Bacardi 2013
My name is Christopher Gilbert, I am 35 years old and the founder of Gilbert Boas. I have a BA in Economics with a minor in International Relations from Cornell University. Outside of reptiles, my career is in corporate finance as the Senior Vice President and Commercial Credit Approver for a publicly traded bank.
Always interested in reptiles I discovered Boas while a freshman in High School, initially keeping an Amazon Tree Boa and Rough Scaled Sand boas before moving on to Boa constrictors. During my Sophomore year I was successful in breeding the Rough Scaled Sand boas (Eryx conicus), the litter produced 6 beautiful babies, no slugs or stillborns. I was hooked, and with the experience of live birth I decided to take on what I had always wanted, Boa constrictors. Early that summer (2004) I began to build my collection that turned into what you see today. Starting what would become Gilbert Boas while in high school, earning my Eagle Scout, and continuing during my undergraduate years at Cornell.
After over a decade of working solely with Boa ssp., I began to branch out back to my roots with Sand Boas in 2017, while continuing my existing Boa imperator projects centric around Blood and Leopard morphs.
I strive to select the best breeding stock and collaborate with breeders around the world to give them the best captive environment possible. You can be assured quality with every one of our animals, as well as the cages and equipment used to care for them. I am a firm believer that if you put in the capital (in both time and money) into your collection, it will reward you.
I primarily use racks from ARS Caging, and Herpstat Thermostats from Spyder Robotics in my collection. One unique thing I do is to use individual thermostat controls for every cage, this ensures every boa has the best environment for its needs, and not the average needs of 5-10-or more animals dependent on one thermostat. Too often with professional racks from ARS and Freedom Breeder, keepers will set a single thermostat for a rack of 6-40 or more snakes, resulting in inaccurate controls across levels, spikes in current with blown fuses, and many animals at risk from a single failure. Not to mention the fire risk. I believe that no expense is to be spared to provide the animals we keep with the best possible care. They deserve the best we as keepers can provide. Too often so called breeders go out and spend thousands on stock and then come forward with cheap solutions for their care saying that money isn't available to provide the best. There is no excuse. Regardless of the individual value of any animal in my collection they all receive the best possible. I have continuously updated my entire setup as new products have reached the front of the market in reptile care. I am now on the 5th update, each boa having had thousands invested into its care. Despite the high monetary value of my collection, I can state with affirmation that I have spent tens of thousands more on equipment than animals. Nothing is spared for these animals that depend on us.
In addition to the individual care efforts given to each animal in our collection, we strive to only bring those boas to market that have true value in the hobby. No litter is born simply for the sake of producing more babies and generating income. Projects being mass produced elsewhere will never be undertaken here. And no animals are produced that we are not fully capable of caring for, for the entirety of their lives.