Care for Red-Tail Boas

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Tim Cole with Austin Reptile Service and I've been keeping reptile amphibians for over forty years and we're here to talk about keeping red-tail boas. The term red-tail boas is rather broad. Over the past few years that's been a term that a lot of pet stores have been using as a sales gimmick to sale their boas, when actually, their boas were common boas, which is a species of boas found in Central America and Mexico. True red-tail boas, generally, come from Guyana, Suriname, Brazil and Peru. You're true red-tail boas also tend to be rather nervous and bite and don't make as good as a pet as your common boa does. Your average boas, males get up to about six feet, females get up to eight or nine feet. And, as keeping all other snakes, they will feed on frozen pond food, which is what we prefer to feed our animals. We've gotten in quite a few rescued boas that have had large chunks of meat taken out of them by people that fed them live rodents, you do not need to feed them live rodents, they will eat dead food. Not only is that safer for your snake but it's more convenient, it's more economical. Keep in mind if you've got a boa constrictor it's going to get large. Your average female will need, at least, a six foot cage."