Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just purchased my boa about a month ago and she is as tame as can be. I have been handeling her everyday with no problems at all. She is just starting to go into shed. I know that they are more prone to aggressive behavior when in there "opaque" stage and you shouldn't handle them. But once her eyes cleared my fiancee' (kacey) was checking out her cage and Sophi was fine. Kacey rubed her just to be sure sophi was awear kacey was there. Sophi was great until Kacey tried to take her out of her tank. Sophi didn't strike but hissed. Is this normal behavior when they are going into shed? She is fine up until we try to handel her, we can pet and touch her all we want. She is not head shy or anything. I just don't understand why all the aggression when we try to pick her up all or a sudden?
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First time owner of het pied ball python

snakes just hiss at times and during the shed cycle they are twice as likely to do so dog,s bark cats meow and snakes hiss its just a snake being a snake i would not recomend holding touching ETC. during the opaque stage at all you can actually damage the new skin underneath the old and ive seen it done so please just wait till he/she sheds out regards

She's not being aggressive, she's being defensive and providing a warning for you.

To better understand the behavior, consider your new snakes position in "the wild".

At such a young age, your snake is potential food for pretty much ANYTHING that eats meat. When in shed, their eyes cloud over and they can't see much, if anything at all making them HIGHLY vulnerable to predation. They're also probably a tad bit uncomfortable or on edge from secreting all of that fluid. They need higher humidity and all they really want to do is just sit still and be left alone.

Touching them at this time frightens then and adds to their already hightened level of aggitation and discomfort.

So, your snake isn't being aggressive, just simply giving you a kind warning to leave it alone. If you continue, your snake will elevate its level of defensiveness and strike.

My recommendation, keep the humidity up and leave the snake alone until it sheds.

Congrats on your new boa!
jb
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What's written above is purely my opinion. In fact, MOST of what you read on the internet is someone's opinion. Don't take it too seriously

Jonathan Brady
DeviantConstrictors.com
Deviant Constrictors picturetrail

Thank you very much. That gives me a much better understanding of whats going on being that it is my first time going through this.
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First time owner of het pied ball python