Devil boa baby!

[Swan]

Hey all, I recently accuired some baby boas. Well one of them is the most aggressive little #^*%! I haven't been able to hold her calmly. She just strikes and hisses and strikes some more. How do I hold her in a none threatening way without getting bit? The only way I can hold her is grabbin her right behind the head and this pisses her off even more. If you walk by her cage she hisses and strikes the walls. Anybody have to tame a little devil like this? Please help!

[Reptile_Reptile]

put on some gloves and act like a boss. dont be sketchy and let her bite you i doubt it would hurt much show her that her aggresion will get her nowhere. also i saw on the discovery channel that when snakes fight the winner pins the loser to the ground for a few minutes from behind the neck a few inches to show dominates you might try gently holding her in place for a minute maybe she will calm down.

[Will0W783]

I would leave her alone for a while so she can settle in. Get a good pair of gardening or gauntlet gloves so the bites won't hurt as badly, and just hold her. Let her hiss and strike and don't put her down when she bites. In most cases, they wear themselves out and then calm down once they realize they aren't being eaten. It will take many handlings of this type before the fact that you aren't going to kill her sinks in. This is unfortunately the only way I know of of taming a snake- it's a long process because they do not remember well. It's pretty much impossible to do without gloves unless you don't mind your hands being turned into pincushions.

And some snakes will never calm down..some just don't like handling. I have a 7-foot female breeder boa that HATES me. She is tolerable with other people, but she has a blood vendetta against me. She's the only snake that ever bit me in the face..first handling ever, and she has been a psycho ever since. I walk in the room and if she sees me, she will open her mouth wide and just start hissing. I cannot feed her- she will sit there and hiss and ignore the food. My fiance has to feed her and give her water and such.

[Swan]

Alright. I'll just keep holding her. The bites don't hurt I just don't want her to get hurt by breakin her teeth out. So pretty much there's no low stress way for them to calm down. Thanks reptile and willow.

[Damion930]

Like mentioned let the lil devil settle in for awhile and somtimes with feeding and watering they will develop comfort with u as well just seeing u around and realizing ur not a threat

[Ch^4]

Agreed. Leaving her in isolation for a minimum of 7 days is a must (of course you can clean and provide water, but try not to handle). After the isolation, let the training begin!

[shaunyboy]

your boa sounds like she's very nervous (striking the glass)

as willow said i'd give her time to settle in and start feeding

she will stop striking the glass once she works out you are not a preditor mate

after you notice her NOT striking the glass as you walk by then....

its time to put on a pair of smooth leather gloves and take her out

with carpets i start with a 5 minute handling session every day

not for the 3 days after she eats

this may cause a regurge so she needs the 3 days to digest her meal

after she's ok with 5 minutes handling per day i would then up the time to 10 minutes per day

once happy with that i then up to 15 minutes

once you have her happy to be handled for 15 minutes with gloves....

go back to 5 minutes handling but after she's been out a minute take one of your gloves of and let her run through your bare hand

this gets her used to the heat off you

if you feel she's ok then take the second glove off

id go through the handling times with bare hands as you did when you did it gloved

after you reach the 15 minutes handling with bare hands that should be her able to tollerate handling

the above works for most snakes but you do get the odd snake that stays crazy their whole lives

i have an adult jungle that i have to let strike at my foot while i take her out to clean her tank

got male i need to hook to change his water or he hits you like a machine gun

yours is young though mate and should calm down

all the best in calming your boa ate

cheers shaun