Nervous to pick up

You don't need to put a shirt in there with your scent, and you definitely don't need to wait a week after feeding to handle. 2-3 days is plenty. After changing enclosures I have found they really only need a week or so to settle in, provided they have sufficient caging and hides as babies. Don't put a towel over the snakes head, all you are doing is initiating a negative interaction every time you are attempting to hold her.

Also, I don't really see what the problem is. If the snake isn't hissing, which is usually a bluff anyways, and hasn't struck at you, then why the hesitation? I understand that you don't want to have the snake bite you, but honestly that's part of this game.

Just calmly and confidently reach into the cage and pick the animal up.

I had a female I was nervous of. She hissed and bit me a lot. This caused me to be hesitant to pick her up so I got tagged more often. Since I just started reaching in with confidence and picking her up, she stopped hissing and striking at me. I think they can sense if we are not dominating an interaction and then they decide to dominate it by biting. You just have to reach in and do it. If you pause for a second, it's too late. Good luck!!


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So how's it going? Has your boa settled down some what?

Boas tend to keep their neck in an "s" position when just checking things out. This is different than BPs.

Most people recommend letting them settle in for up to 1 month or more after bringing them home before handling. I personally like mine to eat for me at least 2 times in a row before I try to handle. I give all my boas 4 days after eating before I handle them.

I suggest using a hook to condition her. Her previous breeder might have done this. You stroke them with a hook every time you open the cage to clean or interact. Do not use the hook when feeding. They learn to associate the hook with handling / cleaning and will go out of food mode after you stroke them. You can also use the hook as a barrier between you and their head, or to push their head aside before reaching in.

Both my girls immediately perk up when I mess around in their cages. Mostly they wander over and check out whats going on. You will learn the signs of when your boa wants to be left alone or is just curious.

As Artgecko said, they do "S" neck to check stuff out. There is 2 forms though, if the "S" is tight and the snakes head is off the floor like its getting rdy to strike, then prolly rub its head with a paper towel roll or rolled up newspaper or whatever to let it know its you and not dinner incoming. If the "S" is more loose and relaxed looking and the snakes head is more or less on the floor, then it is probably just relaxing.

Again after a while you will learn to read the snake. Give it time to settle in and get used to its cage as that is the "safe" zone in the snakes mind and you need to let it get used to that. Also i'd wait until it has fed 2-3 times with no problems etc before I would work with bonding with it.

Also something like a snake hook can work too. Me personally, I have never used them. My snakes get handled a lot so they are used to me and I can reach in head first for them and they don't care. Half the time they will come forward when I open the cage doors and crawl out onto me but again I've handled them a lot since they were babies so even my 6' girl is like a giant puppy dog when she comes out.