hello all, i am new to this forum. short bio - i keep a 75 gallon reef system, i have had 2 ball pythons for about 4 years now, and am the excited/nervous new owner of a red tail boa. if you know anything about saltwater aquariums, you know that successfully running a large reef tank takes a large commitment, and the fact that i have kept my pythons for 4 years shows that i am willing to raise animals right. i only say that because i asked this question in a different snake forum and i got very negative feedback telling me that i was cruel and that i shouldn't be raising animals. i was insulted and left that site immediately, so hopefully i will receive a warmer reception here.

long story short -

i lived next door to a guy for about 8 months and he had a red tail boa. from what he told me, it was a little over 2 years old when he moved in(making it about three now). from what i observed, he took good care of it and raised it right. he got a very demanding job about a month after moving in, and he seemed to stop giving it as much attention as he had been up until then. he moved out about a week ago. he gave me the boa.

so now its mine, and he tells me the other day -

"oh yeah dude, just so you know, i havent really been taking good care of the snake lately"

so here is the situation -

snake hasnt been fed in about a month and a half, hasnt been given water for a couple weeks AT LEAST. hasnt been taken out or handled in a while. tank is dirty and appears to not have been cleaned in a while. tank is a 55 gallon tank with some sort of bark shavings for the substrate, has one tree decoration, one cave like decoration for him to crawl into and be covered, although it seems way too small for him to get completely covered, and one water dish that is pretty good size. heat lamp that is moderately warm, im not sure how many watts, it doesnt say, temp is about 89 degrees.

i filled the water dish immediately, snake went to it and drank right away, drank for a while. so it is responsive, if that is any indication of anything. tomorrow i will be cleaning the tank and buying a larger crawl/hide space. i will be feeding soon.

my concerns -

#1. will this snake bite me? i have heard that handling regularly is important to keep them sociable, and less likely to bite you. i have a pair of work gloves, and i think i will just wear them to be safe. is there anything i can do to reduce chance of being bitten? go in before feeding? after feeding?

#2. could the snake be sick? are there any signs that would point to it being sick or healthy? should i take it to a vet?

#3. what do i do to get it back to normal? i would assume that i should just get it back on a normal feeding/handling schedule, as well as the obvious things like keep water in its dish and keep its tank clean. are there any things that are not so obvious that i should do to help out?

thank you

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