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peaches
08-23-10, 01:27 PM
i have been trying to find the answers to my questions all over the internet, but there are some that i just can't find, so maybe they are weird questions.

a little about my snake. my snake is a red tail albino boa and about a year old. My friend took me to a reptile show where i won a snake starter kit, but no snake. So I asked size health habit and personality questions about different snakes and looked about 500 different snakes before i decided on Peaches, my snake. I've had him for about 3 weeks.

First of all, is it uncomfortable for him if i take him on a walk, i don't mean with a leash or something that stupid, but i walk around my neighborhood a lot and thought it might be nice for him to have some sun, but i didn't know if because he's albino if that is bad for him. I felt he spent the hole time trying to hide in the shadow i cast.

Next, Peaches is a very laid back snake, and adventurous, and i'm sure this one will make me sound very dumb, but, the problem is him being on the floor, i'm sure i shouldn't put on the floor anyway in case he makes a run for it, but the circumstance was I put him in the bathtub with a little water under the suggestion of my snake owning friend for the snake's enjoyment however, when i stood up (Peaches was in the tub) but he was scared of me, he had his head up in that striking pose and was i think hissing, it was so quiet i could hardly hear it. also, he really didn't seem to like being in the tub. To get him out of the tub i ended up throwing a towel on him to calm him down and brought him back to his cage like that (he was still hissing the whole time) also, i have some shed help to make shedding easier for him and the snake sit in the water w the solution so this feels important that i can put him in the tub, should i just never put him on the floor, or tub, or is there a way for him to learn to not be scared of me when he's not being held, or am i just being a wuss about my snake?

finally, i've noticed he sometimes crawls on his back, just kinda flips over and goes... that seems weird to me. how normal is that?

so for any grammatical errors i missed.

thank you for your time and help. 8)

infernalis
08-23-10, 03:35 PM
Welcome to the forum....

1. taking a boa on a walk will stress the snake tremendously, it will be terrified the whole time.

2. Albinos are UV sensitive, so excessive sunlight will harm it.

3. the bath thing - again stressful to the snake.

4. Crawling on it's back - MITES - look really close at the snake, are there little black specks (ground pepper size) that move around?? Usually the only time a snake will "scratch it's back" is when it has mites.

Mites are the equivalent of fleas, they are a blood sucking parasite that will suck your snakes blood until you kill them and stop the infestation.

I am sure others will add to this.

Freebody
08-23-10, 04:01 PM
welcome to the forum :) and to the wonderfull world of herping, im sure everyone of us had the same question when we first got are babies and were watching them and got worried about Everything they did :) no question is dumb if you dont know the answere. like wayne said check for might. you said solution in the tub to help shed? do you mean water? if my snakes have a bad shed ie peices remain stuck on, i place them in a bucked of warm water,enouph to submerge their body thats it, with air holes of course,after 30 min or so the skin will just become real water logged and you can gently pull it off,dont rip the skin off its its stuck, it should peel off easilly. albinos are also light sensitive, use an infared heat light or you will damage their eye sight even make them blind. i would not take the snake out in the sun, not an albino at least, other snakes will be fine. could you post us some pics? we love pics here

presspirate
08-23-10, 04:10 PM
Welcome aboard Peaches, we'd love to see pics of your albino girl.
Snakes really don't like to be held. They'll learn to tolerate it, and you. But really they love to hide.

I let my snakes crawl on the floor occasionally. They tend to stay very close to me when I do.

I don't give them baths, that's stressful to them and me. I provide all my snakes a humid hide. Basically any plastic container big enough for them to completely fit their bodies inside. I cut a hole big enough for them to fit through, either on the top or on the side depending on the snake. Then I line it with sphagnum moss and keep it damp. Not soaked, it will mold. They go in there when they start to shed. And don't come off till they are ready to slide out of that skin. I have not had a bad shed yet.

That's all I got. Others will have more info for you. Once again, welcome!

Lankyrob
08-23-10, 05:20 PM
Welcome to the forum - not sure what the laws are like where you are but if i walked the streets with a snake here i would expect police attention pretty soon. As others have said snakes learn to tolerate handling over time but new environments can be stressful for them.

All my guys have a moss hide that they can use as and when they feel they want to - saves hte stress for me and them of having to bathe them.

Keep asking the questions - we have all been new to snakes and there are plenty of books that are great to read up on specific breeds of snakes. Not having a boa i can't recommend a bookd specific to them but sure someone else will......

Will0W783
08-23-10, 05:46 PM
Hello and welcome. I pretty much agree with what everyone else has said already, with the exception of being concerned about you saying he crawls on his back? I've honestly never heard of a snake doing that- when I had a mite infestation a few years back, all my guys just sat in their water dishes. Does he act like he is unable to coordinate his muscles, like he is disoriented? Is it possible for you to get a video or picture of him doing it?
Best of luck with him- albino boas are beautiful snakes!

Freebody
08-23-10, 06:40 PM
i was kinda thinking the same thing as you willow,being how we just went through it with my new jag, but i figured i would wait to hear if it had mites before going in that direction with the new snake owner. i dont remember my boas turning over when they had mite years and years ago, they 2 just sat in the water all day.

infernalis
08-23-10, 07:25 PM
Unfortunatly I can only base my reply on garter snake behaviour.

I see them "itch" by rubbing upside down and on their sides.

With an albino anything it's an easy check. Black specks moving on a white background is easy to spot.

Will0W783
08-24-10, 12:56 PM
Yes, mites are incredibly easy to see on albino snakes- I would think she would have noticed them if the snake had a severe enough infection to actually be twisting itself around. I've seen too much to ignore behaviors like that- it usually isn't good. In my experience, neurological issues are either (a) genetic, and that's easy enough to do a Google search on the line and neurological issues, (b) IBD, and that's not curable, or (c) advanced state of certain infections, like pneumonia or kidney disease. With the pneumonia or advanced respiratory infection, there are always other signs like wheezing, open-mouthed breathing and a wet, raspy breathing. With the kidney disease, it's not always so easy. My first salmon boa had a genetic kidney defect and when it cropped up he went from fat and happy to wasted away and corkscrewing, wheezing and paralyzed from halfway down his back to his tail. I honestly thought it was IBD, but fortunately it turned out not to be.

Peaches, how often does he turn over? Does he corkscrew around when he does? Does he pick his head up and let it flop back upside down?

peaches
09-21-10, 11:23 PM
sorry it took me so long to reply everyone. I have been very busy. Thank you so much for all your help.
He does not seem to have mites, i even took him to pet land to "the snake guy" he says Peaches is the picture of health. He only does the crawling up side down thing once in a while. I'll be holding him and he's crawling around the bed or what not then just stops and rolls over. he doesn't get far that way before it seems he decides it doesn't work well and flips back. I can post picture soon.
I figured he wouldn't like outside much..or me. haha. he has not bitten me yet, which i have been told is a fate i will meet before Peaches finishes out his years.
I was also told that sometimes they like to be in the bath tub, but i think that only applies when they are large enough to take up the tub. 8/ he doesn't seem to like water at all. He has a hide box, and he has a moss box, and he has a water bowl, he doesn't use any of it. He likes to push the hide box around, and sometimes he'll sit on top of his box (there are no heat pads on the bottom of his tank so i'm sure it's not bc his tummy is to hot) and in general seems happy to lay out in the open. He likes to hide in my blankets though, and that's pretty cute.