Snappy Snake

[Them and Us]

now i hear that young boas tend to be snappy.mine is i believe about 2-3 months old. age is not exact. how long do they have their snappiness. or do i just have a snake with a rude temperment and I have to live with that ? any insight? cos i had him out for a while earlier and hewas fine and then in an instant lunged at me. scared the ****e out of me cos iwasn't paying attention. i named him Lucifer because of his temper ha. hes still great though. but yeah any info would be great. thanks

[Linds]

Young boas *may* be snappy. Some may never strike in their life, some may be the total opposite. Some will calm down very quickly with handling, some may take alot longer, and some may always be a little nervous.

Just persist with gentle, patient handling and he should calm down some :)

[J.J.]

yuppers, I totally agree with Linds :D

[Edwin]

I think it depends on the species too. My BCI was snappy the first month when I first got her, but totally calmed down after that. My friend's BCC is much calmer that when he first got her, but is still unpredictable.

Something which I do for all my snakes is to place a piece of old clothing (no diapers) in their hide box. That way, hopefully they learn to associate my scent with safety. I dont know if it really works or not, but my snakes have always been quite calm around me.

[sSNAKESs.com]

lol edwin, not to bad of a idea :P

[hip]

well what type is it b c i or b c c Bci can be snappy when young but usually calm down quite nicely as they get older. On the other hand B C C can be nervous all thier lives and be hard to tame and yet some are like a puppy. You just never know, but this is for sure a healthy well fed and well taken care of boa will be calmer and less prone to have stress and less stress leads to fewer bites. Just my 2 cents take care Hip

[Them and Us]

well first lets make sure that everyone knows i have no idea if its BCC or BCI I believe those stand for Boa Constrictor Constrictor and Boa Constrictor Imperator. all i knowis that he/she is a central american common boa. I am still new to this game. I feed him/her every 5 -7 days in a dark box . overall tank temp is about 81-82 degrees and the hot spot is about 89 - 90 degrees. he is fine usually when i handle him but he strikes as well, never got me but i thats cos I am usually aware. if everything is a-okay with my setup and feeding i suspect its just his quirk. I will try the old clothing thing though. can't hurt. thanks everyone.

[Linds]

You have a BCI :) Common Boas and Central Americans are the same subspecies (BCI), but different locality. They have some differences, such as size (centrals are smaller than commons aka. colombians), etc. Your setup sounds fine, your snake is still very young so all you can really do is be patient and persistant ;)

[Them and Us]

haha okay thank you very much