Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So I just acquired an Isabel Island Candoia ground boa a few weeks ago. She is about the size of an adult male ball python. She is so beautiful! I have kept ONLY ball pythons for over 5 years now with a collection of 20 now. I have NEVER been bitten. Yes I am aware that it is just a matter of time, but my respect is always at its' fullest when handling ANY snake. I handled the boa when I picked it up from the guy and she was fine. A week later I was handling her and she turned into SATAN!! Her favorite place to strike is my FACE! I can not handle her without her snapping repeatedly at me! She even strikes BACKWARDS with NO warning...AHHH!!

My question is; does anyone else who works with these guys have similar problems with their temperament, or did I just get a biotch? And with constant handling, will she ever completely tame up or will she ALWAYS be looking for a piece of flesh to latch on to?

On another point, she does not strike AT ALL at ANY prey items!?!?!? I left a dead small rat in front of her face over night and she at it, but she will NOT strike at ANYTHING other than ME!!!..lol.

She has NOT tried striking at me while in her bin, but when I take her out, she is nasty and very flighty. I wear leather gloves and a leather jacket and have been working with her in my hands, but I am worried that when the gloves come off she is going to see the warmth from my hands and continue to bite.

Any tips, tricks, experiences, info, or other cool websites about these guys would be greatly appreciated.

i dont have any tips but my wife had this same issue with a texas luesistic rat snake, bit her in the face 16 times twice catching her in the eye, we had him for 4 years and could never get him to chill the hell out so we just ended up trading him for a few balls we tried handling him alot, feeding him in a separate tub to take the feeding response out of the equation...i guess my only tip would be to wear a ski mask and safety goggles. Good luck!

n/p

LOL.....maybe it's hormonal and she'll drop you some worms...?

..maybe she IS actually related to Satan....

....keep working it....she might bite less in the early day and more at evening?....maybe...maybe all the time...hmmmmm...

....try live fuzz rats .....then ask us again....(before they say birds or lizards...screw that)...

....check humidity....
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........JY

Thanks Jeff. Live fuzzy rats was the first thing I tried, but she just coward in fear. She is afraid of anything when she is inside her bin, but when I take her out she is vicious! I put her on the floor once and that is when she turned into the nastiest creature on earth. I had to throw a towel over her just to pick her up. She wouldn't let me come near her when she was on the floor.

I had a good family friend who owns a ground boa, and the problems with candoia is they don't really eat rodents. They eat frogs and lizards for the most part. Try using lizard/frog scent on f/t rodents and see if it eats better for you. By that I mean get like dead anole or frog, and grind it up. You can keep it frozen, then put a little on the face/nose of your rat then heat it up and offer it to him.

As for stress outside the cage, thats just has to do with feeling threatened. It feels a lot more exposed outside it's cage. There really isn't much you can do other than trying to keep handling them and make them feel more secure knowing you aren't trying to kill them. Don't put them in the floor in the middle of a room. It might sound crazy, but try handling them more closer to your body... obviously try to keep it away from your face, it's natural for certain species of snakes to aim for the face in defense, because typically their instincts tell them whoever is trying to get them will probably trying to eat them.. It's definitely not an easy captive snake, but they sure are awesome looking. Good luck.

Also, if you feel like taking him out keeps making him more and more stressed, it might not help with his feeding. If that happens just leave him alone, because it's more important to get him eating well than being docile. It's not really an easy captive species.

Thank you VERY much for the info. Any little bit helps. She will eat the f/t rodents if I leave them in the cage over night (so far) but she won't strike at anything inside her cage. I think I am just going to leave her alone for a couple of weeks. It is SOOO hard to do though because of how beautiful she is. I keep wanting to poke my head in a look at her..lol. I am starting to have better discipline now and am not bothering her at all but to attempt feeding once a week, and cleaning once a week.