Reptile & Amphibian Forums

this is a newly acquired sand boa..
is about 3 yrs old, was fed 1 pinky mouse once a week, was in a shed with a previously shed still attached..

i soaked it that night after i got home, it completely shed.. it was very handlable and seemed to like to be handled.. i was told it was a very sweet snake.. they told me, they were told it is a male..

the next day i fed the sand boa 4 pinky mice, as that is all i had on hand.. but it is large enough to eat fuzzy mice.. after it ate the 4 pinkies, i moved it into the tank.. got nipped at.. i figured it was still hungry..

i waited until it pooped to feed it again.. this time i fed it 2 fuzzy mice.. that was yesterday.. today i was checking it, got nipped at again.. i weighed it and it is 100 grams, my other sand boa is 60 grams.. they are in separate tanks..

i was going to snap some photos today of their vent/tail area for sexing.. but with the larger one so nippy, i did not want to stress it any more then necessary.. my other one is very laid back.. i do think the larger one is a female though.. no anal spurs, as my smaller one seems to have tiny ones..

does anyone have any suggestions on what i can do to calm this larger boa down to be less nippy..? i am very willing to work with it and do not mind getting nipped at (yes it has gotten me twice, no big deal)..

here are photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/cilenez/SandBoas#

thank you for any hints/tips,
Cilene

First thing i would do is leave the animal alone for at least a week to 10 days or maybe even 2 weeks to let it acclimate to it's new surroundings. Also, i would not handle the snake during this time, especially if you offered it food. I do not handle my snakes for at least 2-3 days after a feeding, in order for them to properly digest their meals. If the snake is a male, and 3 years old, he can definitely handle hopper mice, my 21 month old Dodomas are easily taking hopper mice right now.
BTW, very nice Sand Boa

Chrissy
-----
1.0 Ball Python-Siegfried
1.0 BRB-Pedro
1.0 Blair's Phase GrayBanded Kingsnake-Elvis
0.1 Paradox Albino Sand Boa-Cleo
2.2 Dodoma's
0.1 pug mix

thank you for your reply..

i will work Thing 2 up to hoppers, but since it was eating only 1 pinky mouse once a week.. i did not want to push it too fast with jumping up in size quickly..

i only handled Thing 2 today as it had flipped it's water over some how.. and i had to clean it up.. changed out to a heqvier bottomed water bowl now..

i normally do not handle my snakes for 2-3 days after feeding either, but this was an acception..

thank you,
Cilene