#hog island boa

[corvins-colubrids]

I'm so excited! My baby Hog Island Boa (Boa imperator), a dwarf locality, is arriving Wednesday! Originally the breeder didn't think he'd be able to ship him until later this month, for his own scheduling resources, but he's arriving this week!

He's a baby, so he's still tiny, and he'll likely never get bigger than four feet, which is why I specifically sought out a Hog Island boa. They are a locality of the Central American Boa imperator (formerly known as the BCI) and they're confined to a chain of small Honduran islands, the Cayos de Cochinos Islands. Only 2 islands have freshwater, and that's where these snakes can be found!

For a long time, a boa has been on my list of dream snakes, but it can be difficult (and expensive) to find pure Hog Island lines, but this one is, and the breeder has great references and history in the hobby.

His name is Maggid because I'm a writer, and some other pets' names I have are: Saga (bearded dragon), Fable (Blue Tongue Skink), and Lore (Jeweled Lacerta). Maggid means storyteller in Hebrew, and I'm Jewish, and like to incorporate Jewish-themed names when I can. (I used to have bunnies named Babka and Pickles).

[ybreptiles]

Hog Island bci

[hogconstrictor]

boba tea latte the CBB (cock & ball 🅱️orture) hog constrictor

[is-the-snake-video-cute]

What’s your opinions on Hog Island Boas? I have one and I’ve not seen many others in captivity, either in zoos or kept as pets.

Huge fan! Pure Hog Island boas aren't super common where I live, but they're cool. All the awesome boa constrictor goodness in a smaller package? Yes, please.

You'll see them pop up occasionally, but I think part of the reason they tend to be uncommon is because they're so often bred with other boa constrictor localities, so it's hard to gaurantee that smaller size.

[joewein]

I Bought A Snake

(Picture of Sisu’s litter. Unlike Ball Python’s, Boas are live born. Sisu is in there somewhere.)

As a kid in the 70s, I frequented pet stores and was enamored with the little snakes in there. There would be some Corn Snakes, usually Ball Pythons, and Boas.  The Ball Pythons and Boas looked similar as babies, but the pet shop shop people would guide me toward the Ball Pythons - the Boas got huge and were temperamental they'd say. Also, all the snakes ate mice, conveniently hoarded in a separate terrarium piled on top of each other for about a quarter each. This was a bummer. I liked the mice too (I will get into feeding another time). I thought the coolest snake was the Boa, with it's sleek head and more curious personality, but even if my parents allowed, I wouldn't want a huge, angry snake as a pet.

What I didn't realize is those Boas in the pet stores in the 70s were some of the very first Boas being sold as pet snakes. And the people selling them knew almost nothing about them. As they were bringing in exotic fish from South America, they'd catch and throw in some Boas for a little extra cash. There was not yet any regard for the type of Boa being sold. Weird to think snakes have been around 130 million years - with the dinosaurs, survived the ice age, adapted and evolved all over the planet - and these Boas end up in little shops at the same time I am walking in.

Vin Russo, author of The More Complete Boa Constrictor, worked in one of these pet stores. He was one of the early ones to recognize that these snakes coming in labeled as Boas actually varied in size, pattern, temperament and care. He was a pioneer of categorizing and captive breeding snakes.

Vin was on the East Coast, I grew up in the West. In Palm Springs, where the days were scorching but desert nights were cool. I'd frequently see snakes with the Kangaroo Rats and lizards as I'd walk around in the evening. I believe this is where my interest in these animals began, and I'm sure there's a certain nostalgia now.

Over the years since then, the classification of Boa Constrictors has been adjusted many times. The most common being the Boa Constrictor Imperator (recently changed to just Boa Imperator). But there are many types with distinct variances.

There are essentially three groups of Boa Constrictors:

The common pet store boa today, which is a mixed-bred BCI. These tend to make good pets as they are docile and attractive, but do vary in size and pattern and you don't really know what you're going to end up with. They also tend to get large.

Morph Boas, these are also mostly BCI, but are bred specifically for the pattern/look of the snake, which get pretty spectacular. There is a wide variety, with new patterns going for a high price. While you generally do know who the parents are (since they are specifically bred by breeders to achieve these patterns) I have observed you will get quite a range in terms of size and temperament, which is not what they are breeding for.

Locality Boas. These are captive-bred snakes that maintain a bloodline to the original locality they came from. It's sort of like purebred vs. mixed bred dogs. And like dogs, neither is better or worse as a pet and every individual has its own personality. But I would say with a purebred or locality boa, you have more information about the animal you are getting. Unlike purebred dogs, which were bred for specific traits, Locality Boas just don't introduce anything new - so it is a continuation of a bloodline of snake as it evolved in a given location. These are the Locality Boas:

Boa Constrictor Species Classification

Boa Constrictor Imperator or Boa Imperator (BCI) There are about 10 sub-species of these. Including Dwarf Boas from Belize, the popular Hog Island Boa from Honduras, and the pure Columbian boa from Barranquilla.

Boa Constrictor Sigma (BCS) These are Boas from Mexico, including the increasingly popular Tarahumara Mountain Boa, which are prized for their small size and dark exotic pattern. Although these are known to be "nippy" as babies.

Boa Constrictor Constrictor (BCC) These tend to be some of the more striking looking snakes, but also more irritable. And they can also get to be 12 feet. They include the Surinam, Brazilian, Peruvian, and others east of the Andes.

Boa Constrictor Longicauda (BCL) An interesting Peruvian Boa that turns blacker as it ages.

Boa Constrictor Occidentalis (BCO) The Argentine Boa is one of the largest and a very beatutiful boa.

Boa Constrictor Nebulosa (BCN) The Clouded boa, which I don't know much about.

Boa Constrictor Sabogae (BCS) The popular Pearl Island boa.

Boa Constrictor Amarali (BCA) A very interesting, thicker bodied Boa that I was leaning toward buying, but did not end up getting.

In all cases there is sexual dimorphism, the female is notably larger than the male. That is why I intended to get a male snake. But that is not what I ended up with.

I ultimately purchased a beautiful female Locality Boa directly from Vin and had her shipped to me.

Sisu is a Boa Imperator from Barranquilla, Columbia. This just means they can trace back her lineage from Vin Russo to Gus Rentfro's company Rio Bravo before him. Rentfro originally caught and and began a captive-bred colony of Barranquilla Boas in the 70s and 80s.

Barranquilla are known for being docile, inquisitive, and not growing as large as many of the others (although they are not dwarf boas).

It is also believed Barranquilla Boas have ancestry of BCC, as Boa Constrictor Constrictor are indigenous to Columbia just on the other side of the Andes. As a a result, they have what I consider a very striking, wild look to them.

I have spent less than a month with Sisu. I started this blog to document my education and fascination with my new companion. I am glad they grow slowly.

[marblemartian]

What's your favorite snake? Mine is the leiopython :)

oo thats a good one!! white lipped pythons are so underrated!!!

my favorite is boa constrictor imperator! followed very closely by boa constrictor constrictor hehe

even more specifically, of imperators my fav is hog island boas, and for the true constrictors i honestly think the suriname locality is my favorite!

[teleos]

awwwww

[lost-and-delusional]

My favorite lil work snek 🖤

[serpentinestudio]

𝔸𝕟𝕘𝕣𝕒𝕓𝕠𝕕𝕒 𝕊𝕥𝕒𝕣𝕕𝕦𝕤𝕥 𝕎𝕣𝕖𝕟 🖤

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𝕙𝕠𝕘 𝕚𝕤𝕝𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕓𝕠𝕒 𝕔𝕠𝕟𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕚𝕔𝕥𝕠𝕣

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𝔹𝕠𝕒 𝕔𝕠𝕟𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕚𝕔𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕤 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕒𝕝𝕨𝕒𝕪𝕤 𝕓𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕞𝕪 𝕕𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕞 𝕤𝕟𝕒𝕜𝕖, 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣 𝕤𝕚𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕘𝕖𝕥𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝔸𝕟𝕘𝕣𝕒𝕓𝕠𝕕𝕒 𝕀’𝕧𝕖 𝕠𝕟𝕝𝕪 𝕗𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕟 𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖 𝕚𝕟 𝕝𝕠𝕧𝕖 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕙𝕖𝕣 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕤𝕡𝕖𝕔𝕚𝕖𝕤! 🐍

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[merosmenagerie]

Sunny day photos with the beautiful Carbide. He's a 3 year old Hog Island Boa male and used to be a right bastard. Thank god he's chilled out.

[corvins-colubrids]

A few hours later, and my thumb is badly bruised. She really wanted to kill me ded. It's kind of funny, in a way, and I wish I had video footage of it. I have snakes larger than her, but but boas can have such sass.

I'm getting a Hog Island locality Boa imperator in a few weeks, and he's still a baby, so he's tiny, but they get rather big (though this one won't get much bigger than a ball python, because it's a dwarf locality), but I really hope he doesn't have as much sass as Clementine. I love snakes so much, but dang, the worst snake bites I've gotten have all been from her. Hopefully this summer I can work with her more on target training and hook training and upgrade her enclosure once more so she has less desire to leave it (maybe?) and she can just be a nice display animal, not one I handle too often. At least she's a good eater?

Adventures in handling Clementine

Unpopular opinion, apparently, but I hate getting bit by snakes. It seems like if you're into snakes and reptiles, you're supposed to say it doesn't hurt, and it's no big deal, but it does hurt and it sucks, and with some of my snakes, I really struggle to overcome that primal fear that seems pretty natural to feel.

It isn't a big deal, and I don't keep any venomous snakes (nor do I have any desire to ever do so), but my oldest rosy boa, Clementine, is such a turd, and after biting and wrapping my t-shirt she then bite me really hard right on the knuckle of my thumb, and damn it fucking hurts.

Here I am, like an idiot, thinking I'm practicing choice-based handling and delighted that she's chosen to come out of her enclosure into the cardboard box I'm using as a temporary playpen for baby snakes, and, no, she's stalking me. smh.

Clem is a 16-year-old snake who lived her entire life before I got her in a bare rack with no enrichment, and was used for breeding, and barely handled, and she honestly doesn't make a very good pet. She was my first snake purchase that got me back into the hobby and I love her so much, but damn she is so food-driven and sure that hands are food!

I was checking on all the animals in the reptile room and having some playpen time with Ezra, my hatchling banana pied ball python, who is my dream snake and was hatched on my birthday. He's a sweetie, a great eater, but, like most hatchlings, very skittish, so I'm working with him at least once a week on taming and socializing and enrichment. Well, I'm putting Ezra back and Clem comes to the front of her enclosure, which is the signal I've been trying for a year to teach her means that she wants to come out. I don't have my snake hook, because I don't need it with Ezra, and that's usually what I try to use to signal to her that it's not feeding time, but I figure, oh well, it's been four days since feeding, I don't smell like rodents (i hope), surely she won't mistake me for food.

She got all the way out of her enclosure on her own, crawling into the playpen/box and I was so excited, but I dared to reach for her to hold her and she attacked my t-shirt. She definitely wanted to eat it, because she was constricting it for a good long while, and I got bit when I was trying to help her disentangle her fangs from the shirt material. She turned her head and went after my thumb instead.

Oh well. I just hate feeling like I've been a bad snake handler when this happens. I wish I could be all cool like guys on YouTube and be totally unphased, but I'm not.

(note: photo is from the day I got her, and that was just her quarantine tank in the background. She has never let me hold her since this photo.)

[the-love-of-snakes]

Sweet child just wants to go home

[hogconstrictor]

going to start amatuer lizard and snake posting because we're slowly becoming reptile central

[is-the-snake-video-cute]

Do you happen to know about Boa Imperator (BCI) localities? I'm interested in getting one in the near future but I really don't want to end up with a Boa longer than 6ft. I heard some localities are more dwarf sized than others.

I'll do my own research, of course, I'm just curious if you have anything to say about them :)

Sure do, here are the average sizes you'll usually find in BCIs. These are averages, of course, so there are exceptions to every rule, and captive-bred locality boas are usually outcrossed to hell and back, so they're not hard-and-fast guides. When buying a boa constrictor, I always recommend asking the breeder how big the parents are.

Anyway, BCI localities -

Your general BCIs from Belize, Colombia, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Paraguay are your average-sized ones, you can usually expect an adult that's 5-8 feet but 12-foot maximums do happen.

Cay Caulker, Sonoran Desert (and Tarahumara mountains), Isla de Maize, Hog Island, and Crawl Cay are your dwarf localities. They usually max out at 3-5 feet.

Nicuragua boas tend to fall somewhere in the middle, they're not quite as small as the really teeny localities but they're smaller than other BCIs. You can usually expect a 4-6 foot adult.

If you're looking for a snake that's on the smaller side, make sure to get a male, the difference can be substantial. I have a male Colombian who's nearly 9 feet long, but he's the exception that proves the rule; male BCIs rarely get over 7 feet long no matter the locality.

It's worth noting that dwarf locality BCIs are stereotyped as being a bit snappier than full-size BCIs, and that's not entirely without reason; smaller snakes tend to be more defensive. It's worth going out of your way to pick out a baby with a good temperament if you opt for a dwarf locality!

All the best!

[amazingpetenclosures]

@sambearpig :

My enclosure for my hog island boa! A mix of real and fake plants, and it's hard to see but there are multiple hides on the ground under the plants and he is sitting on top of a tower of three stacking bins, each with different substrates/rocks/textures.

I really love this! And the stacking bins was such a clever idea. Great work!

[shatteredtimelines]

Mah favorite scarf <3