Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm researching husbandry for C. hortulanus, and I'd realy appreciate any input. Most of the literature I've come across cites their "vile" temperment readily and quite often. However, I have seen mentioned in a sparse few articles that juveniles can be tamed with time, handling and patience. Is this really a general rule with few exceptions, or is it an exception to the general rule of their alert and nippy nature? Or does it rely completely with the individual snake?

Thanks,
Chris

By "tame," I mean an animal that can be handled without routinely striking. I understand that they are wild animals; and that there is no true tame snake.

Basically, this is my take on it. My founding pair are both very nippy. The male is a LTC and pretty much came that way, I didn't even bother trying to tame him, I just wanted him to breed. The female was CB but is also fairly nippy, but I can handle her usually when I need to and she tolerates it for a while. They produced in '02, '03 and they are breeding even right now as I type this so hopefully again in '04. The babies pop out nippy, as most babies usually do and probably should, they make for better, more aggressive feeders. I am usually busy with the babies for pictures, spraying, admiring, etc. They pretty much give up on striking because they know that I am going to do what I need to no matter what. Now, they do have a feeding response, that is fine. But when I reach in and pull them out, they are completely hand tame. Probably tame by accident though, I just want healthy snakes that eat.

Thank you DM, that's exactly the kind of response I was looking for, from someone with extended first hand experience. Since you're a breeder, may I ask what time of the year most CB babies are born? There is a show here next weekend (Tampa); I'm curious as to what age C. hortulanus I might see there.

thanks again,
Chris

I usually have babies born around August or September. But when I mention my babies, I am referring to true captive bred and born. I am not trying to insinuate that amazons take some special miracle to get to reproduce, they are actually quite easy. It is just that what I see offered quite often are from gravid imports. Don't be suprised to find some babies, and they may very well be true captive bred, but chances are they aren't. Good luck.
DM Exotics

Can I expect the vendor to tell me honestly whether the animal is bred or just born captive?

At first I thought that was a tough question but actually it is a simple answer. No, you can't expect a vendor to be honest. If you ask the right questions, you should be able to figure it out. Ask about the parents, the lineage, when they bred, when they were born, etc. When I do shows, I have pics of just about everything I am lucky enough to capture with my camera. Of course, reputation has a lot of do with it too. Not trying to slam other vendors and put myself on a pedestal but we have all been deceived and/or ripped off. There are plenty of good people out there, just use your best judgement. Post pics of whatever you acquire, good luck!

Thanks DM

Will do!

I've heard of vendors cooling down there snakes at shows to make them more docile for potential customers. I don't know how true this is; I take it that if I see an animal at the show that is less nippy, it may not necessarily be that way normally?

Best,
Chris

I have 2 girls from your last years batch out of Big Red. They are both the tamest ammies i've ever seen. Pretty odd. lol. You can unwrap them from their branches and take them out with your bare hands, etc. And they are also pretty good feeders. Not as vigorous as a "nasty" is, but still pretty decent. Just thought i'd share. lol
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Hello, my name is Brie.. And i'm an addict..

DarkWave Exotics

Currently keeping:
1.2 southern scrub pythons
1.0 reticulated python
1.0 albino burmese python
1.1 jungle carpet pythons
1.0 irian jaya carpet python
0.1 blood python
3.0 ball pythons
0.1 green anaconda
1.1 amazon tree boas
1.0 colombian redtail boas
1.1 argentine boas
1.0 sonoran boa
1.0 cancun boa
0.1 sunbeam snake
1.1 albino and het albino chinese beauty snakes
1.2 taiwan beauties
2.3 cornsnakes
0.0.1 albino checkered gartersnake
3 sandfire bearded dragons
0.1 nile monitor
1.0 savannah monitor

and lots of bugs, furry critters, fish and birds

i've got a few atbs that are just as friendly as any other snake

The truth is that, by nature, amazons are nippy. They have an innate "knee jerk" response to strike at and in many cases bite any and all warm blooded flesh detected by their heat-sensing pits. This is part of what I think makes them cool animals to keep! They are like cats!! They don't miss anything, and are very "alive" and responsive. But in the same way that cats have sharp claws and often use them...amazons have sharp teeth!

However, amazons do have quite differing personalities and there are some who are less likely to bite as well as some who will "fein" a strike, but not actually bite. And then there are many who "bite first -- and ask questions later"! I think it is true though that you would have a better chance of finding a tamer and more healthy amazon among the cbb offerings. I have several nice cbb amazons that I don't hardly have to be on the defensive with when handling.

John Hedger

Dear chris i have been breeding hortulanus over aperiod of some 20 years and found the babies consistently calm inquisitive but calm the same in my experience can not be said of hortulanus cooki all the best Richard trant

Thank you all very much for sharing your experiences and advice.

Best,
Chris

I don't know if I have much qualification to answer this post since I do not have the 20 or so years experience with amazon tree boas. None the less I do love them and would love to build a collection of them. For years I have had a prime interest in anacondas and have only just recently developed an interest in the amazon tree boas. And I am thankful I did for space reasons. Ok...where i am going with this is...they are nasty like some other loves of mine as far as I have seen. But I will take 1000 ATB bites to one neonate eunectes murinus. Maybe you can tame the cbb's(It would be nice since they are a favorite of mine to keep now) but who cares.

Gavin

Sorry..after reading through my last post, I decided it didnt sound exactly like I wanted it to and it sounded kind of jerky if read wrong. I ment in no way to belittle the original post or any others. It was basically a light joke saying all the ATB's I have seen will bite everything around it and I have also only heard this talk of tame individuals and never seen the...and the bottom line was...at least they are small. I take their temper and bites as either comical or anoying. Sorry folks if I sounded bad..I just wanted to correct my mistake before the next post jumped on me instead of trying to answer the taming ATB question : )

You have heard from all of the experts, so now I'll throw in a novice's view. I couple of months ago I brought home an ATB from a local pet store. He struck at everything that moved and I was afraid that I would never be able to handle him. (I named him Jafar). Two weeks later he developed pnuemonia and ended up getting daily antibiotic injections. With this frequent forced handling he has definitely calmed down. I use a leather glove to remove him from the cage and then he is fine. I would never have thought that he would have calmed down this much.