Posted by:
laurarfl
at Thu Jul 31 07:03:36 2008 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by laurarfl ]
"Laura was talking about the swinging head thing that boas do, we have a sonoran boa that does the same thing but with her mouth wide open. That will get your attention.HaHa"
No, thank you. Oh yes, I understand the boa/Burm difference you were talking about. I'm hoping that my going off on the boa tangent didn't disrupt the thread.
"Putting one around your neck like you would a burm typically doesn't work unless they are completely tame."
I think my boa would just as soon choke you to death if you wrapped him around your neck. He's extremely squeezy. He cuts the circulation off my arm...turns my fingers purple.
"Boas will revert back to the insecure behavior a lot faster than burms will. We have too many snakes for me to handle them all very often, I handle some more than others and some very little. I'm now paying for that mistake. Some of our boas that were very easy to handle are now doing the swinging head thing and are more hissy."
I think that's exactly what has happened to me. I used to handle Toby weekly. Then as my menagerie grew, he was handled less. After he bit me, he was handled much less. After the second bite, even less. Now he's a basket case.
"I don't believe in backing down from a snake. If you close the door to their cage everytime the do some you don't like you are only training them to do these things all the time."
I think a lot of animals are like that, more so with simple reptiles. Basically, they work with simple conditioning-I hiss, they leave, hissing makes bad things go away.
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RE: Ya'll are talking boas not burms - laurarfl, Thu Jul 31 07:03:36 2008