Sonoran dwarf boa,aka Sonora boa or Mexican boa (Boa c. imperator)

Sonoran boas are a dwarf form of the most common boa, the boa constrictor imperator and are thought to be the most northerly form of Bci’s. There is reports that these boas may well have been found as far north as Arizona and being from areas were temperatures range from 10c and up to 40c in summer, this has made a hardy wee boa. These boa’s in the wild inhabit dry desert or forest areas, due to there isolation in areas and the low temperstures they are exposted to at times has made a dwarfed boa.Two of my oldest specimens are 13 years old, the males only 4 foot in length and the female 5.5 feet.I have found these boas to be slow growing and although they have a nippy reputation most calm to make great shoulder pets with handling.

Lighting

Boa c. imperator don't need any UV-lighting but you may use a reflector bulb to heat your vivarium during the day as long as you have a bulb guard but I do prefer ceramic heaters for boa’s. Some people use 2.0 uvb lighting to improve the colour of there boa's.

Heating

Bci’s like most reptiles need to thermoregulate .This means for boas providing a basking spot of 32oC and a cooler end in there tank at 21oC.You can achieve this by either a heat bulb, ceramic heater or a heat mat but please use a good quality thermostat and thermometer to keep the heat just right in your tank.

Housing

A hatchling sonoran boa is happy living in a small tuppa ware type tub with holes solider or drilled in the top or side for air for the first few months of there lives. You can then move them to a under bed storage tub or small wooden vivarium until about a year of age. After this your pet will be happy living in a 4x2x2ft vivarium for an adult female and 3x2x2 for a male .At all stages provide your pet with hides to feel secure eg .toilet roll tubes ,cork logs or half a flower pot and a water bowel with fresh water offered on a regular bases.

Sonoran boa’s in the wild will eat rodents, birds, spiny iguana ,rabbits and squirrels. In captivity we feed Bci’s frozen thawed rodents equal to the size of the widest part of the girth of your boas body. Hatchling sonoran boas will eat a fuzzy to small mice to start them ,with adults eating adult rats. Please do not feed your pet live rodents .You would be surprised the damage a mouse or rat could do to your snake, you have been warned. A young boa should be fed about once ever 7 days and this can be moved out to once every 2 weeks once an adult. I like many keeps and breeders of these boa’s feed mice for the first year and then move on to Rats after the first year as it’s thought this will cut down on the fat intake of your young boa in its first year, which may be a problem if you feed rats straight off.

Substrate

Newspaper, cardboard ,aspen or beech chippings can be used to line the bottom of you tank to help soak up your snakes mess. Please do not use sand or cedar shavings. The sand could cause skin trouble and reptiles are allergic to any cedar contact.

Longevity

You can expect your Bci boa to live from anywhere between 15-30 years so please give a lot of thought before buying any pet.

Morphs

There are 3 pure sonoran locality boas.The leopard sonoran boa,first bred by Hj Winner of Germany. The hypo sonoran, first bred by Vin Russo and the Anerthrystic type 2 sonoran,first bred by Warren Booth. The original pair to produce the first anery type 2 sonoran's is now in our possession.

Why not have a look at some of our sonoran boa dwarf boa's.  Sonoron boa collection.

I recommend you buy and read “The complete boa constrictor” by Vincent Russo and “True Boa constrictor” by H+E Stockl.

Here is also some very good links and other information on Sonoran dwarf Boa c. imperator.

Cutting edge herps/ hypo sonoran boa.

Lower ground reptiles, Sonoran boa care sheet.

http://www.boa-constrictors.com/com/imperator/Mexiko/mexicana.html

http://www.riobravoreptiles.com/boas_mexico.htm