Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,My girlfriend has recently expressing her need for a small puppy like a chiuaua,yorkshire terrier.My question is,we live in a one bedroom,and the dog smell will be everywhere.Will the boa's percieve the mutt,oops I mean dog as prey,after I've handled the dog,then handle my boa's would I have a chance of being bit?I'm trying to talk her into a more medium sized dog like a pit or stapishire bull terrier(mini pit).will the size of the dog matter?My biggest boa is eight foot.Thank you.

your boa recognizes the smell of rodent dander and associates that with food. i don't think it will be a problem.

chris
-----
www.chrisolsonreptiles.com

My mom has a maltese dog, i hold him all the time, then my Boa, no problem at all

got a slew of different answers but ended up finding out that, I don't let my dog and snakes play very often, but they will occasionally strike at him if he's looking at them in the cage. However, I've never had one strike at me in an out-of-the-ordinary fashion which would lead me to suspect they are striking b/c of the scent my dog has left.
As a precaution, don't leave your dog (especially if it's a teeny one) near the 8 ft'r... b/c your girlfriend will have to get another teeny dog
jb

-----
Jonathan Brady
"Sarcasm is angers ugly cousin" -Dr. Buddy Rydell (Jack Nicholson) in "Anger Management".

I was given one of my favorite boas because dogs and boas don’t play well together. A fellow that I use to work with got his teenager a boa constrictor for a pet. The boa is a female Mexican and was about 6 feet long at the time. The snake had a nice wood and plexi-glass cage with a hinged top.
Well the teenager had forgotten to secure the lid one before he went to bed. I am sure that he was in the habit of not locking the cage and had gotten away with it dozens of times before. This night was different though. The boa, who had to put up with there 10 pound poodle mix laughing at her through the cage, was out for revenge. The Boa, I call her Patty the puppy eater, crawled out her unsecured lid and went looking for some pay back. About 2am the entire family was awaken by the unmistakable sound of their dear family pet creaking in fear. As the family all rushed to see what was going on, they found Patty the puppy eater loosely wrapped around the poor poodle mutt and her mouth firmly attached to the left hind quarter. The snake was obviously not try to constrict the dog or else it would have been a quite night and nobody would have know anything until morning, but Patty was sending a message and the message was, I don’t like ankle biting pups! Dale, the fellow that I worked with, also sent a message. He called me at about 2.30 am and asked if I would come over and get the snake. It seems that his wife was just a little freaked out by the whole ordeal and wanted the snake out of the house now!
So at 3am I was there and took Patty to her new home at my house. If a snake could smile I swear that she was, she sat contently in her new cage the rest of the night. The dog was scared but not hurt. I got the teenage son a pair of Sun Gazer Lizards to go in his cage so he would not feel too disappointed.
The next season I bred that female Mexican Boa to a very light male Colombian. Together they produced my first striped Boa that started my line of striped babies!
Thanks for reading.
-----
Jim Hopkins "Hoppy"
Hopkins Holesale Herps
Hopfam1@aol.com

I have two cats in addition to my 28 snakes and have never had a problem. I will typically just wash my hands prior to holding any of the snakes, but sometimes I forget and haven't yet had a problem. Out of them all, I only have one snake that doesn't care for the cats watching him through the glass doors, I simply put him in a cage higher off the floor. One of my cats in particular is facinated by the snakes and will sit for hours watching them. She is especially fond of the small snakes and will get as close as I allow her if I have them out and handling them. And no, that isn't very close at all. Often times, she will follow me into the bathroom where I have a few small snakes in tubs, and rub against the tubs purring after peering in at the snakes. The snakes don't seem disturbed by her odd behaviour and typically don't even move when she does this, even if they are in the corner she's rubbing against. When I have some of the larger snakes out (6' or more), I'll just lock the cats in another room to keep them out of harm's way. You're best bet would be to simply wash your hands prior to handling the snake and shut the dog in another room while handling it. It'd be a safer bet and you wouldn't have to worry about replacing your girlfriend's dog.

Raven