Just brought my new RTB home

This is my first experience with an RTB - my other two snakes are both BP's.

He is an '08 RTB weighing about 695 grams. I brought him home on Friday and when I got him out of the bag he was in - he immediately tried to squirm free of me - not like a ball python at all - I could hardly keep ahold of him. I immediately put him in his cage and haven't bothered him since - give him some time to get acclimated. He found the hides within the first few hours (he was kept in tubs so he isn't familiar with hides but he found them) and he stayed in the hide for the past two days. I did see him out last night getting a drink or possibly a little swim but this morning he was back in his hide.

Since he is staying in his hide - this is a good sign - corrrect???

My concern is how squirmy he is - I fear I won't ever be able to hold him. I held him at the show where I purchased him and he was okay - little more active than a bp but not unmanageable - do you all think he was just overly stressed from the car ride home??

Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Congratulations! I am also on my first RTB (BCI, not a real RTB i know but whatever).

Your experience so far sounds completely normal. Especially if it is young (how old is it?), it's going to be insecure. Especially after a show, where it was moved around (quite possibly roughly), then handled by countless strange creatures that don't smell anything like the creatures they are used to doing that, car ride home etc...

...Into an environment that feels and smells different. So that sounds normal so far. So does the hiding. Just like a BP, give it a week.

I now understand that mine is somewhat high on the aggression scale, so my first days/weeks were pretty crazy. Mine really wanted to kill me. Here I was used to BPs and for the life of me I could not corner this boa, who was trying to both get away and kill me at the same time. Eventually I picked him up, at which point he tried to kill me. I got him into his setup and got the door shut, at which point... oh I'm sure you can guess. THUNK, trying to kill me.

It stayed in trying to kill me mode for about a week, but ever since then, has very slowly gotten friendlier. 8 months later, he's much better. I wouldn't call him sweet yet, but I think he eventually will be. You likely won't need as much persistence and patience as I have needed, but the truth is I love him anyway.

It will probably get into the habbit of putting on a show trying to look / act tough. To include really loud hissing, defensive postures, strikes that don't actually connect (also known as a bluff strike) and so on. Again hopefully not as much as mine. But what I did learn (it took a while!) was that I had to ignore the show, reach in there with confidence and just grab him. Up to that last milisecond before I wasn't holding him, mine still puts on the show and begins to act like he's going to bite, but then decides he'd rather get away instead. Then I can pick him up and hold on for dear life.

If you do get bitten, I have found that it is important to take the strike and not freak out. Let it hang on, and do your best to act like it doesn't matter. In this way (just my speculation), it will eventually learn that hissing, putting on an act, or even biting will not deter you. Thus eventually it will not associate bites with "the human will go away if I do this". You just might have to take a few, though. Even with my aggressive boy, I have only had him bite me once.

These days he often puts no show on whatsoever. He's really special to me, probably a bit more so than the other snakes (BP, northern pine). He's taken so much effort to get him to calm down and play nice, and it's worked.

Enjoy it! Also, pics!

Thanks FireEyes for the reply. The breeder I got him from said he was a real sweetie and not agressive at all -so I hope that is true. I think he was just scared and unsure of his new environment. I plan to leave him alone for awhile so he can get acclimated.

I am always nervous when picking up new arrivals simply because I don't know how they will react - I have two bp's that have never striked at me.

This new RTB (also a BCI) is an '08 and is pretty good size already. If he does bite me - how do you get them off of your arm??? LOL

Where's the pics?
Congrats, Boas are nice!

I've got 3 RTBs. They are easy handleing snakes! I think yours was probablely a little shook up from the ride, etc.. You did the right thing to let your new snake settle in. I think you'll have a great pet experience with your new snake. Boas are gentle, beautiful, have great feeding reponses, and make great pet snakes!

He was too squirmy for me to get any pics - maybe once he calms down. I didn't really get to spend any time with him - he went from the bag to his enclosure in about 1.2 seconds - LOL.

Okay, mine is an early 09 so he's smaller. From what I can tell most bites against non-prey (you) are just simple reach-out-and-grab. No coiling etc. But that even if there was, you gotta be calm and then bring it to a faucet and sprinkle a small amount of cold water on its head. Supposedly they will either let go, or act annoyed, and then let go after more water is used.

I have not yet had to test that one. Perhaps others who have been through it can help.

I don't know why - but everytime I get a new snake I am soooo afraid of the first time picking them up - I am such a whimp.

I have an RBI cage so I will have to reach in from the front of the cage - I hope he is friendly - LOL.

I will probably attempt to hold him next weekend - his first feeding with me will be on Wednesday - hopefully he eats for me.

I think the main reason I fear getting biten is that I will tend to take it personally - like he doesn't like me or something - which would ruin the whole pet experience.

I guess I need to get over taking it personally.

As far as getting him off your arm---DON'T LET HIM BITE YOU!!!!
I've never been bitten by any of my boas.
They do get ready for food when ever you mess with there cage, etc..
I use a small roll of news paper to gently touch my boas head, etc before trying to pick them up. This lets them know that no food is being offered. Once you pick them up they are usually fine with handleing, etc.. Keep your snake fed properly and handle at least once or twice a week to keep him friendly.
I think RTBs are awesome! Enjoy!

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.

Heh heh heh. I know what you mean. Watching the progression of various things, especially trust, between yourself and them is interesting. Sometimes, it goes backwards but... hopefully you can keep it going forward overall.

I remember the first time mine got brave and wanted to check out my head. Many times, he had come close, looked around, and then quickly pulled back as if he had gotten really nervous. At the same time, I have to trust that he's not going to bite me, especially in the face. Well finally he came all the way up and we just sort of stared at each other, I learned that he wasn't going to tear my face off, and he learned that I wasn't going to bite his head off. It only lasted a few seconds but it was really cool.

Just wanted to post an update to this - I finally got a chance to hold my new RTB - he was just fine with being held - he didn't squirm nearly as much as that first day and he didn't show any agression - so, all that worrying for nothing on my part.

Just wanted to update you guys on how it turned out.

Excellent! It just seems that the general rules like "no sudden movement" or "don't approach from the front" or "don't touch the head" apply more for boas.

He was really good - he doesn't even seem to be head shy. I tried to measure him and he appears to be 3' 8" long - he is absolutely beautiful.

Do try to get pictures at some point, we'd love to see them. If it's anything like mine, the colors will be difficult to get right, but it's worth a try.

I am soooo behind the times - I don't have a digital camera which means I have to get the pictures developed - load them to a site and then redirect them to this site - I hate all the steps.

I have a digital camera on my "want" list so hopefully I will get one soon. I can take some with my blackberry but I will have to figure out how to load them from the phone to the computer.

That's fine, it was more of an in-jest thing to keep asking for them. I just noticed you live in Monroe? I grew up in Royal Oak but I have been out of Michigan for about 3 years now.

Fireyes - its a small world - I grew up in Lincoln Park but know where Royal Oak is - its about 1.5 hour ride from Monroe.

And yes, I do need to get a new camera - I just keep spending my money on my snakes - LOL.

As a side note - what sort of bedding/substrate do you use for your RTB.