This has been addressed but as a general rule, anything with teeth CAN bite (even people!).

I agree with a shallow soak since this snake has been dehydrated.

As for sexing, a special probe is inserted into the vent of the snake and depending on how far it will slide in determines its sex. For obvious reasons this needs to be done by an experienced individual (vet or not, make sure they know what they are doing, there are some vets I wouldn't let anywhere near my snakes and I'm a vet tech).

I would take a gander through Clay English's Ultimate Care Guide for boas, it should really have all the basic information you'll need. Jeff Ronne has a section in there on breeding, but I wouldn't even consider breeding until you are thoroughly knowledgeable about boas and especially until this little one is in better shape. Obviously, the only compatible animals to breed to would be other boa constrictors.
http://www.redtailboas.com/care/TheUltimateCareManual-Published.pdf

Practice good hygiene too as you have ball pythons at home that can contract illnesses from boas and vice versa. The "Ray Charles" move mentioned earlier is also known as stargazing, which can be a symptom of a fatal disease known as IBD (inclusion body disease).

All in all I think you have a really good grasp on things. Just do some fine tuning and let us know how feeding goes. You came to a great place.

[ 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