Hi onpoint, after a quick scroll through your blog it looks like you’re relatively new to keeping boas. I would like to offer up some advice and pointers on keeping and breeding boas, for your consideration.
Prior to breeding you need to have your husbandry nailed down. A glass tank (assuming that is her permanent home) is not acceptable housing for an adult boa. It does not appear that she has enough to room to comfortably turn around, much less stretch out or thermoregulate with any efficiency. There is no cover to make her feel secure, and no substrate to help maintain muscle tone.
You can find enclosures built specifically for medium-large constrictors made by Animal Plastics, Vision, Boaphile Plastics, and Neodesha. Constrictors Northwest is an option for smaller animals. I highly recommend Animal Plastics, and house my 6′+ adult boas in the T25 model (72x36x18″).
When purchasing caging for boas it’s important to understand the minimum space requirement (preferably so you can go beyond it, but meeting it is a fine starting point). ***The length plus the width of your enclosure should be equal to or greater than the total length of your boa.*** You will need an accurate measurement on your girl for this. The easiest way to do this is to let her stretch out straight against an empty wall.
(One of my rooms. AP T25′s on the left, AP T8′s & T10′s on the right. Anything 4x2′ and under is heated with belly heat. Anything over that size is heated by RHPs from Pro-Products, each of which is regulated by a separate Herpstat thermostat. The ideal heat gradient for a mainland imperator is 80-90F. Humidity should be at 65%.)Â
(Inside a T25, cool side hide removed for scale. Seabreeze is ~6.5.′ Boas benefit from having spaces to hide and opportunities to climb. It is notoriously difficult to find items large enough to hold the weight of larger animals - short of dragging a tree into your set up, large cork bark rounds, large branches, and shelves work very well.)
As with any animal, keeping boas fit and healthy comes down to balancing three things: prey size, frequency of feeding, and activity level. You may find this link helpful when working out a feeding regimen that will suit your animals’ needs:
 Feeding your boa imperator.
My 5+yr adults (6-7′) are fed a small rabbit once a month unless I am preparing females for breeding season. Boas are not ball pythons and you cannot rush their growth. They grow slowly after their first couple years and they grow the most during fasts that allow them to convert stored energy into muscle. Because they have such slow metabolisms their digestive process takes upward of 14 days to complete. Forcing a boa to remain in the middle of the digestive process constantly, not allowing it to complete the process, will be detrimental to the animal’s overall health in years to come as it hastens the onset of organ failure. IE. You need not feed the male large rats on a weekly basis. If his body condition is not where it should be, give him another year.
Once you have husbandry and feeding down, please exercise good quarantine protocols. I cannot stress this enough. The minimum quarantine period for a new boa is 90 days, regardless of whether or not it is being bred. In particular for breeding loan males, a 3+ month quarantine followed by at least a brief (3 month) settling in period is ideal.
The settling in period for adult females is much longer. They are known to have difficulty adjusting to new surroundings once they’ve been moved, and it is frequently the case that they will not breed until they’ve been established in a location for 1-2yrs. Some take longer, and some refuse to breed at all. The best thing you can do for a new adult female is give her space, make her comfortable, and establish a routine that will let her become accustomed with your movements around her.    Â
Boas require some room to court and need their ideal heat gradient to gestate properly. They will use all the room that you give them - just not usually while you’re watching. Understand that a male may court a few weeks to six months. When a female becomes gravid it’s usually for ~105 days, and then she will need a lengthy time to recover and get back up to weight. Â
They also expand quite a bit while gravid. It’s not comfortable, and they will lay every which way when not in the heat conservation coil. It’s hugely important that they are able to move around and thermoregulate at will. They also need continuous access to fresh water. Gravid boas should not be moved or handled if it can be helped so you will need a plan for performing minimum maintenance. In the below instance, the very few times cleaning was necessary I was able to clean the side of the cage she was not on, and then wait until she had moved to the other side to get the rest. Â
Lastly, babies are fun and adorable, but please familiarize yourself with market trends prior to pairing and have a plan for your babies. Unless your girl is het albino you will be producing normals het albino and the market is currently oversaturated with such animals. Boas do not sell quickly, so unless you intend to wholesale or vend a couple expos and sell at discounted prices, anticipate that it will take you a year or more to sell a single litter of 15-25 animals. I would encourage you to raise them well instead of trying to move them quickly, and to be prepared for the financial and time investment that they require. It is not a cheap endeavor.Â
For housing babies, I’ve used the Vision hatchling racks with V-18 tubs for neonates up until 6 months, after which I move them to V-35 (28qt) or Animal Plastics Economy 41qt racks. (Raising neonates is mentioned in the feeding link provided earlier in this post.)
Lastly, on the topic of pastels: you mentioned in a previous post that she was a pastel, but I’m having a difficult time seeing it. Pastel, by definition, is a polygenic trait that gives the animal a washed out and faded look. It does not mean color, although some lines are known for various shades of red/pink/orange.
This is a young pastel from RC/Kubsch lines. Ignoring the color, you can see the saddle pattern is nice and faded.Â
Similarly, an adult from Pastel Dream lineage: note the faded saddles and very light base tone.
Your girl has beautiful contrast, but her saddles indicate that she is not a pastel.
In short, I would encourage you to sit on the idea of breeding for a bit - at least until you’ve upgraded your girl and allowed her to settle in - and to spend some time reading up on boas. You can find this book on amazon, and it is a fantastic place to start:
If you have any questions at all, on anything boa related, feel free to shoot me an email at [email protected] and I’ll be happy to help you out.
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