Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just recieved a new baby salmon boa yesterday. I know she is really not vicious, just scared and trying to protect herself, but I've never had a baby boa that is this feisty. She hisses very loudly with her mouth open and strikes repeatedly when I go anywhere close to the cage. I don't want her to hurt herself by hitting the glass. I took her out and she bites me repeatedly for awhile and them calms down somewhat. Question is should I just let her be for a week or so or should I keep working with her?

I would see how she acts after giving her a day. If she is still crazy then I would definitely shield her enclosure so she doesn't hurt herself but work with her everyday to calm her. Then take the shield down after she's mellowed out a bit. Good luck.

>>I just recieved a new baby salmon boa yesterday. I know she is really not vicious, just scared and trying to protect herself, but I've never had a baby boa that is this feisty. She hisses very loudly with her mouth open and strikes repeatedly when I go anywhere close to the cage. I don't want her to hurt herself by hitting the glass. I took her out and she bites me repeatedly for awhile and them calms down somewhat. Question is should I just let her be for a week or so or should I keep working with her?

This is all my opinion,I dont know who you got your baby from,but it may be used to being in a steralite instead of an aquarium an this could be part of the problem,or it could just be a bit stressed from shipping an needs time to acclimate to its new inviroment!I would leave him or her alone for a few days an make sure your heat,humidity an husbandry is correct an see if he/she calms down!If she dont,I would try the steralite!Keep us posted,[Hypo]
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E&C's Exotic House of Reptiles

and your suprised shes acting hostile? leave her be for, AT MINIMUM, 5 days. ignore the tank completely. THEN start handling her a little. shes overstressed and im not sure why the guy who sold her to you didnt make sure you knew you have to back off while the snake adjusts to a new home......
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1.0 alb. okeetee "Grissom"
1.0 American Pit Bull Terrier "Vanyel"
0.1 Somali "Willow"

picking up a new snake. They are trying to ask for help or find out if other people have had this problem and if they might know how to help with the situation. I dont think its necessary to wait 5 days, some breeders wont refund your money if you dont notify them of potential issues within the first 24 hours of recieving your new animals so asking to ignore it for five days seems a little crazy to me.

I would try to use a hook or stick to get your new boa out until it gets used to you holding it and with time it should ease up on you and hopefully stop taggin you too!

good luck,
Mark

This is not my first snake by far and I have handled all of them on the first day I got them and have never had a problem. The people I bought her from are very responsible breeders and they did tell me that she was a little feisty and may be stressed out from being shipped. But I don't neccessarily agree that as a rule, just because an animal has been taken out if it's normal situation it should be expected to be defensive and left alone. I have handled many animals at shows of all ages that have been placed in unfamiliar enclosures, thrown in the back of a car and driven across the country then paraded in front of thousands of strangers with the smell of the feeders in the booth next door who were completely docile and handleable. I do believe that time is on my side and if leaving her alone is the best course of action then that will be my approach. However I wanted to ask the opinion of other responsible herpers who may have experience in this area or an educated opinion, if I might be re-enforcing the negative behavior by backing away from her aggression. Thanks for your opinion. I appreciate anyone's input who is trying to help, but the people I bought her from are very responsible, fantastic and knowledgeable.

I bought a Hypo about a year ago that was outrageously hissing and striking - he was about a year old. After a couple of days, I started holding him 2 out of 3 days for about 15-20 minutes. Alot of times he would mellow out a bit in my hands but soon as I put him back in his cage, He'd go off again. Finally after about a month, he mellowed out and is now a calm snake that I'm not even weary of when handling. Good Luck too you, David
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--aka DMOG68

I think I read all the posts. I assume your new snake has a hide box or some form of hide from which to securely study its new environment from. I assume that the cage is not too large. I assume that the cage is not in a high traffic area of the house ... if so, shading of the glass sides would be in order. I assume the temps are not too hot. I (and probably everyone) have handled some snakes the first day they got them. BUT, now that you know that your snake is a little pissy, I don't think that taming should be your priority right now. Feeding after settling in should be your priority. Let it settle in without distraction. It will start to venture our of of the hide box to drink and hunt. For now, I would handle this shake with a small hook, and only enough as required to clean the cage. After it has eaten a few times, you can assume it is settled in. Then I would take it out with a small hook and place it in your open hand. Since many snakes are "head shy" I would avoid touching the head, neck or back right behind the head. I would also not have any fingers out in front of it's face. Some snakes seem to "fear" something like a predator coming from above. and boas can be pissy about this. With snakes I don't know I like to touch from below first to test the attitude of the day. Just sit still with it in your palm. It will feel your warmth, and I assume it will start to remember your smell. Sit and watch tv or something. Don't try to restrain it from moving/exploring you. Just move you other hand ahead and underneath the snake. If you try this every day or so your snake will learn to accept you in its space and will tolerate handling. Snakes are individuals. Some will always be a little less trustworthy than others. Some snakes become very trustworthy, and one particular day they get a wrong cue/scent/vibration/whatever and they surprize you. Keep alert. Just my 2 cents. I hope this helps, and that I haven't simplified things so much that I have offended you. Good luck and have fun. Frank

Thanks. I have her in a 20 gallon tank with a small hide but I have never seen her in it yet. The tank is in room with little traffic, usually just me checking in on the snakes. I have a temp gun, the temps are good maintained with a red light that puts out heat but very little light and an undertank heating pad on the same side. The humidity is at 60%. I have a water bowl on the other side and the hide in the middle. Usually I find her coiled up in the front corner of the cool side or the front corner of the warm side. Last night I checked on her at about 3am and she was out exploring, so that might be a good thing. Both parents are reported to be very docile animals, and I do see that she is making some slow progress. she's not opening her mouth and hissing everytime I go near her now, but she does coil up tightly and you can she she is still very iffy. I have hook but it is way too big so I ordered a little mini-hook from midwest tongs and it should arrive in a day or two. Thanks for your help. In a week or so I'm gonna post and let everybody who helped out know how she's doing.

I am not an “experienced breeder” but did have the same problem with a neonate suri. I chose to use a pair of deer skin gloves from home depot. I think they were more for me psychologically than for the boa, but the familiar strong scent could be helping. I have a problem with flinching and the gloves seem to cure me. While one of the other posts recommended not touching on the head, I almost always do initially. If I slide out the rack and am greeted by a lot of open mouth hissing, I gentle touch the boa on the top of the head with my index finger, almost pushing the mouth closed; careful on the approach here. This usually ends or severely dampens the hissing. Then I rub the sides a little, which may produce more hissing, then another gentle touch/rub on the head. Then I pick her up and we are done with the aggressive behavior. It took a while to get where we are and I still get hissed at over fifty percent of the time, but we are getting there. At least I am not getting bit.

I started of by just sitting there until she quit hissing; five, ten minutes maybe. Then I put my hand in the cage. When she calms down I leave. Do this a couple of times a week. The behavior should get better. Let the boa bite you if it wants to. Eventually it will get tired and stop. Any jumping, flinching, etc will bring out the aggression. The more calm and assertive you are the better they are. I think the magic moment for me was realizing she was not evil, she was afraid. This allowed me to be patient. I never leave while she is aggressive. This is a pain in the butt, but seems to pay off. Be patient, going to fast will only stress your boa out. I never had any feeding problems with mine, so I assume she was okay during the process.

Again this is my experience with ONE boa. I have used the same tactics on another larger boa that is “moody” sometime and get the same results. Again, I mistook this for aggression initially, but now think the behavior is based out of fear and not aggression. Reading about handling on the larger python forums seems to support the principle I am sharing, but not the actually practice. Getting bit by these guys is a little more problematic.

Hang in there. Things will get better.

Al

I have had dozens (more like 200) baby BRB's and MANY are quite nippy at first. I agree you need to be assertive and not let em see you be tentative. Also, I know it's hard but seems to help if you control the natural reflex to pull back if/when it strikes. I have launched a couple accross the room by flinching. (they strike, and at the same time I pulled back, they let go while my hand was moving and when my hand stopped they kept going. Only a couple of inches of movement and a split second of time but was enough for a flight of 5 - 10 feet. When they learn the hand from above doesn't hurt and seems to come all the time, all my babies have settlede down. Just getting the 2005 crop now, one litter (18) here and 6 more gravid, VERY fat females ready to burst.
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Thanks,

Dave "Rainbows-R-Us"

0.1 Wife
0.2 kids
4.12 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
1.1 Ball python
0.1 BCI "Elvira" normal from 1989
1.0 BCI albino / het-anery
0.1 BCI Hypo / het-albino
0.1 BCI Anery / het-albino
0.1 BCI Hypo (possible super)

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats