entire life. Feeding frozen thawed prey is less stressful for the animal and virtually eliminates the introduction of parasitic intestinal worms and protozoan parasites. A live rat or live adult mouse can inflict some serious wounds when fed to your boa. Always provide fresh water for your boa, and remove any uneaten prey from the enclosure after feeding.

FAQ: What Type of Caging Should I Keep My Boa In? It is important to provide your boa with a spacious and secure enclosure that can accommodate its size as it grows. We use PVC reptile cages that are at least 6 feet long, 30 inches deep, and 18 inches tall for our adult animals. Juvenile boas can be housed in smaller enclosures such as plastic tray stacks but should be gradually moved to larger ones as they grow. We do not recommend glass terrariums. They are thermally inadequate and do not hold heat well. Our enclosures have a secure locking mechanism to prevent escape, adequate ventilation for proper air circulation, and a temperature gradient ranging from 75-85°F on the cool side to 85-90°F on the warm side. We do not provide an overhead basking spot other than the hot spot at the bottom of the cage. Substrate such as aspen shavings, natural cypress mulch that hasn't been dyed and various papers are good. Hiding places such as half logs or caves, and a water dish large enough for soaking. It is important to clean your boa's enclosure regularly to maintain a healthy and hygienic environment. Remember, every boa is unique and may have specific requirements based on their size, age, and individual needs.

There is no "Crystal Ball" answer for these commonly asked questions. What color will the sides be? Will the tail get redder? Will it darken as it grows older? Will my animal be yellow, pink, buckskin or grey? Will it develop more or less contrast? How Big Will It Grow? Boas are highly polymorphic. Polymorphism refers to the ability of Suriname Redtails and other animals to exhibit different physical appearances or colorations. This means that even though they are the same species, they can vary in appearance due to genetic diversity. Suriname Boas have a range of colors, from red, orange, buckskin, pink, black, and even grey. Their tails color pattern can vary in color, saturation and length as well. When born most neonates exhibit what we call in the industry a "Baby Grey" overall color that slowly develops over a long period of time into what will finally be the animals final coloration and appearance as adults. Even then the animal can shift temporarily in lightness and darkness due to feeding, humidity and temperature. The "Prime" age when the colors and vibrancy are most intense, we have observed to be between 2 and 4 years old. Some can display subtle body colorations of pink, red and orange at birth that can indicate the direction the color MIGHT finally be as adults, but this is not guaranteed. Our boas are sold as accurately as we can visually represent them at the time they are posted on the website. We have no way of truthfully answering questions that refer to the animals future appearance or disposition. We also do not track or hold a data base on color, size, lightness and vibrancy of the myriad of boas out there we have produced over the past 20+ years. We could easily just answer these hypothetic questions to your liking just to sell you an animal but we would be doing you and the industry / hobby a huge dis-service. If you are looking for an animal that meets your exact personal standards of color, contrast and vibrancy you are better off buying an adult or sub adult animal between the ages of 2 and 4 years old.