I agree with everything in the above post.

1. The month without food isn't that bid a deal as long as the snake had decent body weight to begin with. Unless he's been underfed for a long time he/she should be OK.
2. Dehydration is a big deal. Keep water in there (duh), maybe give the snake a shallow soak.
3. Illness in the form of RI isn't a major concern as long as the heat was kept up. Just check him for bubbles ect. like the previous posts mentioned. I'm more concerned with an illness that the dirty cage may cause.
4. As long as the snake was handled a lot in the last year it should settle back down pretty quick. I don't handle mine that often (once a week-month), but anyone of the snakes that were handled a lot as babies stay calm. I've picked up a couple that were not handled as babies and they are nervous...not something I would recommend in an 8ft boa. Check the mood of the snake before you handle it. Touch the boa well away from the head (make sure your hand is protected) to make sure it knows you are picking it up. Check its reaction and if it is still mellow go for it.



P.S. The reason I don't handle my snakes that much is that they don't "need" the interaction. I don't count checking their health as "handling" though.
-----
Travis Rose
Lazy S Snake Ranch
(859) 582-7310
1.0 100% DH for Snow Boa
1.0 Hypo, 66% DH Moonglow Boa
0.1 Normal Boa
0.1 Circle Back Normal Boa
0.1 66% DH for Snow Boa
0.1 Albino het for Snow
3.3 Adult/sub adult Kenyans
0.5 Baby kenyans
0.1 Jungle Carpet Python
0.3 Dogs (1 Full Pitbull, 1 Pit/Husky, & 1 Bernese Mt. Dog cross)
0.3 Cats (1 fat, 1 old, and 1 insane)
0.1 Very understanding wife
1.0 Toddler (WC...still bites and musks)

[ Hide Replies ]

• aquired red tail boa - dwendler4, Tue Nov 13 02:03:13 2007
• RE: aquired red tail boa - JackJebus, Tue Nov 13 07:05:30 2007
• RE: aquired red tail boa - cv, Tue Nov 13 09:19:38 2007
• RE: aquired red tail boa - LordDreyfus, Tue Nov 13 11:37:44 2007
• thank you... a couple more questions - dwendler4, Tue Nov 13 13:14:58 2007
• RE: thank you... a couple more questions - dwendler4, Tue Nov 13 13:30:00 2007
• RE: thank you... a couple more questions - liquidleaf, Tue Nov 13 14:10:47 2007
• RE: thank you... a couple more questions - jscrick, Tue Nov 13 15:24:58 2007
• RE: thank you... a couple more questions - dwendler4, Tue Nov 13 16:44:44 2007
• RE: thank you... a couple more questions - dwendler4, Tue Nov 13 17:01:41 2007
• RE: thank you... a couple more questions - jscrick, Tue Nov 13 18:11:43 2007
• RE: thank you... a couple more questions - liquidleaf, Wed Nov 14 07:55:04 2007
• to answer your questions - jhsulliv, Tue Nov 13 17:57:46 2007