What kind of boa is this?

[Tgotty90]

Would anyone here know what type of boa this is? It's for sale at our local reptile store and I'm interested in purchasing it but not sure what it is. It's listed as a jungle cross boa and marked at $350. Can't find anything online to compare it to so not really sure if its a good deal or not.

it's nice size healthy female and seems to be pretty good handling just not sure. Im very interested just wish i had something to compare it too price wise.

 

[LC72uk]

This is what`s called a Hypo cross BCI (Boa Constrictor Imperator) . It has been cross bred form a Normal phase Boa and a Hypo . if you look at the bottom half of the snake you will notice the pattern is ghosted that`s the hypo part
These snakes will get large especially the Females they will get anywhere between 10 ft - 12 ft long . I have 2 .
As for prices , In the UK the larger the Boa`s are difficult to sell due to their size so they normally go for around £80 - £100 for a adult which is between $100 - $120 US.
$350 is way too pricey in my opinion . It also looks like a older snake , because as they get older their colour starts to naturally fade. There is no such thing as a "Jungle" Boa. They all come from the Rain Forests of South America, so the "jungle" name is irrelevant to the snake and price.
Great Snakes though ,very gentle giants .
This is my Alice , she will be 4 years old this Sunday and she is around 5ft and I paid £40 / $50.79c for her 3 years ago. She is a normal phase boa crossed with a hypo.

 

[Tgotty90]

@LC72uk your girl there is beautiful and thank you for the input, this is the best info anyone has given me yet. That explains why i couldn't find anything that resembles it online, it would just bring up a Amazon tree boa lol. 350 seems high to me too but I've never got anything at this size so not sure. I see babies for really cheap all the time but i want something well started like this. I thought it looked older too but it's only about 6-7 ft so didn't think it was big enough to be that old unless it's really a male.

 

[Enn49]

Boa sizes can vary enormously, I had 2 adult females that were just 6' and 2 that reached 9' and all around the same age.

 

[LC72uk]

@LC72uk your girl there is beautiful and thank you for the input, this is the best info anyone has given me yet. That explains why i couldn't find anything that resembles it online, it would just bring up a Amazon tree boa lol. 350 seems high to me too but I've never got anything at this size so not sure. I see babies for really cheap all the time but i want something well started like this. I thought it looked older too but it's only about 6-7 ft so didn't think it was big enough to be that old unless it's really a male.

No worries.
The snake in the pic does look Female . Here`s my other Boa Kayla she is just over 8ft and weighs in at 46lbs with a 10 inch girth . She still has at least between another 2 - 4 ft to grow yet . They do slow down in growth as they get older .
Be prepared for a very large snake .

 

[menavodi]

Very beautiful snake!

 

[Tgotty90]

@LC72uk
The store owner definitely seems to be willing to come down a bit on the price and trying to find out the age for me. I'm very interested in it, it seems like a really good snake. I've handled her the last few times i went in to get feeders and she was really sweet. I find babies at shows all the time for cheap but never anything bigger, same with online only babies. The guy does price match by size but i can't find anything to compare it to.

 

[LC72uk]

@LC72uk
The store owner definitely seems to be willing to come down a bit on the price and trying to find out the age for me. I'm very interested in it, it seems like a really good snake. I've handled her the last few times i went in to get feeders and she was really sweet. I find babies at shows all the time for cheap but never anything bigger, same with online only babies. The guy does price match by size but i can't find anything to compare it to.

I Think at the end of the day he should come down more than a bit in price . These Hypo cross Boas are very common in the trade and hobby, so so they are sold as normal Boas.
Unless he knows the snakes history where it came from a snake that size is difficult to age. My huge Girl must be around the 9/10 year mark. She was dumped outside my friends shop Jan 2018 and I took her as a rescue. She had been over fed as well by the previous owner . It`s very easy to over feed Boas , they would eat 24/7 if you let them . I feed my big girl 2 x large rats once a month , that`s the equivalent to 1 small Rabbit and Alice get`s fed 1 small rat every 2 weeks.

 

[LC72uk]

Very beautiful snake!

Thank You

 

[Tgotty90]

I Think at the end of the day he should come down more than a bit in price . These Hypo cross Boas are very common in the trade and hobby, so so they are sold as normal Boas.
Unless he knows the snakes history where it came from a snake that size is difficult to age. My huge Girl must be around the 9/10 year mark. She was dumped outside my friends shop Jan 2018 and I took her as a rescue. She had been over fed as well by the previous owner . It`s very easy to over feed Boas , they would eat 24/7 if you let them . I feed my big girl 2 x large rats once a month , that`s the equivalent to 1 small Rabbit and Alice get`s fed 1 small rat every 2 weeks.

The store owner got me more information on it and found out it's a hog island crossed with a common i don't know if that makes a difference or not but i went to get a better look at her last night and definitely resembles a hog island now that I've done some comparisons. I think this is why he thinks its worth more because hog island babies go for $180-$200 here so he probably thinks it's worth more based on that.

 

[Enn49]

The store owner got me more information on it and found out it's a hog island crossed with a common i don't know if that makes a difference or not but i went to get a better look at her last night and definitely resembles a hog island now that I've done some comparisons. I think this is why he thinks its worth more because hog island babies go for $180-$200 here so he probably thinks it's worth more based on that.

It is still a cross and therefore not worth anything more than a common Boa

 

[Tgotty90]

It is still a cross and therefore not worth anything more than a common Boa

That's what i figured. Just sucks because the guy is willing to do price matches if I can prove to him that someone else is selling something relative in size for less but no luck with that. I've been in the market for a bigger boa for a while now but have yet to find one, I've drove a hour each month to the all ohio reptile show and yet to find anything this size, only babies. It's kinda frustrating seeing other people say they find adults for dirt cheap and I've yet to find one in 6 months and finally find one and its a overpriced mutt.

 

[Tgotty90]

Only big snakes i find around here are retics and Burmese pythons. I love the big pythons but just not for me at this time. I had a retic when i was a teenager and had to rehome her because i couldn't provide her everything she needed to live a happy life. My friend still has her and she is a mammoth of a snake, way to big for comfort. Im older and my living situation is much more stable these days and now that the kids are grown up i feel more comfortable bringing a big snake in the house but a boa is perfect for what i want, i have a small collection of ball pythons and different colubrids and one baby dumerils boa, her growth rate is very slow so it will be another 5+ years before she will be considered a big snake. I'm not one to loose patience but i really don't think i can wait the duration of time it takes to raise one to a decent size when I've had my heart set on getting another big snake for awhile now.