So over the years I’ve had animals that cover the spectrum of personalities. Of all of the defensive ones I’ve had, a current little Arabesque from one of my 2021 litters may take the cake. When she was brand new she was so defensive that she’d strike her littermates repeatedly. When I handle her she strikes and hisses. She has even resorted to evacuating her bowels and spraying me with feces and urine. I’ll of course keep working with her and hopefully one day she’ll understand she’s not under any threat of danger. It’s rather amusing the extremes you can see in a litter.
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That’s crazy! But yeah, I’ve also seen a wide gamut of personality and/or basic disposition right out of the eggs just like with newborn anythings.
I imagine a boa family reunion with Hissy Missy’s siblings laughing at how ridiculous she used to act. 
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I picked up a female img hypo arabesque when she was bout 4 months old, she was the same, way for like a year, even striked the glass soo much i covered almost all of it, now she is almost 3 and as long as u get her out of her cage with a hook, she’s puppydog tame! But has an insane feeding response in her inclosure! She’s never full! 
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The little defensive one the original post is about has got a lot better. She still has her days but she is much easier to handle now.
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That’s nice for everyone. I’m always happy when babies realize that humans don’t want to eat them. Some hatch with that knowledge, some take more time to get there. Even nicer when the extremely defensive ones calm down.
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Yeah it’s always a relief! The boa bites bleed a bit more than bpythons! Like they have 2 vampire fangs to go with a bunch of needle! Wtf! I have a gonna be gorgeous 6 month old jungle zebra carpet female, she is by far the worst Satan’s Spawn, ive ever seen out of all my 30+ bpythons, and 4 boas! Which isn’t sayin much, but if you put a warm rat pink in front of her, she still tries to bite me! I can’t say I’ve ever seen that yet! When I hold her im bit at least eight times in five minutes! Going to take a lot of work and gloves! last thing I wanna do is be bit by her when she’s two years old!
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Gotta admit it … boas are beauties. And I know they’re not all bitey, nor even most of them, but…
I am reminded of one reason I love my sweet corn snakes. No fangs, tiny teeth, virtually no desire to use them on humans. Some unusual babies nip defensively, but I’ve never had one break the skin. Can’t remember who, but somebody said being bitten by a baby corn is “like being attacked by angry velcro.” Frankly, I think that’s overstating the possibility for damage.
I have been tagged rarely by an adult when somebody mistook me for food, but no serious wounds. I appreciate that.
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I’m enjoying this post @randall_turner_jr … and I find it especially timely (and encouraging!) as we are about to intake an Aztec that is - to paraphrase the seller - the loudest, meanest snake he has ever seen 
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He’s super pretty and perfect for our new Indy project, though, so we are going to take him on! (We’ve started by naming him Elvis… “Don’t Be Cruel” will be his welcome song) 
. Picture and updates to come when he gets here next week.
Hopefully with some TLC, we will TCoB and he’ll be our Teddy Bear in no time 
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Ok. Ill stop with the Elvis 
references. #musicnerds
In regards getting tagged by our big red tails, tho, I agree about those vamp fangs @caryl and @clayton13! ! And although it is not fun nor does it happen often (knock on wood!) I would take a boa tag over a cat scratch or dog bite any day 
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I wish you luck with the soon to be challenge.
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@randall_turner_jr wanted to send you an update on our new challenge…
Elvis arrived today, and after a few minutes of “just out of the box” fussiness, he was as quiet as a lamb and seemed happy to be here. We are already good buds!! But we’ll see how he feels when he warms up tomorrow. Updates to follow.
*Also please note that this is not his permanent enclosure. This is our Quarantine room; after he clears Q in a month he will be moved into a 4 and then 8 ft home in our Site A as he gets comfy. Then to breeding next Fall… 
!
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Glad to hear and see he’s reasonable for you so far.
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He’s also quite the handsome fellow! Wow! And he doesn’t even need blue suede shoes.
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Thanks for the compliment…. And the Elvis reference, @caryl 
Yes, his colors and pattern are INCREDIBLE…!! and to speak to the topic of the thread, it shows the uniqueness of each animal as per @randall_turner_jr ’s point… each animal is different in mood and metabolism (right @clayton13! :)) even in the same baby grouping and each animal can be different with every person…
Case in point: a friend of ours has a bearded dragon that will only come up when the mom comes to the cage and ignores/runs from the kid and the dad!
So I suppose, a lot like when handling people, the point may be to always remember every being is unique… and some are naturally grumpier than others.
@randall_turner_jr … any other handling tips for those types of snippier situations? Have you ever had one you just couldn’t tame?
And to keep up with our progress, here is Aaron handling Elvis this morning. All is still going wel… knock on wood! 
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I have had a couple over the years that seemed to be untameable, but they weren’t aggression related exactly. One of them was a het albino female that thought everything was food, never mattered how much she was fed, she was a real pita, actually more trouble to deal with than a fearful animal, since she would strike and wrap a lot.
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