Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I bought a red-tailed Boa from a friend of mine yesterday. It was twenty dollars, and included the tank and a subtrate heater. There is a catch, it's aggressive. It's only about two feet long right now, but it will get bigger, and when it does I don't want it to decide that my face is the enemy/food. From what I hear it was mistreated by a previous owner (before my friend got it). It was dropped on the ground a lot and things like that. Now it can be friendly sometimes, but when I tried to take her out of her cage the day I bought her she bit me. She didn't constrict any fingers like my kinsnake has been known to do when it's hungry, but it did draw blood. I'm inclined to think that I need to hold it more often, so I bought a pair of leather gloves so as to not get mauled again. My manager has a burmese python that i believe she said was sixteen foot (I saw a picture of it around a guys neck and it went all the way up and back down) and she told me to feed it pre kills and that will help tame it. I could see that being useful in letting it know that living things aren't food. If anyone has any suggestions for me, I would greatly appreciate it.

Also, what would you recommend as a subtrate for a boa?

Handling more often is the right thing to do to get it used to you, and the gloves will certainly keep you from loosin' anymore blood . Prekilled, whether fresh killed or frozen/thawed is always the best bet, unless it won't take anything BUT live. As far as substrates go, I think most use aspen or cypress mulch. Indoor/outdoor carpet, cut ta fit, can also be used. Hope this helps.

Quig

Before handling Boas with a possible attitude, I always squirt some hand sanitizer on my hands/arms. I don't use gloves, but I will open a t-shirt and slowly drape it over the Boas front third, and then gently pick them up. It's often the case that the snake will bite when coming in quickly with your bare hands. I've received a few bites after petting a dog or cat, thus one reason for the sanitizer. Their are those boas that are more peaved, and gloves would definetely be useful, but be slow and calm upon initial contact.
I use Aspen bedding, but I've also used newspapers for years. Avoid the Cedar shavings, and things that are hard to clean up. I've heard mixed opinions about Pine shavings, but I personally don't know. Aspen is safe , and affordable to me, but I do feed in tubs without shavings.
Take care, David
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--aka DMOG68

Well, one big step is going to be finding out the times it bites. Meaning does it only bite you when you're trying to pick it up, and then calms down once it's being handled? Or does it just continually bite you without being provoked. That's gonna be a big factor in weither or not the snake even can be tamed down. If it's just a matter of it getting nervous and striking at your oncoming hand you should be fine in the end.

As for bedding, I use aspen but it makes it a little hard to keep the humidity up. The ease of cleaning makes it worth the extra effort with the humidity. Believe me, try to clean up a good sized crap on cypruss mulch a couple times and you'll appreciate the aspen a lot more.
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Cycling: Trio Black Rat Snakes

Together: Poss Het Axanthic male Ball x Normal-no mating witnessed yet.

Chris LaViola
CMLReptiles
Website under construction
CMLReptiles@aol.com

The previous owner did tell me that she's nice after she comes out of the tank, so that's good news. Thank you all for your advice.