Cooks Tree Boa

Ok I know these guys arent exactly nice...well no let me rephase that, I know these guys can be mean as hell! lol Anyways the cooks we have at work we have had for about 6 months now, I looked at my boss the day I came in (2 days after the snake arrived) and went...wth did you order us a mean snake,you know cooks dont make good pets! I have encountered cooks before, I myself when working at a different store, ordered a cooks because the reptile distro people said it was beautiful, and beautiful it was,they never bothered to tell me they were such an aggressive species. Well I named this snake at work now Mr. Nasty. I am fond of Mr Nasty, incredibally beautiful(check out my photo gallery,I have pics there under boa and also under aboreal boa/python), not so sweet though. Anyways Mr Nasty has had trouble shedding, and I am the only one who gets him out to soak him, and I am only there 2 days a week. I was able to get some shed off, but he cant hardly see and hasnt eaten in 2 weeks(he is about 4-5' long and tends to eat 3-4 mice), so I am taking him to the vet to make sure there isnt an underlinging issue with him, I personally believe he might have a resp infection, when he tries to strike at me, the inside of his mouth is yellow(and btw I work for an exotics vets office also). Wow this has turned into a long post..lol So anyways I have agreed to no snakes in the house(I personally keep beardies and cresties), but I want to get Mr Nasty out of the pet store, although we give good care there, I think he would be alot happier and heathier out of there and into a home. We dropped his rice at the store down to less than what we paid for him, but I was thinking of buying him and trying to sell him out myself as we have the type of clients that want nice pets, not ones that strike at them. So my question is, once I get Mr Nasty good and healthy again, how much do these guys go for on the market? Does anyone know of a place online besides here and Kingsnake to post him? Does anyone out there know of someoen who wants one? I am not 100% sure of the sex, I dont handle it long enough to really get a good look at it to tell the sex, I am sure when i get it into the office, Dr Tim and I will have long enought time to check. Not sure how I am going to talk the people at work into medicating this snake as everyone but myself is afraid to touch it...an here I dont like touching the hamsters...weird huh! LOL thanks guys!

Aww cant anyone help me with this? He goes to the vet today so I will post his issues. I am trying to find a good editing program so I can take before and after pics, and after he is all better pics. But please,anyone with info that could help me would help.

I don't know much about them myself. Never dealt with them, or had a Boa that is like them. And I don't know anyone who works with them.

As for the shedding issues. If he is having shed issues consistently, sounds like too low of humidity to me. Shedding problems are almost always a husbandry issue. Too low humidity as well as too high can cause respiratory problems, but I can't say whether an RI is present or not. The vet will have to do a culture of the mucous or something to see if this is so.

Anyway, never looked into one of these Boas, so I don't have a clue what they go for, or what care they need. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.


Rick

First off all it is probably not a Cooks. Those come from a single Island and have long been illegal to export from there. Alot of people mis-label them from some reason. It is more than likely and appears to me, to be a common Amazon Tree Boa.

I use to keep a few of these a couple of years ago. Your shedding issue is related to humidity. They need higher humidity. You should be misting him a couple of times a day. That would be much preferable to soaking him only a couple of times a week. What is he being kept in?

Your feeding problem is most likely related to the shedding problems. Although these are a hardy species and very tolerant of mistakes, my experience is if their is a shedding issue, they will go off feed. Fix the shedding/humidity issue and he should start feeding again. A snake of that size would do well on one medium rat per feeding. This would be better than trying to stuff four mice down him. It's always better to feed one appropriately sized food item than multiple small ones.

As for temperement, it's really a crap shoot. Of my three, one I could reach right into her enclosure and take her out without even a hiss. Another would let me take him out but during handling, he would decide to reach over to my arm and bite. No strikes, just open his mouth and mouth me for a second. It was never hard pressure bites but their teeth are very sharp and caused little pin prick bite marks. My third and largest one however tried to kill me everytime I came near it.

They are easy to keep once you get their enclosure dialed in. Humidity is the key with them though. You have to keep it up around 85%. Also make sure the heat source is an overhead source and keep it at 85 up to a max of 88. They do not need it hot and an UTH is almost useless as they prefer to stay on their perches under heat.

You won't be able to tell sex just by looking at the tail. You or your vet will have to probe him to determine sex. If you have never done it before, I would recommend you not do it and leave it to the vet. They are very thin, delicate animals and you can cause alot of damage to them if the probing is done in-correctly.

I realize im a bit late but this website is very informative www.corallus.com
Amanda