Reptile & Amphibian Forums

___Long Post___Please Read!___

I currently breed ball pythons and recently decided to get into redtail boas. I have an unbelievably friendly/tame male that I got a while back. Recently I acquired a female from a friend of a friend who was “getting rid” of her. I offered to take her and now I know why he was “getting rid” of her. She is unbelievably grumpy! Grumpy is not the word, she is literally vicious. When I tried to move her from the carrying case to her cage she attacked. I managed not to get bitten but it took all my strength and dexterity to wrestle her into her enclosure. She has all the right husbandry requirements from me and she appears to be in excellent health, she just wants to tear my arm off. I am going to let her be for a week or so in hopes that she calms down. Grant it, I plan to breed her but I would also like her to be at least slightly tame. I have spent hours and hours on these forums, I have the boa manual but I was wondering if anybody out there has some words of wisdom or a step-by-step to “killer-snake” taming. I care about this animal and I want it to be comfortable, I am kinda upset that she has gone through years of neglect (the guy that gave her to me said he had not handled her in over a year, he threw a jumbo rat in her enclosure every 2 weeks and left her alone until next feeding).

Not to get off topic or anything…

It is really scary to me to think about how many thoughtless amateurs out there buy snakes because they think they are “cool” or because they think it will give their friends and family the chills, only to neglect or abuse them after a year or so. How many of us have people in our neighborhoods with a snake in their garage that is never handled, fed or monitored? My latest adoption was just a sad reminder to me of the multitudes of selfish people out there who threaten my hobby and abuse otherwise great pets. Not to get off on a rant or anything, just felt like getting some frustration off my chest! Thanks for reading and I look forward to any and all feedback in regards to my original question…

Jonathan Campbell
1.1 Columbian Redtail Boas
2.2 Ball Pythons
1.2 Corn Snakes
0.1 Bearded Dragon
0.1 Shih Tzu
2.0 Children
0.1 Wife

Maybe it was a feeding response. That would be great because you can retrain the snake. I've had this happen to me only once (in a different species) but have found that keeping the animal very very well fed is the first step.
Otherwise it's possible the snake is naturally inclined toward grumpiness and you might have a long road ahead.
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Peter: It's OK, I'll handle it. I read a book about something like this.
Brian: Are you sure it was a book? Are you sure it wasn't NOTHING?

Some boas are just plain aggressive no matter what the circumstances. My animals are not handled that often and they all have good temperaments except for one. I believe they have there own individual personalities and behavior patterns and sometimes it's a matter of learning and knowing that snakes personality when it comes to handling. I have some boas I can just reach in and take out without any problems at all, others may act skittish until out of the cage and once they are out they are OK. Two things that I do when it comes to feeding and handling my snakes is to keep them on a consistent schedule (condition them). I feed all of my snakes just before or right after the lights go out. This lets them know that evening is feeding time and not handling time, they are not looking for a food item every time the cage door opens. When I handle my animals it is always during the day and before I reach in with my hands I will gently move the animal with the snake hook to let it know that it is going to be handled and not fed. The two most important thing I can recommend is to start your snake on a regular feeding schedule and be consistent with your handling techniques (condition it). I hope this helps.
Regards, John Skipper
John Skipper Reptiles

Thank you very much for the response. I will put her on the schedule she needs to be on (and obviously never was) and hope for the best. Just a side not...
Have you been bitten by a boa and if so any information would be nice. I have a good feeling she is going to get lucky during the taming process and tag me. I have been bitten by one of my pythons and it was a quick bite and release deal. Not very painful, but a bit un-nerving. Do the boas bite and hold or is it just a quick release? She is pretty big, about 7 feet long and about 5 inches in diameter at her thickest...

Hi Jonathan,

Here are some tricks I have use in the past to tame aggressive boas.

Every night I would put the t- shirt I was wearing all day in the cage with the boa. I would not use a good shirt for this just in case the boa wants to relieve it's self on your shirt. LOL This way the boa gets use to your scent and is not threatened by you.
I have had this work in taming boas down in as little time as a week but some times it would take as long as 1 to 2 months.

The other trick I have used is put the boa in a pillow case and hold the boa as you watch TV. I would do this for about 1/2 hour every night for about two weeks then try with out the pillow case. Be careful as you might still get bite. Most boa bits do not hurt that much to me. They do surprise me or scare me more then it hurts me. With proper handling you will not be bitten.
I have had boas for over 26 years and I would say I have been bitten only about 12 times or so. I would say in the last 6 to 7 year I have not been bitten at all. Every time I did get bit I new I was going to get bit before it happened. Most of the time it was a feeding response. I now feed all my boas in feeding tubs and not in there cages.

Take care
Tom McCarthy
McCarthyBoas.com

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McCarthyBoas.com --------- Thanks & Take Care Everyone

Thank you very much for the response! I will try the t-shirt and the pillow case tip. What type of pillow case do you use. Someone told me that they transported their python in a pillow case and it sufocated. Also, any desciption on the bite of the boa? Is it a bite and hold or is it a bit and release? I am not afraid of being bitten, I do not want to be bitten, I am just curious as to whether it is unbeleivably painful or if it simply stings like an injection...

I use just a regular thin pillowcase. All of my bites have just been bite and release. Getting bit is like getting a couple shots at once...not very painful. I've been bitten once where the snake held on, but I just pushed him in further so his teeth disengaged and pulled him off.

Take care,
Tom McCarthy
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McCarthyBoas.com --------- Thanks & Take Care Everyone

I'd forgotten about that old t-shirt trick. I've also used the t-shirt trick and had pretty good results. It seems as though once the snake becomes accustomed to your scent, you aren't as much of a threat. But as Tom said, don't use your favourite shirt. I've been bitten once a few years ago by my 6' female Bci and it really wasn't that bad - could hardly tell I'd even been bitten by the next day. The only other bite I've gotten from one of my large snakes was from one of my 7' males - while wearing gloves - he was in a very poor mood that day but his cage needed cleaning. Both bites were very quick bite & release episodes. I only have a couple of snakes out of my 23 that I regularly use gloves with because both are regular biters: my wc female Solomon Island ground boa who hasn't tamed down yet, and my female dumerils boa that bites first and decides if it's edible later (she is a bite & wrap snake, holding on until she realizes she can't eat me). I don't typically use gloves because, as mentioned in a thread below, a glove can snag the teeth of a snake causing the tooth to break or fracture, inviting infection. Bites typically aren't that bad and I prefer to go gloveless most of the time (with those two exceptions). It's basically like a few slight pin pricks, not really all that painful at all, more of a shock than anything.