Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hi i have fake leaves and wood in the boa tank but i am finding that every time i slide the glass back that as soon as i put my hand in my boa strikes straight away i have a glove i was given by a friend that the snake cannot bite through that is helping but it is not helping my nerves and i really want to be able to change the water and put my hand in without her attacking when she is out the tank she is fine and she wouldnt hurt a fly can anyone help me overcome my problem you guys must have some tricks tucked away up your sleeves
thank you
graham

If you feed your boa in it's tank....Which is a good idea in my book.....Some snakes can have that response. Although, out of all my snakes.....I have never had one do it.

If you are going to either handle the snake or change something around in the tank try rubbing your snake with your snake hook. (You own one right? If not, you should.) This will condition your snake into knowing when it is touched by the hook there will not be any feeding occuring. This worked great when I owned retics and burms. I never had a problem when I used this technique.

Another problem could be that your boa is feeling threatened by your presence inside the tank. ie, it's territory. I would use the hook technique in the exact same way. If it is a fearful strike and not a predatory one........You might have to hold your snake back with the hook until you get them water changed.

Either that, or just take the darn thing out. If it is causing a stressful situation to you and the snake...Just take him/her out when you are cleaning things up in there. Heck, it's just another excuse to hold your boa for a little bit.
Hope this helps,
John
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"To be the best..........You must lose your mind."

I deal with a similar situation from my female bci. Except it's her feeding response at night. All I have to do is walk by the cage and wham! ... she nails the plexiglass. She eats well and often but still she'll usually do this. However, during the day she does not strike.

So if I have to go into her cage at night I use a hook to get her out of the feeding mode. Sometimes it takes a while as she tries to push around the hook and go after my hand. But in the end she'll snap out of it and I can go in the cage with no problem.

Hooks are great.

Bill

John and Bill both said it, I'll ad my 2 cents.

I have 3 snake hooks of different sizes for my various snakes. I use them almost every time, especially if the snake might be hungry.

Lifting the snake out with a snake hook tends to move the snake from feeding mode to handling mode.

Get rid of the glove and get an appropriately sized hook.

I have 15 snakes and I have been bit only 1 time in years... and that was a baby snake that couldn't even break the skin. I haven't had an adult tag me.

Doug T

hi everyone thank you soo much for your comments and i will invest in a snake hook can anyone please tell me where i can get one or link me to somewhere that sell them

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