Need Advice!

I have recently aquired a female redtail boa who is 7ft long and weights 15.4 lbs. She was purchased from a man who allegedly 'breeds' snakes. She apparently dropped a clutch of slugs and therefore was no use to him anymore. I got her for a steal. Here's the catch - She apparently had gone off food and was not eating. He claims that she was up in the 40lb. range prior to going off food. She also had a burn scar on her back. He claimed that she was very tame and docile. Immediatly after bringing her home, we took her to the vet for a basic check up. All looks good and she appears to be the picture of health. I do believe that the previous 'owner' doesn't know squat about snakes. Just a personal observation. She ate well for us. 2 live large rats on week 1 and 2 live rats jumbo on week 2. Despite the fact that she was apparently on frozen for her whole life (3-4 years) She is a pretty girl who will allow you to remove her from her enclosure and allows you to touch her head and face. She hisses almost constantly when you are just holding her (a barely opening the mouth hiss that almost sounds like a cold but vet assured us it was a hiss) She then waits until you are least expecting it and firmly and quickly BITES your forearm. Always in the same place. Always lets go. No coiling. Then she is fine again.

I have come to think of her as a bit of a testy little thing.

Here's where my question comes in. I have a male I purchased a while back. He is about 5 1/2 ft long and slimmer than she is (he has not been weighed) He is a verocious eater and a quick killer. But aside from eating he is as tame as a kitten. My 4 year old handles him regularly with out any problem. I know that males are generally smaller than females and they are the same age. But I was wanting to build an enclosure that would house them both. With a separate enclosure for feeding and the day after feeding. But with her snappy little temperment and size advantage I am unsure about it.

Any advice about how to tell if they would be compatible together in an enclosure? Are their sizes too different? If she wasn't so bite happy during handling I wouldn't have thought twice about it. But now I am just not sure due to her strange temperment. And I don't want to loose one in the process. Any ideas/advice?

The only time they should ever be housed together is for breeding. Boas have been recorded to have eaten their cage mates... House them separately for health and safety reasons.

why would you even want to house them together? if your making a separate feeding enclosure why not just house one there ,they might do fine ,BUT why risk either of there health ,keeping two together ,you wouldn't be able to tell how is doing what,and also the possible stress you might put on them both ,there are a bunch of reason why i would suggest not to house two snakes together but I'm sure you know all of them ,also if she was eating f/t why the switch to live ? what ever you decision is good luck and wheres the pictures

Well, to start with, (just a suggestion) get her off of LIVE rats. This can have some play in her temperment. Not saying it's gospel and works every time, but it may help some. Not to mention you would drastically reduce the chance of serious injury to your snakes.
Do you by chance have a cat? LOL I had a male once that used to bite me alot in the arm back when I was around my girlfriends cat. Washing didn't always help. When I left, the biting stopped. LOL

As for the temperment towards the male..........That's a tough one to answer, and solely depends on her. The size has little to do with it. I've seen males 1/3 the size of females in the same enclosures with no problems. Even a smaller snake can cause a larger one some stress if foul tempered towards it. I'd say try it and watch 'em close for the first few days.

And I can say that if she was in the 40 lb range before fasting, than she was obese at only 7 ft. LOL My big girl is 8 ft. and fattened up for mating, she was only 34 lbs. You don't want them fat for health reasons.


Hope this helps,
Rick

I have her on live (stunned) because they are more readily available in my area. She is always supervised during feeding (all of my babies are). I went ahead and tried the live first because I was told she wasn't eatting and frozen is what she had eated all her life. I figured why waste a thawed out rat if she wouldnt take it when a live rat could be housed and offered again later? Feeding my babies already costs me about $45 dollars a week and I didnt feel like raising the cost for a rat that was gonna get pitched. I dont know what is making her so feisty. My best guess is that she was only handled during cage cleaning etc. Trying to work her into getting used to it but I thought she might be too old. Also I want to house them together because We were already in the process of building a HUGE enclosure for the male when we happened on her. Thought that a little extra room would be feesable and would make for a beautiful display in my home.