Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,
I have several Baby Columbian Red Tail Boa's. Most of them have tamed down really nicely and I am very pleased and in awe of them. I feed them separately in Rubbermade tubs. Today after feeding I went to put one back and the biggest of the babies hissed loud for this little guy and struck - it was more of a gesture. Of course I backed off and gave him his space. I was not surprised as if I had just one, I would put him away and left him be, but in this case I had to reach in the enclosure to put another baby back. I was wondering has anyone noticed slight aggression after feeding? I try to do my best to not handle after they have eaten. It seemed maybe he mistook me as prey maybe he was just agitated and felt disturbed. I am sure he will be fine tomorrow - this one in particular is my favorite and largest of the babies. Has any one noticed their Boa's being agitated after feeding time? My intention is to leave them alone as much as possible after feeding time but I do have to get in the enclosure till I get them all in their own units. I also read somewhere that it is best to not handle Boa's (and other snakes) for at least 24 hours after feeding. Is there any truth in that? Made sense to me. I imagine its to let the Boa's digestive system do its thing with out the interruption of handling.
Any pointers as always very appreciated.
Thanks Steve

there is tons of truth in it. handling a snake after eating would be like eating 8 cheeseburgers and going on a rollercoaster. its better not to handle them at all for a few days after feeding IMO.

this is also one more reason to feed in the cage. there is no bennefit to feeding in a seperate tub. unless you count getting bit and disturbing digestion as a bennefit.

sean
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recycle your pets

Point noted but, with more than say several babies there needs to be more practical alternatives as you can't feed them together, thus the temporary feeding them in separate enclosures/tubs. I don't think everyone with large clutches of snakes feed them in the enclosure together or separate them all from day one - that would be too impractical. Then again I am sure some people may do just that at is probably best. Is there anyone that has experience with feeding clutches of babies while maintaining ensuring the animal does not become stressed in the process? I will be separating these soon enough but they are extremely young still. I plan on keeping one the rest are spoken for so this is a temporary situation and I am looking for a practical approach - then again I am prepared for there not being one.
Thanks Steve

oh i didnt realize that you had a newborn litter. well i havent had any babies so its all conjecture from me at this point. but when and IF i ever manage to have my females deliver babies, i will have a shoebox rack ready and waiting for them. that would put each baby in its own enclosure, offering individual security and no feeding issues. not to mention the ability to individualy monitor shedding and fecal activity of each baby
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recycle your pets

Good advice - I will take it.
Thanks! Steve

more or less all babies are agressive towards anything that moves and is warm when feeding. think about it...........they eat warm live critters, then your hand comes past, to them, no difference. thats why it is best to use gloves when feeding from the start so they don't develop any bad habits. every baby i've cared for(not my own produced, just helped raise) have been agressive at feeding time. they're babies and need to be as agressive as possible.......once they get tamer or older they will start to make out the difference. never feed the snake in it's cage, especially if theres more than one snake in there. it just sets them up to consider your hand coming in as either food or love and all too often they mistake it as food.bad habit to start and hard habit to quit until you have a big one get you and they end up hurt becauase of what you taught it. thats my side/opinion on it all, hope it helps.

Most babies continue to be aggressive after feeding, at least in my experience. I try to give them some time after I introduce the last prey item before putting them back into their tubs to let them get out of feed mode. As for feeding them in their cages or out, I feed all of my snakes out of their cages (23 total - a mix of adult and juvenile animals). I'm building the cage for number 24, an adult burmese python, and she will be fed in her cage (just not practical to do otherwise). I use a snake hook when removing them from the cage or feeding tub, most of the time just stroking the animal with it as my signal that I'm about to pick them up. Only a couple of my snakes will still strike after that signal and they're simply the strike-happy ones in my collection anyway. As for handling afterwards, I make sure to be very gentle when putting them back in their cages - being sure to support their full bellies, and then leave them alone for at least 2-3 days before handling them.