Reptile & Amphibian Forums

About two years ago I acquired a young adult female woma that had a really nasty disposition. After reporting it to this forum most people seemed to think she would get better over time. Well things haven’t changed much in two years. I had bought her with the intention of breeding her and I think she might be ready this year. However, her aggressive nature makes me question whether or not it is safe to introduce her to my male. Has anyone had any experience with womas like this? Any advice would be helpful. Thanks.

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"Sweet boa of Western AND Eastern Samoa!"- Hermes Conrad

1.1 Indian Pythons, 1.0 Albino Green Burmese, 0.1 Malaysian Blood Python,1.1 Womas,1.0 Australian Water Python,1.0 Centralian Carpet Python, 1.0 Jungle Carpet Python,1.1 Peruvian Red-Tail Boas, 2.1 Hog Island Boas,1.0 Salmon Boa, 0.1 Pastel Salmon Boa, 0.0.1 North American Wood Turtle, 1.0 Hypo Alligator Snapper, 0.0.1 Concentric Diamondback Terrapin, 0.1.5 Leopard Tortoises, 0.0.1 Indian Star Tortoise,1.0 Yellow Bearded Dragon,0.0.1 SpecXYacare Caiman

Ive got a pretty aggressive male. Hes still pretty young, about 1 year, but i think hes coming around now. These guys, and most pythons, will not just become tame over time. You have to handle it, especially after you get bitten, and a few days after feeding. Also try to feed more mice or rats at once and meals less often, but be careful of gorging them because the head can sometimes grow slower than the body if you feed too much. I find it easier to just get bit and continue to handle them until they are conditioned to be aggressive feeders but not aggressive elsewhere.

I got a 1 year old male woma that's a pussy cat. However, they are known to be VERY aggressive come feeding time. See below.

Is that a feed repsonse or is she really just looking to hurt something? I have 2 pairs of Womas and I wish they were that aggressive. Sometimes I worry about mine because they are so laid back.

The constricting would suggest a feeding response; however she acts that way inside and outside her cage. Even after several minutes of handling with a hook she strikes and bites at everything. I have enough pythons (including another woma) to know what a killer feeding response is. This is different.

She gets a medium rat once a week. I have upped it to two rats a week in an attempt to appease her in case it is just a case of her being hungry all the time.

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"Sweet boa of Western AND Eastern Samoa!"- Hermes Conrad

1.1 Indian Pythons, 1.0 Albino Green Burmese, 0.1 Malaysian Blood Python,1.1 Womas,1.0 Australian Water Python,1.0 Centralian Carpet Python, 1.0 Jungle Carpet Python,1.1 Peruvian Red-Tail Boas, 2.1 Hog Island Boas,1.0 Salmon Boa, 0.1 Pastel Salmon Boa, 0.0.1 North American Wood Turtle, 1.0 Hypo Alligator Snapper, 0.0.1 Concentric Diamondback Terrapin, 0.1.5 Leopard Tortoises, 0.0.1 Indian Star Tortoise,1.0 Yellow Bearded Dragon,0.0.1 SpecXYacare Caiman

My two cents. We have a male 3 years old who will rise up like a cobra at seeing any movement anywhere and strike violently. he can be taken out with ahook but he is spastic. I did a ton of research about this behavior since we had not seen it in any womas before and having spoken to a hundred breeders what I could find is what most called "crazed womas." Many said that one in every so many they had was totally agressive/defensive with no explanation and never got better. Ours is this way. It is not a feeding hit, those are prtty obvious, this is a fear hit, and seemingly there is no cure. As for breeding he breeds fine, he may hate people but he loves his girls. The best you can do with any snake like this is keep working with them hoping they will settle or give up and have a viewing/breeding specimen vs. a handling one. We try the former even with our guy we call Oscar the Grouch.

Womas are pit bull feeders no doubt but this behavior is not about food in our case, and sounds like not in your case either.
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Mike and David at 3-D Pythons
www.3dpythons.com

One last thought to note. Again from speaking with some long time breeders and one who is an authority on many snakes...

Another issue in Womas and sometimes in other snakes is fear via smells...Womas seem to have issues around snakes that eat other snakes like king snakes, olives and such....If they were housed in that container or are housed nearby this can make a Woma real nervous. This is not teh case for us nor may be your case but I pass that along from my research.
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Mike and David at 3-D Pythons
www.3dpythons.com