Handling a baby Colombian Rainbow Boa

[CharlotteCerise]

I have a baby Colombian Rainbow Boa. I've already let her adjust for a week and she has taken her first meal, so I'm ready to begin getting her used to handling. She gets very nervous and freezes up when I take her out. She doesn't strike, but does get into a defensive posture. She did strike once. I don't mind getting bit, but I do wish she wasn't so defensive. I want to make her comfortable with me. I'm thinking of keeping the handling pretty light, maybe like 10-15 minutes a day (except the two digesting days), just so she learns I'm not about to eat her. Is this a good plan? Or should I do more/less? I know it'll be stressful, as it is for any baby snake, but I don't want to upset her to the point that she goes off-feed. I also understand that they aren't the best snakes to handle a lot, and that's fine, but I need her to at least be understanding that I'm not a predator. I don't have much experience in super young snakes, as the ones I handle tend to be yearlings or at least a few months old. Any advice to make her more comfortable with handling would be greatly appreciated.

[CloudtheBoa]

I would do 10-15 minutes 2-3 times a week MAX. I have successfully tamed the 3 nippy/hissy babies with even less handling than that. The key is to make sure the handling sessions are positive. Reduce stress while she's out as much as possible, and try to keep her isolated from anyone else in the house until she calms down a bit. If she gets nippy, do not put her up until she stops biting, otherwise she'll learn that will get her left alone. When bringing her out, let her know you're there but don't take your time getting her out, the longer you take the more she'll get worked up. They're generally but not always better once they're out. It might help to put something that smells like you near her enclosure. I hesitate to put hazardous stuff actually inside my snakes' enclosures, but she should smell it just fine from right next to her enclosure.

I would also make sure you have plenty of cover in her enclosure, as that's what really helped my youngest male boa. I added just one or two more hides and he calmed right down. Took a few months after that to get him to stop huffing when I went to pick him up but the nips virtually stopped and he wasn't defensive once out anymore.

Also, do be prepared for this to take time. Sometimes baby snakes just stay defensive until they get some size on, which could take a year or two. Refrain from overfeeding to calm her down (yes this is something I see people do and recommend), as all that will be doing is damaging her body and lowering her life expectancy.

[DennisM]

I agree with Cloud, every other day handling might be better. Baby snakes are nippy, their natural instinct is to assume everything wants to make a meal out of them. I have limited and dated experience with columbian rainbows, but found them to be extremely calm snakes as adults. Be sure to provide climbing branches and a relatively high humidity, 70+. They will do best in temps in the low to mid 80s.