Something to ponder while pondering whether I should indulge my six-year-old daughter's new desire for a pet boa.
I wanted her to grow up appreciating snakes and not fearing them. So I've been talking to her about snakes for weeks. I know a fair amount about them becuase they have fascinated me since I was a kid. I've owned all different kinds during my life, although 20 years ago I gave away my last pet boa because I suddenly lost the heart for feeding them mice.
I took my daughter to a pet store yesterday and encouraged her to hold one of the baby boas, because I wanted her to have the experience. She was hesitant at first, but within 20 minutes was handling it like she was Steve Irwin or something. She was beaming, and smiling ear to ear, and showing it to everybody who would look. "I love this," she said.
Now she is bugging us to get a pet snake. Not sure if I want to go there again, but I figure, what the hell, at least I'll be less traumatized than my poor mom was when I started keeping snakes as a kid.
A while back I was browsing snake books in a pet store and came across an article on the care and feeding of boas. They're tropical snakes and need a tropical environment. They can also get to be quite large, about 12 feet. According to this article proper boa care required a cage about four feet on a side that could be kept at about 80% humidity and 80 degrees farenheit. Also, since snakes can't be housebroken, somebody (probably mama) has to go into the cage at least once a week to clean out snake waste. Then there's the little problem of keeping the mildew down in the snake's very moist and humid environment. The bottom line is that, if I were you, I'd be more inclided to get a less care intensive snake, like a North American Corn Snake, which is likely to grow to about 6 feet.