Getting larger boa more used to handling?

[Mother_Goddess]

Getting thermostat in a couple days so will be hopefully ready to add my new girl to it by the end of next week after it's temp is adjusted. I've went to visit and held her 4 times with my kids there so everybody's had their chance to fall in love with her. She does great with handling at the shop but still a little bit shy of being removed from her enclosure and being held. I know once I get her home and she is settled she'll get used to it. Should I keep it the same as with the babies, no handling until after second feed, which for her would be over a month? I am also planning on feeding in cage so have heard of some of the larger boa keepers using the hook to just let them know, hey I'm taking you out of the cage now. A bite from her would not tickle. Any tips on getting larger boas adjusted to new place and handling? She's also a face explorer like a lot of others I've met.

[dannybgoode]

Definitely feed in the viv. Very few reasons not to-particularly with a single animal.

The hook training is useful. Every time you open the viv other than to feed tap or stroke the snake with a snake hook first. They'll begin to associate the hook with not being fed. I also only feed at night and avoid handling after lights out so they do not associate daytime with food.

Definitely leave alone for a couple of weeks. Boas are generally chilled snakes (the odd exception applies) so I'm sure it'll come on just fine :)

[Mother_Goddess]

Thanks, She is just too large to feed outside of the enclosure and I can't think of any reason to stress her more. I've always had dwarfs so she'll be our first large boa and the kids were too young to handle them before without me around so I really want to get them used to safe handling. I did have to hunt down my old hook so glad I found it. I think right now she is not really used to being handled by anyone other than the guy that ran the shop for quite a while. Hopefully she gets used to it and comfortable with us in time. I'm absolutely in love with this girl.

[dave himself]

I also drop feed my bigger snakes as it lessens the odds on getting tagged at feeding time :)

[dannybgoode]

I wouldn't feed any snake if any size outside of the viv unless there was a vet specific reason to do so.

Calm, confident handling is the key. Take it slowly and get used to reading your snakes signals. I have my little boy handling my but she is still small at the moment but she could still make him Jul with a strike! I can tell very early on if she's not liking something and tell him what he's doing that's stressing her.

He didn't listen one and she gave a warning strike at his nose-she clearly want going to make contact but it was enough to make him realise he should listen to me!

[Mother_Goddess]

I have my smaller guys mainly because I don't have newspaper to feed on the mulch substrate but that is honestly the only reason. Now I'm collecting newspaper so I'll probably start feeding all in enclosure just for ease.

The corn snake has never even given any indication he is about to strike and I think you'd really have to screw up to get him too. The hog baby is a baby and I'm sure we'll have a few more coming from him, but only once so far when he was being sexed. This girl is not huge quite yet, but she's a pretty big girl. I'm sure we'll learn her likes and dislikes and will try to make her as comfortable as possible while we learn. My kids are older so I trust them as much as myself with her as long as they follow the 2-person rule. :) Honestly the only person to ever get bit at feeding time was my husband, but he had to go. ;)

[dannybgoode]

Feeding on substrates is just fine assuming all other husbandry is spot on. I have fed on aspen, orchid bark and ecoearth with no issues whatsoever.

No need for newspapers.

It used to be the thinking that feeding on looser substrates caused issues but this is no longer the case.

Feed away!

[dave himself]

Danny is right trying to move a snake that size back into a viv in feeding mode would not be a pleasant experience imo. Our 3 big snakes are quite well behaved and easily handled but even after they've been fed we can't go near them for at least a day. Of course your girl could well be different some of them are :)

[Mother_Goddess]

Hum, I guess so much has changed in the years since I kept previously. Is the substrate just digested if ingested?

Dave, not sure I want to test that. ;)

[dannybgoode]

Hum, I guess so much has changed in the years since I kept previously. Is the substrate just digested if ingested?

Dave, not sure I want to test that. ;)

Pretty much. The correct temperatures and humidity etc are important for digestion and small amounts of substrate such as would be ingested when eating a rodent won't present any difficulties.

Whilst they may not be digested as such they will be passed.

And yes much has evolved over the past few years. Don't forget the equipment available to keep reptiles properly has moved on so much so safely maintaining correct temperature for example is now so easy.

As another example I'm currently experimenting with uv in my snake vivs-something that not have been considered even a few years ago.

[dave himself]

If you do test it would you video it please :D

[Mother_Goddess]

Pretty much. The correct temperatures and humidity etc are important for digestion and small amounts of substrate such as would be ingested when eating a rodent won't present any difficulties.

Whilst they may not be digested as such they will be passed.

And yes much has evolved over the past few years. Don't forget the equipment available to keep reptiles properly has moved on so much so safely maintaining correct temperature for example is now so easy.

As another example I'm currently experimenting with uv in my snake vivs-something that not have been considered even a few years ago.

Interesting experiment. A lot has changed. I've always fed pretty conservatively, but not it is suggested even more so, and temperatures seem to be less for a lot of snakes I've seen than suggested years ago.

If you do test it would you video it please :D

Haha, I'll pass on that one but I'll see if one of the kids wants to volunteer. :yes: