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Question bout gtp emerald boa

J

JohnG1122

JohnG1122
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I was hearing that the gtp emerald tree boa and brazilian are not the best with handling. I am curious because i was thinking about getting a emerald soon. i have alot of experience w red tails dumerils and basic boas but nothing with those. Wanted some opinions i am not really interested in an animal that is very tough to handle.

thanks for the help..
 
I'm sure you meant GTP's and Emeralds (no such thing as an emerald tree python).

I don't know about GTPs, but ETB's require a good deal of respect. I consider mine dog tame, but that's because I play by his rules. ETBs also have a nice set of teeth on them. My guy is ~5', his head is perhaps 2.5-3" long, and he has 4 1/4" long teeth, and many pretty big teeth behind those.
 
Uroboros said:
My guy is ~5',......., and he has 4 1/4" long teeth,
Click to expand...
Probably a good thing this is in the Boa Discussion forum, lol...(though my response in HELL would be more amusing.)
Erik - I think you need to remeasure those teeth...or, at least look at a ruler and imagine 4 1/4 inch teeth sticking out of your emerald's mouth.

(afterthought) Or were you saying he had four teeth that are 1/4" long?
 
hhmoore said:
Probably a good thing this is in the Boa Discussion forum, lol...(though my response in HELL would be more amusing.)
Erik - I think you need to remeasure those teeth...or, at least look at a ruler and imagine 4 1/4 inch teeth sticking out of your emerald's mouth.

(afterthought) Or were you saying he had four teeth that are 1/4" long?
Click to expand...

ROFL. That's why I named him Snaggletooth!

It does read like I said 4 1/4" long. Stupid inflections that don't carry over the intertubes!

No, there are four (4) one-quarter inch long teeth. I do not care to get that close with a ruler in one hand while forcing his mouth open with the other, but I have great faith that estimation is not far off.

LOL 4 1/4" long teeth. Man, that would be a nasty snake if it's head were in proportion.
 
I'll wager they are longer then a ¼". They do have some front teeth worthy of respect, hence the name "caninus". And you have a tame one? :rofl:

I've heard of people handling them during the day without incident, but always a blood bath when handled at night. Mine you couldn't hold at any time of the day. He'd light you up good in no time. He just didn't like people. He resides at the El Paso Zoo now for the last dozen years or so.

As I understand it, most of those tree dwelling snakes have less then savory dispositions. But I can only attest to the chainsaw that I once owned. He fit the stereotype just fine. :yesnod:
 
Mine's cool as a cucumber. Move slow, don't rush him. Don't just grab him and try to pull him out. Be aware of all the typical signs he throws off.

If you can do that, he'll come right out. Once he's out of the enclosure, he's really handleable and apparently curious.

Sometimes he doesn't want anything to do with you and will give out the old S pose. If he gets twitchy or looks like he's nervous, it's a no-go. Play by his rules and you're golden.

GetAttachment2.jpg
 
GTPs

In my (admittedly somewhat limited) experience, these can be as widely variable temperamentally as anything else, though they're generally less :hot: than ETBs. I had a GTP that I could handle anytime with no problem, and I had one vicious one that would attack the glass of his cage whenever I came near. (Guess which one needed Baytril injections for a week right after I got him? :eek2:) GTPs, like ETBs, are bird-eaters, so they also have relatively long teeth and can deliver a painful bite.

True story: my easiest-going GTP escaped from his cage one day when my 4-year-old son didn't latch the doors. The kids had a canary in a house-shaped cage that hung from the ceiling. I came home to find the snake coiled up on the "roof" ledge of the bird cage, right next to the canary, who was slowly swinging back and forth and looking at the snake out of the corner of his eye. From that time on, the snake would not eat rodents unless I scented them first by rubbing them on the canary. Ultimately I gave that GTP to someone who kept a finch aviary because it was just too upsetting to the kids and canary for me to be rubbing dead rats on the bird. The new owner sent me a great pic a day later of the snake snatching a finch in flight.

Gorgeous, interesting snakes to keep, and well worth any possibly elevated risk of bites vs., say, a corn snake, IMHO. Greg Maxwell writes on his site that being bitten by a GTP is less painful than being caught in briars, and that's pretty accurate.
 
After reading Maxwell's book, I learned that it is thought that a wild GTP's diet does not include that many birds. They also do not have extremely long teeth like the Emeralds do. There is a picture in that book of a canine tooth from a GTP on top of a penny, it is not that large at all, about the size of one of my adult boas teeth.

Chris
 
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