Dear Reptilians,
I hope you are all very well. I am new to this forum of yours and are happy to have stumbled upon it while scrolling the net. I have been keeping snakes (lots of them) since the age of 13. Since High-School I have 'specialized' in pit-vipers due to their sheer beauty. My favorites being a pair of Western-Diamondback Rattlers and a pair of Prairie and Southern Copperheads. I have also had a pair of stunning South American Cantil Snakes, Purple Mangrove Vipers, White-lipped Tree Vipers and a whole range of non-venomous snakes. I really did (and still do) like the pit vipers especially the rattlers.
However, times have changed and I am a married man now going on 33 and my wife disapproves grossly to my keeping of snakes. I have 'eezed' her into a a friendly male Spider Ball Python she named 'Arrow' which is doing very well and is the first large constrictor I am keeping as a pet. It is the only snake I have after maintaining a collection of 35 venomous and non-venomous snakes for almost 7 years. I have no intention of keeping that much ever again as my profession and my time is limited to do housekeeping and maintenance of that magnitude.
I have decided to allow myself a limit of three snakes as 'pets' (ie non-venomous: pit vipers hardly constitute pets) in husbandry and no more. Nr 1 being the Ball Python. I love the Ball Python and take good care of it. I had to decide what I want as Nr 2 and I thought for a while. The first obvious choice was a red-tail boa, which I absolutely love, BUT they get too big. So, I discard that very obtainable and common option based on size. Then I thought about a Brazilian Rainbow Boa, which is beautiful, and probably my third choice.
Then I asked myself: what do I really really really want. What have I wanted since child-hood days when I opened my first snake book as an infant. There can only be one: I really really really want an Emerald Tree Boa. I realise that this is not the 'ideal' first boa to acquire but this is what I really desire. I am also planning on not skimping costs on set-up and professionalism as I want to keep it as a display. So, I am willing to fork out the capital on setting up a very appropriate habitat with the needed humidity, water and light.
I have found the odd 'individual' selling them while googling, but I would much rather gather a proper referral from someone who knows a good breeder. I am hell-bent on searching and finding a juvenile. Even if I have to import one.
Can someone please advise? Could you provide me with a lead to a breeder?
Warm Regards
Johann