Rosy Boa Treats My Arm Like Food

Neon Aurora · 03-28-18, 01:58 PM

I've had my rosy for more than 10 years now. She's always been a very docile snake and I've never had problems handling her with my bare hands, except for recently. Lately, if her head is resting on my arm, she sometimes slowly opens her mouth and latches on and proceeds to coil around my arm and squeeze. It's a bit unpleasant and I would like it to stop. I've been handling her for the last few days with gloves and long sleeves to see if I can just condition her out of it. I haven't yet tried removing the gloves or sleeves.

Any tips for getting this behavior to stop? I've tried washing my arms and hands, but it doesn't seem to work.

DJC Reptiles · 03-28-18, 09:12 PM

Sounds like she might be hungry, either that or your arms smell like rodents. How much do you feed her? You can also put a little bit of hydrogen peroxide, or alcohol gel on your arm to stop her from wanting to bite down.

Neon Aurora · 03-28-18, 10:30 PM

She shouldn't be. She gets a rat crawler every 2 weeks and always has (got her as an adult). Nothing has changed. This weekend is feeding time, so I suppose she could have just been getting hungry.

I decided to try again today. I scrubbed down my hands and arms with scented soap and she didn't do it this time. I'm not sure what happened the last few times I tried to handle her.

Good tips on the alcohol/hydrogen peroxide, though. I'll be using that if it happens again. I hope she is past it now.