Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi I just had a quick question. I recently went to a reptile show and bought a dumeril boa. She was born on July 17 of this year, so she's really young. My problem with her is that she is terribly aggressive and bites non-stop! I waited a week before I even took her out to handle her. I then realized that she bites a lot, usually for no reason at all (like movement, etc.) I don't know what to do because I read that dumerils are usually very nice snakes with a good personality- which is why I chose one. I had her out for an hour yesterday and she bit just as frequently at the end as at the beginning. Will this snake ever become friendly? My redtails are wonderful and have the best personalities... Please help! Thanks

this works well with all snakes but was posted by me in the blood forums. so far ive tamed bloods, boas, and carpets doing this. it does work.

first off, what i do is before i get a blood or any snake i wear the same shirt for 2 or 3 days in a row. this may sound gross but there is a method to the madness. then when i get the snake i wear a pair of thick (non leather) gloves and a sweatshirt when handling the snake. this will prevent you from being bitten too bad (if a baby it probably wont even hit skin). when i get the snake home, i take off the shirt (thoroughly worn and slept in) and use it as a substrate for the tank. this is known as the "tshirt trick". the snake will then crawl around through the shirt and after a few days will become accustomed to your scent. after a few days of leaving it alone , put on the sweathsirt and gloves (nonleather to retain your scent) and gently pet the snake with your gloved fingertips. do this for a few minutes for a couple days. this is just to get the snake used to being touched. remember...a snake wont let you pick it up if it isnt used to being touched. after a couple to 3 times of petting you can then attempt to pick up the snake. this is when you can do the lap thing that everyone raves about. by this time the snake will recognize your scent and be quite comfortable with it. if you start off with the lap method then its going to be hell for you because it will be jittery around you and strike at you whenever you move, espescially if youre a smoker like me.
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0.0.1 Colombian Redtail Boa
1.1.1 Sumatran Blood Pythons
1.0 Black Blood Python
1.0 Dumeril's Boa
0.1 Coastal Carpet Python
0.1 Jungle Carpet Python