Just brought my new RTB home

Interesting tip with the newspaper. I had not thought of such things yet, but then again, my boa is still quite small. He sure is growing fast though!

I'm not sure if it helps or not, but what I have been doing is: if I'm going to pick him up, before opening his cage (front loader as well) I will tap somewhat heavily three times on the top of the cage. Then I go for him. When I get close enough, i put one finger on his tail, he jumps a bit, looks back, and then I pick him up.

As he is such an aggressive feeder, and that he stays in feeding mode for HOURS after eating, I feed him in-cage. I prefer to do it outside, but it would be quite an adventure getting him back in. Anyway, when it's feeding time, I tap six times on the top of the cage. I'm not fully sure if he has made any association, but my guess is that it has. When it's more than three taps, he immediately ramps up, coils up, and goes into feeding mode. This is before I even have rats in the room. Anything that enters his cage after that point is pretty much going to die.

My boas are kept in cages that open on the front panel also. I just use my trusty roll of news paper to let the snake know no food is being offered.
I don't think you'll have feeding problems from your boa and definately would feed frozen thawed rodents.

I agree on F/T. Mine refused them at first, however, I was able to get him to take a F/T by offering a live, and immediately after that offering a F/T that was warm. He hasn't refused F/T since.

Boas don't need accumulation time as much as pythons do, in my experience.
They don't usually get stressed out unless things are REALLY bad.

And they are more energetic and curious, so they will squirm around a lot even in their cage. They will usually have a tighter grip when they are holding on to you. Don't be afraid to show a little force and control. Handling these guys more often is important because they get bigger and have more power.

Make sure to quarantine!

From what the breeder said - he is already on f/t prey.

I will have to work out a method to picking him up like I did with my Bp's. I usually tap on top of their hides to let them know I am coming and then lift up the hide - they have never tried to bite me.

Do RTB's eventually sit still so you can hold them - my first experience with mine was crazy - he was just squirming all over the place.

By the way, what temps do you guys keep you setups at - warm and cool sides - just curious as to what everyone else does.

Thanks.

yes, I am qting him in the upper level of my house - all by himself for at least three months.

All Boas start out flighty and squirmy but should calm down with regular handling! He is trying to get away from you because he thinks you are going to eat him lol!

LOL - so basically he is as afraid of me as I am of him at this time!!! I need time to adjust to him also.

Have any of you ever felt or heard a crackling noise when your snake was squirmy in your hands - almost like their spine re-aligned or something - at first I thought I hurt him but I have had this same sound from my bps - like a crackling noise from their backs.

That's a good way to illustrate it, yep they think they're going to get eaten.

I have heard that sound from all of my snakes, particularly if they are trying to get away and i've got their tail, and they get ahold of something with their neck and pull. I believe it is their spine, but nature is flexible like that (to a point). You'll hear (and feel) something similar if you suspend yourself from a wall or something by your hands, and (it takes practice) relax enough to let your back uncompress, but still keep a grip. It can feel kind of good actually.

Keeping these critters is just soooo interesting - I love reading and learning and god knows I love to ask questions - LOL.

My first attempt at holding Noah will be this Saturday - I am getting excited.