Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey everyone,

Well I am officially a new boa owner(this is my first boa.) Earlier last week I got a beautiful Central American caramel sunrise boa. He is a little over a year old and is absolutely beautiful. He is settling in quite well too.

My only thing with him so far is that he can be a bit snappy. He will never snap when I'm around his enclosure and doesn't mind at all when I reach in to pet him or pull him out of enclosure. When I grab him out though he is definitely concerned with making it back to his enclosure. Though he would much rather go everywhere except back into his enclosure once he is there. I can't say I blame him though. When handling him though from time to time he will try and take a lunge at my face! Never at my hands or anything. I know in time he will probably calm down and stop doing this. However I was wondering if anyone had any good handling tips for maybe getting him to calm down a bit and help build a little trust. I've handled a lot of boas in the past but all of them had been handled a lot previously and were really calm.

Any help will be greatly appreciated! Will post pictures soon.

Even cb boas retain their wild instincts. As well they should, realistically. If your boa was in a natural wild environment that feisty behavior might very well save its life.

Try hook training, which is simply tapping the boa on its head with a snake hook or other thin lightweight object to diffuse the feeding or (hopefully) defense response before handling.

When handling, a boa might strike at moving objects, especially warm ones, so consider keeping your head still when handling for a while. Our large heat-generating heads become great targets to a boa out of its captive cage environment and can really entice it to strike.

Handle often, but not too soon after feeding. And when you handle, consider that your boa lives on warmth. When we are warm and comfortable, your boa might be getting cold.

You'll win.