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Adult boa extremely defensive

Big Borg Reptiles

Big Borg Reptiles

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Need some help. I have a BIG adult boa that won't let me go near her. I've dealt with defensive snakes before and have had no issue calming them down but never a snake this size. Getting bit is no big deal, but when the snake's head is the size of your hand and hits like a truck...you get the idea.

I'm really unsure as far as what to do. I managed to pick her up and inspect her (with much effort, she's super heavy and wouldn't stop striking) and there are no injuries at all. Since she's spent a ton of time hissing at me I can clearly see inside of her mouth and it's immaculate. As far as I can tell this is a perfectly healthy snake that just wasn't handled regularly. Her temps are perfect (82 ambient, 90 hot), cage is perfectly clean, always had fresh water, been eating without any issues, so I'm certain it's not a husbandry thing.

The question is how to deal with it. With smaller snakes it's easy to say "go about business like normal, let them bite you so they know it doesn't work", but she tagged me the other day and I had to take a break from cleaning for a while. I've never dealt with a snake this big that was this defensive. ANY advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
Is she any calmer after feeding? I know that the conventional wisdom is not to handle while they are digesting, but I have a jumpy female who is a lot easier to handle when she's not hungry....

And gloves.... thick gloves :)

(Or maybe even a large snake hook and bin as though she was a hot - it's possible she will never allow handling and you'll just have to settle for moving her without harm).
 
Once she is in hand, does she continue to be defensive or does she start trying to get away?

You can start hook training. I'd suggest using a shield when you need to pull her out to avoid the extra stress to both of you trying to get in there with her striking all over.

She may get over it in time or she may not, as Helen says, sometimes that's just how they are.
 
Helenthereef said:
it's possible she will never allow handling and you'll just have to settle for moving her without harm.
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^This is what I'm sincerely hoping isn't the case but I know it's a possibility.

Learned about gloves the hard way, with her I throw on thick leather gloves, leather armguards, and a facemask. Last time I kind of picked her up she bit my thigh about an inch from my "tenders", so thick pants now as well lol.

She seems about the same after eating. I'm going to try giving her something bigger this weekend, idk. Even if I don't mess with her, if I open the cage she turns on the vacuum cleaner hiss.

I'm going to keep working with her and just keep my fingers crossed that she'll get used to me and calm down. Just never had to work with a defensive snake that I genuinely thought could hurt me so it makes me nervous.

To anyone reading this, this is exactly the reason why you handle your snakes when they're babies. Very frustrating situation.
 
AbsoluteApril said:
Once she is in hand, does she continue to be defensive or does she start trying to get away?

You can start hook training. I'd suggest using a shield when you need to pull her out to avoid the extra stress to both of you trying to get in there with her striking all over.
Click to expand...

Once she starts striking she keeps going until I close the tub, then she strikes at the tub. By far the most defensive snake I've ever seen. I've been using a shield when I need to clean and water and it definitely helps me. Having her out of the tub makes no difference, last time I managed to get her out into my arms she twisted every way she could to try to get an angle on me to bite. She was striking so much that she was biting herself just to try to get me. No idea how to proceed with this other than not handle her, which to me is not really an option.
 
And really, she's too big for me to handle on my own once she's out. If she were perfectly calm it would be ok, but there's no way I can control her while she's striking. Unfortunately I don't have the help so I'm kind of stuck.
 
I presume this is one of your recent "large lot" pick ups mentioned in another thread? Maybe you do have to give her a quiet month or so to settle in before you try handling?
 
Helenthereef said:
I presume this is one of your recent "large lot" pick ups mentioned in another thread? Maybe you do have to give her a quiet month or so to settle in before you try handling?
Click to expand...

Correct to some extent. I acquired a large amount of snakes including this one but they're all snakes I've been working with for the last 6 months and only recently took on as my own. Kind of an odd situation, but they're all still in the same enclosures that they were so it's not as if they've moved and are stressed out. They've been in the same place for the last 2 years so that's definitely not the issue.
 
So did she behave like this when you were working with her before you moved her?

Edit - sorry, I thought you had moved her enclosure to a new location, now re reading your last post I presume they are in exactly the same place as they have been for the past 2 years. But still - has she been like this the entire time you have known her?
 
Yea I took on the whole facility, so literally nothing has changed. The problem is that my involvement previously only consisted of helping with breeding plans, sexing, ID'ing morphs (the ones I knew anyway), examining for any health issues...only now am I doing the full spectrum since they're mine so I can't say for sure how she's been in that regard. He told me that he never had a problem with her, but it might just be that he wasn't trying to handle her? I really don't know to be perfectly honest.
 
I know some people don't really handle bigger snakes unless they're moving them for breeding, but I like to be able to take them out when I want/need to. It's important to me to know how each of my snakes behaves so that I know if they're acting out of the ordinary. That's why I say that not handling her isn't really an option. It is, but it isn't for how I like to have my collection. I want to know that they're all doing ok, and if they're striking at me nonstop it's hard for me to get a feel for what's going on :p
 
I agree with you about being able to handle your snakes, but if she has spent her life not being handled, now may not be the time to start. However if the last owner DID handle her and now she's reacting differently it's time to look for a reason.

This is a stretch - but you don't wear any strong smelling products like aftershave or hand lotion do you? It's an important factor in handling many mammals and I wonder whether it may extend to snakes? :shrug01:
 
No I don't wear anything :S. Well clothes, but you know what I mean lol. I'm afraid it might just be her attitude but was hopeful that someone would have some secret I didn't know . There are about a dozen other large red tails in the collection that all seem fine with being handled, this one is the exception. The first time she struck and hissed at me she was in shed so I left her alone but then it didn't stop afterwards. I just really need to find a way to handle her, maybe it will just take a long period of time before she gets used to me.
 
When I say the others are fine I mean that they're accepting of it, but I think they just weren't handled very much over time. Might be something I have to work on. So hard with how big she is but I'll try to make baby steps.
 
Well, this is my last amateur suggestion, hopefully someone with more experience with really big boas will chime in soon - if my problem child is extra snippy I drop a cloth over her head before I take hold of her - she's much calmer when she can't see me. Might help a bit in the interim. Good luck! :thumbsup:
 
You might try spritzing her in the face with a mister when she's hissing. Sometimes it'll startle them and knock them out of defensive mode into flee mode (stop hissing and turn to get away). Not always of course but it's worked in the past for me once in a while.

If she is striking all over the place no matter what, you may just have to gently grasp her behind the head and handle/move her that way. I would suggest having another person there if you can because a large snake grasped behind the head will probably try to coil your arm and speaking from experience, getting wrapped by an 8' boa is not fun.

You mentioned you were thinking of bumping up her food size, what is she eating and how often? Just be careful about over-feeding. Boas should be a nice square, loaf shape without big bulges, wrinkles around the tail unlike pythons which tend to be much more rounded. If she is just extra hungry, bumping her up might do some good but if you see no change in behavior than it is truly defense and not hunger causing her outbursts. (edit to add, not sure if you have a hide for her? that might help her feel more secure and safe when in the enclosure as well which might help calm her down a bit.)
 
AbsoluteApril said:
You might try spritzing her in the face with a mister when she's hissing. Sometimes it'll startle them and knock them out of defensive mode into flee mode (stop hissing and turn to get away).

You mentioned you were thinking of bumping up her food size, what is she eating and how often?

have a hide for her? that might help her feel more secure and safe when in the enclosure as well which might help calm her down a bit.)
Click to expand...

I've done the spritzing thing with other defensive snakes but I've noticed it seems to be a short term fix...I don't want her to associate anything negative with me, so the water bottle has always been something I put in the far back of my mind.

Now here's the thing with feeding: as far as I know all of them were only given rats, and if the "rule" is the same as it is for pythons (food item about as big around as the snake) there is no way she's been eating enough. That being said, she doesn't look skinny at all so I could be wrong. When I fed her I gave her two medium rats but I bet she could have taken more. I personally do weekly feeding with all of my snakes but I can't pretend to know what the schedule was like before I took it over. None of them look skinny or have any health issues so I imagine it was appropriate.

I just looked again and I think I made her bigger in my mind because of how hard she was to handle. I'd say she's about 4.5-5 inches in diameter. So not huge, but definitely not a baby. Looking at the size of the one under her, I'm glad she's the only one with the issue lol.

With the rack systems I usually don't put a hide because I consider them to be "concealed" enough as it is. There's no traffic in the room other than during cleaning or feeding, and there's only a window on a third of the tub. That might be something to consider if her situation doesn't improve though.

(I should also add, I keep referring to the boa as a female but I have no idea if it's a girl or boy :p. Probing at this point is basically impossible so for now it's a girl)
 
Helenthereef said:
Just curious - any chance of a pic of this monster?
(If you can get one without losing your shutter finger, that is :D)
Click to expand...

Haha. Well probably fortunately for this site but unfortunately for me, my phone/camera broke a few days ago and I'm unable to take any pics until I get it taken care of. If it were working I'd have flooded the discussion forums with all of my "favorites" aka every new snake lol.
 
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