My Dumerils has started biting me! - Page 3

Lankyrob · 07-22-13, 05:10 PM

Reptiles are wild animals, they always will be and wild animals are likely to bite back at some point. Part of the appeal of reptiles is that they are not tame in the way dogs and cats are.

If you never want to be bitten then reptiles probably arent your thing.

rocknhorse76 · 07-22-13, 06:52 PM

I rescued my male from a pet store when he was about 3 1/2 feet long and less than 2 years old. I'm his 3rd owner. The original owner fed him mice exclusively, and said that he was "too aggressive", so they gave him to the pet store. Another person bought him, still only fed him mice, and returned him after only a month due to him being "too aggressive". After holding him a few times at the store, I decided to take him home....knowing exactly what is in store for me. He was fairly shy and defensive for the the first month or so with me, and liked to strike once in awhile. After an exhausting process of switching him over from f/t mice to f/t rats (and then working him up to the appropriate size), he became quite docile and tolerant of handling every few days. Now, he's a total pig that eats a jumbo rat every 3 weeks, and will chill on my lap. I even let my 6 y/o nieces pet and hold him under direct supervision!! Long story short.....BE PATIENT and he'll end up being a great pet.

guyabano · 07-22-13, 08:59 PM

Quick question, do you hook/tap train your boa? Sounded more like a feeding response bite rather than a defensive/stress bite to me.

SnakeyJay · 07-23-13, 03:19 AM

And yet again we descend into crap because someone won't listen to advice (given nicely at first).. So I'll just sit back and watch lol...

However I will say that buying an uncared for animal isn't a rescue, it's allowing the shop money/reason to replace it with another.

Lankyrob · 07-23-13, 04:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snakey-Jay

And yet again we descend into crap because someone won't listen to advice (given nicely at first).. So I'll just sit back and watch

This ^^^^^

**Pareeeee** · 07-23-13, 07:31 AM

To ignore the last pile of rant-comments I want to put in my two cents.

KWenger, I think you should give it a bit of time, feed him more (because it sounds like a feeding response, not an anger strike), handle less and with gloves. He may calm down, he is a new snake after all and you've been handling him a lot. Having only had him for a month, I would not expect him to take kindly to being handled that much. Snakes take a LONG time to adjust to new surroundings and he could still be stressed. If, after all this, he's still aggressive and you still want to get rid of him then do so. Even ball pythons can bite, especially if they are a bit underfed.

KWenger · 07-23-13, 08:34 AM

Hello everyone, and marvelfreak, I want to begin by saying there are no hard feelings whatsoever on my part. I appreciate your passion and fully understand why you were angry with me. All of you experienced, knowledgeable folks were doing your best to give my good, sound advice, and I was ignoring it. For that I owe ALL OF YOU an apology. So, this is what I have decided: I am NOT going to return my Dum to the breeder from whom I bought him. Please know I didn't really understand until you guys explained it, that my snake was malnourished and apparently not properly cared for by the breeder. It would be cruel to return him to that environment, so I wont do that. Ever. After carefully rereading all of your comments I have decided to keep my snake and do my very best to make him healthy, happy, and hopefully calm. I promise I will NOT compare him to a "puppy dog" or any other warm blooded animal. He's a snake. A reptile. He's never going to have the mannerisms of a cuddly, furry pet and I get that. My plan is to immediately begin feeding him larger rats....still not sure of the best size, but I'll figure it out......weekly until he puts on some weight. I'll then go to a two week feeding schedule. Any opinion as to what a good "goal weight" would be for him before I switch to feeding him every two weeks? I have a good digital scale I use with my other snakes and can easily weigh him. Right now he is 700 grams and will be three years old in September. You're right that I do love him.......and you've made me aware I was overdoing it by handling him so often. My mistake. I'm going to limit handling him to 2 or 3 times a week (with gloves for now) for 15 minutes or so, and hopefully increase from there after a few months if he seems OK with it. Until I'm confident I can trust him to not bite unexpectedly, I will not let any of the kids near him. Easy enough to do, and prudent I think. I'm going to incorporate all of your sage advice into a new care plan for my Dumerils.....his name is Barney by the way.......and with patience I'm hopeful he will become a pet I and my family can enjoy for many years to come. I hope all of you have a great day, and thanks again.

Kid Boa · 07-23-13, 09:01 AM

A+ to the OP.

As far as weight goes, I really wouldn't worry about how much he weighs.

Just keep feeding him proper size rats at proper intervals and in 6 months I guarantee he will not be 700 grams.

A nice round muscular boa is a healthy Boa.

Do you have pics of Barney, would love to see some ?

Best of luck.

KWenger · 07-23-13, 09:09 AM

Ooooooo......I'm sort of embarrassed to admit this, but I haven't figured out how to post pictures. I would very much like for you to see a photo of him next to a soda can so you can get an idea of his size & girth. Is there a "how to" tutorial somewhere on the site that explains how to post photos?
Thanks!

Mikoh4792 · 07-23-13, 09:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KWenger

Ooooooo......I'm sort of embarrassed to admit this, but I haven't figured out how to post pictures. I would very much like for you to see a photo of him next to a soda can so you can get an idea of his size & girth. Is there a "how to" tutorial somewhere on the site that explains how to post photos?
Thanks!

WITHOUT SPACES

[i m g ] URL goes here [ / I m g]

You can go to tinypic.com it's instant

marvelfreak · 07-23-13, 09:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KWenger

Hello everyone, and marvelfreak, I want to begin by saying there are no hard feelings whatsoever on my part. I appreciate your passion and fully understand why you were angry with me. All of you experienced, knowledgeable folks were doing your best to give my good, sound advice, and I was ignoring it. For that I owe ALL OF YOU an apology. So, this is what I have decided: I am NOT going to return my Dum to the breeder from whom I bought him. Please know I didn't really understand until you guys explained it, that my snake was malnourished and apparently not properly cared for by the breeder. It would be cruel to return him to that environment, so I wont do that. Ever. After carefully rereading all of your comments I have decided to keep my snake and do my very best to make him healthy, happy, and hopefully calm. I promise I will NOT compare him to a "puppy dog" or any other warm blooded animal. He's a snake. A reptile. He's never going to have the mannerisms of a cuddly, furry pet and I get that. My plan is to immediately begin feeding him larger rats....still not sure of the best size, but I'll figure it out......weekly until he puts on some weight. I'll then go to a two week feeding schedule. Any opinion as to what a good "goal weight" would be for him before I switch to feeding him every two weeks? I have a good digital scale I use with my other snakes and can easily weigh him. Right now he is 700 grams and will be three years old in September. You're right that I do love him.......and you've made me aware I was overdoing it by handling him so often. My mistake. I'm going to limit handling him to 2 or 3 times a week (with gloves for now) for 15 minutes or so, and hopefully increase from there after a few months if he seems OK with it. Until I'm confident I can trust him to not bite unexpectedly, I will not let any of the kids near him. Easy enough to do, and prudent I think. I'm going to incorporate all of your sage advice into a new care plan for my Dumerils.....his name is Barney by the way.......and with patience I'm hopeful he will become a pet I and my family can enjoy for many years to come. I hope all of you have a great day, and thanks again.

Really glad to hear your keeping Barney.
Has for posting pictures checkout this link. http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/gener...res-posts.html

KORBIN5895 · 07-23-13, 11:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KWenger

Hello everyone, and marvelfreak, I want to begin by saying there are no hard feelings whatsoever on my part. I appreciate your passion and fully understand why you were angry with me. All of you experienced, knowledgeable folks were doing your best to give my good, sound advice, and I was ignoring it. For that I owe ALL OF YOU an apology. So, this is what I have decided: I am NOT going to return my Dum to the breeder from whom I bought him. Please know I didn't really understand until you guys explained it, that my snake was malnourished and apparently not properly cared for by the breeder. It would be cruel to return him to that environment, so I wont do that. Ever. After carefully rereading all of your comments I have decided to keep my snake and do my very best to make him healthy, happy, and hopefully calm. I promise I will NOT compare him to a "puppy dog" or any other warm blooded animal. He's a snake. A reptile. He's never going to have the mannerisms of a cuddly, furry pet and I get that. My plan is to immediately begin feeding him larger rats....still not sure of the best size, but I'll figure it out......weekly until he puts on some weight. I'll then go to a two week feeding schedule. Any opinion as to what a good "goal weight" would be for him before I switch to feeding him every two weeks? I have a good digital scale I use with my other snakes and can easily weigh him. Right now he is 700 grams and will be three years old in September. You're right that I do love him.......and you've made me aware I was overdoing it by handling him so often. My mistake. I'm going to limit handling him to 2 or 3 times a week (with gloves for now) for 15 minutes or so, and hopefully increase from there after a few months if he seems OK with it. Until I'm confident I can trust him to not bite unexpectedly, I will not let any of the kids near him. Easy enough to do, and prudent I think. I'm going to incorporate all of your sage advice into a new care plan for my Dumerils.....his name is Barney by the way.......and with patience I'm hopeful he will become a pet I and my family can enjoy for many years to come. I hope all of you have a great day, and thanks again.

Balls to you bro.

As far as prey size goes I would feed an 175gram rat

Donnie · 07-23-13, 12:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KWenger

Hello everyone, and marvelfreak, I want to begin by saying there are no hard feelings whatsoever on my part. I appreciate your passion and fully understand why you were angry with me. All of you experienced, knowledgeable folks were doing your best to give my good, sound advice, and I was ignoring it. For that I owe ALL OF YOU an apology. So, this is what I have decided: I am NOT going to return my Dum to the breeder from whom I bought him. Please know I didn't really understand until you guys explained it, that my snake was malnourished and apparently not properly cared for by the breeder. It would be cruel to return him to that environment, so I wont do that. Ever. After carefully rereading all of your comments I have decided to keep my snake and do my very best to make him healthy, happy, and hopefully calm. I promise I will NOT compare him to a "puppy dog" or any other warm blooded animal. He's a snake. A reptile. He's never going to have the mannerisms of a cuddly, furry pet and I get that. My plan is to immediately begin feeding him larger rats....still not sure of the best size, but I'll figure it out......weekly until he puts on some weight. I'll then go to a two week feeding schedule. Any opinion as to what a good "goal weight" would be for him before I switch to feeding him every two weeks? I have a good digital scale I use with my other snakes and can easily weigh him. Right now he is 700 grams and will be three years old in September. You're right that I do love him.......and you've made me aware I was overdoing it by handling him so often. My mistake. I'm going to limit handling him to 2 or 3 times a week (with gloves for now) for 15 minutes or so, and hopefully increase from there after a few months if he seems OK with it. Until I'm confident I can trust him to not bite unexpectedly, I will not let any of the kids near him. Easy enough to do, and prudent I think. I'm going to incorporate all of your sage advice into a new care plan for my Dumerils.....his name is Barney by the way.......and with patience I'm hopeful he will become a pet I and my family can enjoy for many years to come. I hope all of you have a great day, and thanks again.

great responce, well done for taking the advice on board. Good luck with your Dum

Mikoh4792 · 07-23-13, 09:01 AM

Nice decision. If you show us a picture of your dumerils boa next to a soda can or anything to compare his size to, maybe we can help you with prey size.

It's only my opinion but I think handling more than 2-3 times a week is a little excessive for an adult dumerils

KWenger · 07-27-13, 02:27 PM

[QUOTE=Mikoh4792;858394]Nice decision. If you show us a picture of your dumerils boa next to a soda can or anything to compare his size to, maybe we can help you with prey size.

Here is a photo of him that I took today.....Saturday July 27.