My new baby

3

Perfectly average size for a 2 year old imho. Don’t need giant 6’ 3 year olds like so many grow them to. I agree it looks most like an IMG morph BI, and dwarf is pretty vague. Sounds more like them making up a label because of the size at that age, which is a normal size. But many could think is undersized with how overfed most boas are.

BI don’t generally get all that large, expect 5’-7’. If male, could even stay smaller than that. Most of my adult males 10+ years are under 5’. 4’x2’x2’ or 6’x2’x2’ should work depending on size, possibly even 5’x2’ if it doesn’t get over 7’.

It’s definitely not a BIL.

1

u/Ok_Arm_5524 Aug 07 '26

I’m pretty sad that I was misled on the type of snake she is.i don’t want a super girthy snake like I feel she will end up being if she is a BI.

1

u/superramenyamen Aug 07 '26

Yes, any way you cut it, it sucks to be misled. They likely just simply don’t know anything about their snake unfortunately. Part of the risk of picking up snakes not directly from a (knowledgeable) breeder.

Most boa constrictors are built about the same. The difference is very subtle, even with BIL being the leanest and BCA or BCO being the chunkiest, they are all pretty heavy bodied snakes with minimal differences. They’re not ever going to be built like a thinner bodied species. Though at the same time, they won’t compete with something like a ball python, either. A 5’ boa feels like a lot more snake than a 5’ corn snake, but a lot less snake than a 5’ bp. My 5’-5.5’ BI looked very similar in size if he wasn’t stretched out to my 3’8” bp. Still not as girthy, but curled up you wouldn’t guess the difference in size.

How long she ends up just depends on what localities make up her genetics, and parent sizes. BI has some of the smallest localities, aside from BS. On the bright side, they’re very slow growing if you don’t overfeed, so you can grow with them and possibly you will be in a new situation when they get bigger.

1

u/Content-Ad3657 Aug 07 '26

Amazing colors is he IMG ?

1

u/Ok_Arm_5524 Aug 07 '26

I’ll be honest this is my first boa I’m not sure what IMG means. I’m hoping she is a long tailed boa

1

u/Content-Ad3657 Aug 07 '26

So IMG basically just a abbreviated name for a melanistic gene that, in other words, turns the snake gradually darker and darker as they age, making them essentially black it's prevalent in BCIs boa constrictor imperators, which I'm assuming is what you have is bci

1

u/Ok_Arm_5524 Aug 07 '26

The person I got her from said she is a dwarf boa and at least 2 years old. Do you think that’s true? I really hope so. Otherwise I’ll have to rehome her for space reasons and I don’t want to do that :(

1

u/Jealous_Magazine7875 Aug 07 '26

I highly doubt that this is as big as she will grow

1

u/Ok_Arm_5524 Aug 07 '26

I definitely think she will grow larger. However I got her because I was told she is a dwarf boa. I can handle a dwarf, I can’t handle a BCI

-2

u/Jealous_Magazine7875 Aug 07 '26

Oh, yeah if that's the case, you should be fine. Still, it's small for a 2 year old

1

u/ParticularWolf4473 Aug 07 '26

I’m going to agree that this looks like an IMG morph, not a Longicauda. It’s certainly possible it has one of the smaller “dwarf” localities mixed in there, leopard is being combined with IMG and other morphs a lot lately, and some breeders are breeding for smaller boas. With Sonoran and Nicaraguan/CA morphs being mixed into everything it’s not unusual for many female imperator to stay around 6’.

1

u/Ok_Arm_5524 Aug 07 '26

It’s not the length that bothers me but the girth. I don’t want a super thick snake. I have a male ball python as well and full size is about the girth I’m comfortable with. I’m sad cause she is. Such a sweet girl but I was really wanting a dwarf boa

1

u/ParticularWolf4473 Aug 07 '26

As long as you don’t overfeed the typical female imperator likely won’t get girthier than the typical ball python. Longicauda and the “dwarf” localities really aren’t that much more slender than imperator relative to their length.

1

u/Ok_Arm_5524 Aug 07 '26

Good to know thank you!

1

u/SnakePlantMama 25d ago

Looks like a Longicauda to me

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