Interacting with my boa girl

Hey guys :slight_smile: So, recently my snake Zarina bit me :grinning:, and I wanted to ask for some advices about taking her out of the terrarium and spending time with her outside of it. We’ve had her for about 5 months now, and this was the first time it happened, but it got me thinking about how to make sure she’s as comfortable with us as possible. If you’ve got any advice from your own experience, I’d love to hear it!

Up until now, we were doing pretty well, but now I see her behavior has changed a little. Maybe she’s just sensing that I’m the one feeling unsure. Even though I give her good support in two spots, she sometimes writhes and squirms with her head, and it’s hard for me to control her. I’m also wondering if I should take her out when she’s lying in the substrate, because sometimes she ends up grabbing a bit of it with her tail. I thought everything was going really well, but now I’m not sure if we’ve taken a step back. I’m not sure if we’re not taking her out too infrequently since we don’t do it every day. Besides shedding and the time needed to digest food, is there any way to tell if it’s not a good time to take the snake out?

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@tommccarthy or @lumpy or any other experienced boa keeper as there are many here. I have never had boa problems myself.

I for two would like to see the advice given on this…….

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So I would say during time of low pressure would be good to note, like a thunderstorm. Besides that, I think you are good…boss will grab substate with their tails. It is a way for them to try to hold on to their surroundings. Don’t take it as she doesn’t want to come out…boas will even slither away from you and still want to come out. It is natural that they don’t want to be disturbed. Get yourself a hook and learn to get her to get on the move away from you so you can grab a lower portion of her body. Honestly…it is a normal thing boas do.

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What do you mean by “learn to get her to get on the move away from you so you can grab a lower portion of her body”? I must admit that I don’t quite understand what you mean exactly. :slight_smile:

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So I think @lumpy means that you use a snake hook to touch your snake, and once the snake starts moving away from the touch of the hook, you can go in and grab the back half of the snake with your hand. I use this technique with my blood python. She’ll typically start moving away from the hook after I gently stroke her with it a few times, and then once she’s on the move, I’ll pick her up with my hand.

My boa behaves a little differently, so I’ve developed a different strategy for picking her up. When I first open her enclosure, she’s ready to strike at anything that moves (because she thinks it’s food), so when she’s in food mode, I very gently tap the hook on her head a couple times, then give her a few seconds to process and tongue flick the hook, at which point she seems to realize she’s not getting fed and visibly settles down. She usually won’t move away from being touched with the hook, so once I can see she’s out of food mode, I just reach in and scoop her up.

She does flail a little when I first pick her up, and it’s natural for boas to try to grab things with their tail, which is why your girl grabs bits of substrate with her tail. I just give my boa a second or two to wrap her tail around my wrist or arm, and once she has that anchor point, she seems to feel much more secure.

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@jawramik She doesn’t really try to get away from the hook; it seems like she only retracts her head slightly, but otherwise, she stays pretty still. Recently, she bit me while I was already holding her. It didn’t hurt at all, which was suprising. Do you ever notice that even with good stabilization, yours suddenly makes quick movements and swings her long neck around?

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Sounds like your boa behaves similarly to mine with the hook. She’ll pull her head away from it when I gently boop her on the head, but she doesn’t actually move her body away from it if I run it down her body.

I haven’t ever noticed mine making sudden movements with her head and neck once she’s sort of perched and settled on me. Sometimes she’ll quickly pull her head back if something startles her, but aside from that, she’s usually pretty calm and relaxed.

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This just occurred to me. My BRB could be a little feisty/bitey when I would get him out for socializing or cleaning so I would simply put a towel over him head first and then the rest of his body, or most of it anyway. Then I would scoop him up and then sit down with him somewhere holding him until he was ready to come out from under the towel.

When he came out from under the towel under his own he was like a puppy dog and so relaxed. And I would talk to him too. :joy:

As above some people posted above, I never had to use a hook for any of my boas except the rainbow.

However this towel method probably won’t work for you because of the substrate in your enclosure. It would make a mess. I kept my boas on clean unprinted newspaper. I know I know! Very boring and unoriginal….:joy:

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So first off…you’re going to tap the head of your boa, this usually causes them to pull back and get tense. And then you’re going to stroke down their neck and middle part of their body and typically this causes them to retreat from you or the source of the touch. If your boa does not do this, you can try to use the hook and lift them slightly and boas will typically try to move away from the hook. Once they start to move, you are going to use the hook and lift the lower portion of their body and grab it with your hand.I hope this makes more sense.

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I just took her out of the enclosure because I hadn’t done it for a few days. She was lying hidden behind a root on the substrate. First, I gently touched her, and then I used a hook to bring her within reach of my hands. She was quite cold. She didn’t react nervously, but she seemed a little panicked. She grabbed my wrist, but then quickly relaxed and nervously started looking for “somewhere to go.” I was holding her for a while but she didnt relax. I let her lie on my knee, and shortly after, she wrapped herself tightly around my ankle. She kept nervously searching for somewhere to go. I allowed her to go back into the enclosure which she tried to do, but at the same time, she didn’t want to let go of my ankle. I had to unwind her manually. I’m going crazy because she used to be much more relaxed. Maybe something was wrong with the rat I gave her two weeks ago? Or maybe I’m doing something wrong…

I decided to give us a second chance, but unfortunately, she escaped higher and I let her because I didnt want to use any force… A snake charmer is needed.

Is it normal for boas to breathe in such a noticeable way?

I’m considering going to the vet just to have them answer all my weird questions. :joy:

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Yeah, I notice that sometimes with my boas once they get a bit bigger.

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Yes! Totally normal! Beautiful boa btw!

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