Reptile & Amphibian Forums

thinking about gettin into atb's, are they completely evil? or is that just hyped up from people who have had bad experiences. i was thinking about grabbin a pair to have as a side project. i have always heard that they bite alot. if so can they be tamed with handling or is it just a snake that you need to expect to get bit by no matter what you do. also how big do they get & is anyone able to rate how bad of a bite an adult can give? i havent been bit by anything but i just want to know if i get nailed by an adult, is it painful to the point where i wont ever want to touch it again or is it a joke, i have tattooed & peirced myself plenty so i'm okay with pain. i would enjoy any info on temperment, taming, & bite .

thanx
later

From my experience, and judging by that alone, ATBs are not evil snakes. Its is true that they tend to bite and ask questions later. I have heard them refered to as "Pitbulls with Chainsaws" but it really repends on the snake. I cannot say what it feels to be bitten by an adult ATB as mine have not bitten me since they were very young. As far as "taming" them you can get them aclimated to handling when they are young. At that age, they will bite alot but thier teeth are much smaller. I handled mine alot when they were young and they calmed down quite a bit. I can free handle both of them now without a problem. Though if i reach into their cage to grab them they do get defensive, but once they are out and in my hands they calm down and are as placid as a ball python. If you want to have handleable ATBs then the best bet is to buy young snakes, and handle them as younger indivduals and raise them through frequent handling. If you are looking for handleable adults....then you are going to have a more difficult search. There are only a few "tame" adult ATBs out there, and in my experience their owners are rather fond of them. But if you just want to breed them, then get yourself a snake-hook and an adult pair. You can always keep a few of the babies, and start handling them. Best of luck!

-Matt

my apologies for the typos.

-matt

Good above post,
Besure to really resurch before you buy one, as in every animal. Since the last post went into good detal on taiming them, I wont go off on that. How ever there bites do very, its painful, but not that bad, now if you jerk back real hard you will make them brake off there teeth, and there is gets extreamly painful And my lend you snake with some infections to deal with, and some long teeth to painfuly dig out. Heres the link to a caresheet I wrote, I hope it helps some!
Good luck!
Philip
Click here

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1.1.1 amazon tree boas
0.1.2 normal corn snake
1.0.3 snow corn
0.0.3 amelanistic corns
0.0.2 anerythristic corns
1.1 goins king snakes
0.1 argentine boa
0.1.1 red tail boa
0.0.1 Coastal carpet python
0.0.1 Ball python
0.1 columbian rainbow boa
0.0.1 Black rat snake
0.0.2 eastern garter snakes
0.1 Speculated king snake
0.0.2 Red eared sliders
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1 gelding horse

They vary from one snake to another.True some would rather bite the he!! out of you as to look at you but thats to be expected from tree boas in general especially w/c ones or ones that havent been handled all that much (they go back to their wild nature).The thing about tree boas that alot of people tend to forget to mention (no offense) is that tree boas react to sudden movements within their given area,either for defensive purposes or food purposes.The way i handle mine and i have yet to be bitten is to move slow but steady when getting them out of the cage.I have a big female that likes to bite if she can and this method seems to be working for her (may not work for all tree boas).I also have a sub-adult that is tame to handling but will react to any quick movement.Start with a baby and the chances of having a fairly tame/handable adult are very good.Start with an adult only if you like the punishment.Like i said the way i work with mine may not work for yours but its a start.Also make sure its c/b and not w/c so your chances of taming are better.LIke the others said,be sure to do all the necessary research before buying them or anything else,saves alot of time and trouble in the long run. Regards Bill McLeod0