Well, we took our new female Columbian red tail boa out last night for our first handling session.
It went well, my husband took her out and held her while I changed her newspaper. She was being very active and very curious, she was on the move. She was slithering all over the bed and sniffing the bed and my husband. She did calm down toward the end and just sit next to him with her head on his stomach.
It was a huge difference between handling her and handling Dax, our 2 year old male BP. Samantha is so much bigger and so much heavier and even my husband who is a big man, needed two hands with her.
I don't think until last night either of us realized just how amazing red tail boas are, and just how much strength and speed she has the potential for. It was just amazing.
We are both hopelessly in love with our beautiful girl, and have a totally new respect for what a magnificent creature she is.
We are completely in awe!
(Yes, we did respect her as a beautiful creature before last night, but we hadn't handled her, partly so she could settle in to her new home and partly because we thought she might be gravid, other than a quick transfer to her new home, and one transfer to a feeding tub, last night was the first time she was handled.)