Going to check out two Red Tails...

My boyfriend recently heard of a humane society shelter that has a Red Tail Boa up for adoption, and he's very interested in it. The plan is to go check him/her out tomorrow and make sure they're healthy and in good shape before we make any serious plans, but he's expressed a good interest in it already.

I already own a Ball, so I'm familiar with general herping, and I checked out the caresheet for them (they have very similar needs as Balls), but I was wondering if there were some tips or tricks of the trade you people would have about caring for Red Tails. I've already told the bf that if he gets one it would be going into a tub/rack system (I have my Ball in a tank and while it's nice to look at it's such a hassle to care for, and I don't want more tanks to clean since it'll be housed in my house, lol). I called the shelter and they say that it's a 3 year old female (although the girl seemed a little hesitant about it so I think we'd be good to get her re-sexed) eating F/T rats, and has a very calm temperament to being handled and such. I know they're a lot more heavy-bodied than Balls too, does that make handling any different?


EDIT: I know the title says two, but I called the shelter in the middle of writing this, found out there's only one there, and forgot to fix that part. :P

My red tail is a lot more outgoing. It come out of its hide towards me. This behavior made me a touch nervous at first, but once I realized it wasn't aggression I was ok with it. They are also a lot stronger than an equally sized bp....I have really fell in love with my boa and am really happy that I bought one....:D

As was said, they're a lot more active and inquisitive than ball pythons, and I find they're a lot "grippier" when you're handling them, they tend to hang on a lot lol. Another thing is they're always on the move when they're being handled, they don't like to just find a comfy position and chill like many bps will.

They're really awesome snakes, I don't think you'll regret adding one into your life :)

They are very curious and sometimes a pain to put back, mine tries to get out while I'm putting the lid back on. Also as was stated they tend to hand on really well. Mine will wrap her tail around my thumb and then explore as far as she can get without letting go.

My experience with feeding has also been very different. I feed f/t and for my BPs I need to do the zombie rat dance, but that actually freaks my boa out. She'd rather I just throw it in and let her do her thing.

My boa is still a baby and I bought her from a breeder so you might want to take my info with a grain of salt, every snake is different.

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Originally Posted by Alexandra V

Another thing is they're always on the move when they're being handled, they don't like to just find a comfy position and chill like many bps will.

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That's not always true, my boa will just chill. I usually take her out while I mist her cage and she'll just sit still in my hand while I do it. On the other hand I have BPs that never settle down when I hold them.

They are AWESOME. I love my red tail to pieces! I keep my cool side anywhere from 74 - 80 and hot side is always between 89 - 91 sometimes 92

As has been said, they are very active. Powder will periscope right up to your face multiple times while handling her. and that takes a lot of energy :)

And they are curious! My little girl in particular is a very curious little snake. She will not stop moving until shes smelled or encountered anything around her. Its great fun watching her explore around the house.

They are great snakes, and I love them.

Perhaps you should think a lot more about size before you buy one. Just think of it this way.. do you want a possible 7 - 10 (maybe more!) foot boa? or do you want a 5 - 7 foot boa. maybe smaller maybe a little larger?

if you dont want a possible giant, then avoid females.

Good luck, and be sure to post pics if you get the boa!

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Originally Posted by dragonboy4578

My red tail is a lot more outgoing. It come out of its hide towards me. This behavior made me a touch nervous at first, but once I realized it wasn't aggression I was ok with it. They are also a lot stronger than an equally sized bp....I have really fell in love with my boa and am really happy that I bought one....:D

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That's good to know, I'm used to the "omg hide!!" behavior of my BP. :)

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Originally Posted by Alexandra V

As was said, they're a lot more active and inquisitive than ball pythons, and I find they're a lot "grippier" when you're handling them, they tend to hang on a lot lol. Another thing is they're always on the move when they're being handled, they don't like to just find a comfy position and chill like many bps will.

They're really awesome snakes, I don't think you'll regret adding one into your life :)

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My Ball's the same way, she's never still! :D

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Originally Posted by Kinra

My experience with feeding has also been very different. I feed f/t and for my BPs I need to do the zombie rat dance, but that actually freaks my boa out. She'd rather I just throw it in and let her do her thing.

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The "zombie rat dance" made me laugh! I have to do that too and if it happens to touch her she scares herself and runs into something. xD

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Originally Posted by MikeV

Perhaps you should think a lot more about size before you buy one. Just think of it this way.. do you want a possible 7 - 10 (maybe more!) foot boa? or do you want a 5 - 7 foot boa. maybe smaller maybe a little larger?

if you dont want a possible giant, then avoid females.

Good luck, and be sure to post pics if you get the boa!

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My bf and I LOVE the larger snakes, we want to work our way up to the larger boids like Burms and Retics, but we don't have the room for a 20+ foot snake at the moment. I think this will be a nice compromise of size, although the girl I spoke to said she was 3 years old but "small/not full grown" which makes me feel like it MIGHT be a male they've got. The poor thing was apparently abandoned in front of a pet store so I'm hoping we can give her a good home. :please:

You're gonna love the Red Tail...got two. Little guy likes to bite, but my big girl is very sweet and strong. Love my Ball too, but you will appreciate the differences.
Good luck and congrats on rescuing a snake...don't think they get adopted out as much as dogs and cats.

I hope it works out for you! You will love a boa. Mine is just a baby but she is wonderfully curious. She'll wrap her little tail around my finger like an anchor and off she goes. And she also does the periscoping. You'll find they are much more 'in your face' than BPs. Peaches locates my face immediately when I take her out and it's like she's really trying to figure out who I am and what I'm doing with her.

They are smart too. She may be a baby, but she sure knows how to eat. My adult BP, Ella, will take a mouse from the head, butt, whatever, and try to swallow it from the way she grabbed it. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, lol. The first time my boa nabbed her rat pink from the butt I watched her constrict it then she let go of it with her mouth but kept it in her coil. She looked it up and down and took it by the head and down it went easy as pie! Clever girl....

Good luck! Let us know if you do get it - we'll want pics.... ;)

We're going tomorrow morning to check her out, wish us luck! I hope she'll fit in with our growing little herp family. :D

They are active and curious like the others have said. Have a great feeding response so you'll need to either hook train it to take it out or distract it's head. You don't want to accidentally get bitten.

Just handle it often and you will love it. Yes they get quite large compared to BPs but they are so rewarding.

great advice - i just got another after having another one for a long time.

great interactive snakes - I definately suggest feeding outside of the their enclosure to help reduce that feeding response when you first get them out. mine could bee a little wierd getting out and was a baby the moment you got her out. they have such expressive eyes when compared to my balls...

Found a picture of her on their site! She looks gorgeous, I can't wait to see her in person!!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...reenshot-1.png

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womsterr :
they have such expressive eyes when compared to my balls...

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How true! I just adore Peaches' eyes. My favorite feature. ;)

Beautiful pic! She looks good. When are you going to go see her?

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Originally Posted by xFenrir

I've already told the bf that if he gets one it would be going into a tub/rack system (I have my Ball in a tank and while it's nice to look at it's such a hassle to care for, and I don't want more tanks to clean since it'll be housed in my house, lol).

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If you only want one tank to clean, then I would suggest putting the BP into the rack and the boa into the tank.
Boas need more room than BP's do. I follow the general rule of about 1 square foot of floor space per 1 foot of snake length. For smaller boas, tubs make great "grow out" enclosures until they are big enough for more permanent enclosures. You can even go with a VE-175 tub from ReptileTubs.com, which has about the same floor space as a 4 X 2 enclosure.
For a 3 year old boa, I would suggest a 10-14 day feeding schedule.
Boas aren't technically "arboreal", but they are very adept at climbing, and will often use anything extra that you give them to perch on, whether it is a branch, wood poles, or just laying on top of their hides.

Definitely visit the shelter before making any final decisions; boas are very different from ball pythons handling-wise; though the majority of boas are completely docile (excluding nippy hatchlings), they are not jumpy or nervous in the least like ball pythons are. Both of my boas are very relaxed and calm, and definitely enjoy being out.

Another big difference between boas and ball pythons is feeding. Boas are aggressive feeders, and that is often times connected with cage aggression. Both of my boas are complete sweethearts to handle, but are extremely cage aggressive. Hook training is absolutely vital if you want to avoid bites (and big boas can pack serious bites! I've had my hand pretty badly torn up by a female that was just 4ft!).

Also, due to their great feeding responses, obesity is often an issue with boas. Don't overfeed!!! For an adult/subadult, a meal every 2-3 weeks is plenty of food.

Good luck! She looks gorgeous, I'm sure you'll love her! My boas are among my favorite snakes, they are excellent pets!

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Originally Posted by Evenstar

How true! I just adore Peaches' eyes. My favorite feature. ;)

Beautiful pic! She looks good. When are you going to go see her?

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I'm about to leave as I type this. :D

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Originally Posted by Vypyrz

If you only want one tank to clean, then I would suggest putting the BP into the rack and the boa into the tank.
Boas need more room than BP's do. I follow the general rule of about 1 square foot of floor space per 1 foot of snake length. For smaller boas, tubs make great "grow out" enclosures until they are big enough for more permanent enclosures. You can even go with a VE-175 tub from ReptileTubs.com, which has about the same floor space as a 4 X 2 enclosure.
For a 3 year old boa, I would suggest a 10-14 day feeding schedule.
Boas aren't technically "arboreal", but they are very adept at climbing, and will often use anything extra that you give them to perch on, whether it is a branch, wood poles, or just laying on top of their hides.

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I'm also thinking of that too. I want to get into breeding Balls, so I was going to make a rack system sometime anyway, so now would be probably the best time to make the switch huh? I've got her in a 40 gal, though, that wouldn't be too small for a RT? I've read they need about 6 feet of floor space, or something like 46-something long (I forget the dimensions). I'm worried she wouldn't have enough room.

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Originally Posted by Crazy4Herps

Definitely visit the shelter before making any final decisions; boas are very different from ball pythons handling-wise; though the majority of boas are completely docile (excluding nippy hatchlings), they are not jumpy or nervous in the least like ball pythons are. Both of my boas are very relaxed and calm, and definitely enjoy being out.

Another big difference between boas and ball pythons is feeding. Boas are aggressive feeders, and that is often times connected with cage aggression. Both of my boas are complete sweethearts to handle, but are extremely cage aggressive. Hook training is absolutely vital if you want to avoid bites (and big boas can pack serious bites! I've had my hand pretty badly torn up by a female that was just 4ft!).

Also, due to their great feeding responses, obesity is often an issue with boas. Don't overfeed!!! For an adult/subadult, a meal every 2-3 weeks is plenty of food.

Good luck! She looks gorgeous, I'm sure you'll love her! My boas are among my favorite snakes, they are excellent pets!

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We're going today to check her out, and then we have to go through the adpotion process so we'll have time to go and get all her necessities (I've got most of them already, but the main thing is getting her an enclosure). Thank you so much for the tips, I've read up on them seriously, but it's always great to get handler experience. :)

Thanks to everyone for the advice! I haven't even seen her yet and I already want to take her home. We're leaving in a few minutes to see her, and if she's a good fit for us hopefully we'll be able to bring her home in a few days!! :D

Good luck with the adoption.

She looks absolutely beautiful, good luck if you go through with it, and if you do - LOTS OF PICTURES :P

Gorgeous :D good luck :gj:

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Originally Posted by xFenrir

I'm also thinking of that too. I want to get into breeding Balls, so I was going to make a rack system sometime anyway, so now would be probably the best time to make the switch huh? I've got her in a 40 gal, though, that wouldn't be too small for a RT? I've read they need about 6 feet of floor space, or something like 46-something long (I forget the dimensions). I'm worried she wouldn't have enough room.

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Since it's hard to tell the snakes true size from the photo, I'm going to guess that, being a 3 yr old, it is probably somewhere between 4-5 feet long, and could be housed in a 4' X 2' enclosure. That size will work until the snake reaches 6-7 feet, and then you would need to move up to a 6' X 2' or a 6' X 3' enclosure. It will be easier to tell when you see the actual size of the snake...

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Originally Posted by Vypyrz

Since it's hard to tell the snakes true size from the photo, I'm going to guess that, being a 3 yr old, it is probably somewhere between 4-5 feet long, and could be housed in a 4' X 2' enclosure. That size will work until the snake reaches 6-7 feet, and then you would need to move up to a 6' X 2' or a 6' X 3' enclosure. It will be easier to tell when you see the actual size of the snake...

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Just came back from seeing her, she looks to be about 3 1/2-ish feet long, which makes me think she's younger (she was an abandoned snake so they have no idea about age or such).

And even though we're the second people in line for her, I still took photos of her. She's GORGEOUS! And so docile. c: She was a total sweetheart of a snake. You all were right about cage aggression, she immediately went into strike position as soon as her hide was removed, but once she was out she wandered a bit and seemed pretty curious of us. :D

Here she is, all cuddled in my bf's arms. She stayed there while we talked, and wasn't happy to let go when it was time to leave. I told the guy "See, she wants to come home with US!" :D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...n/SDC11046.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...n/SDC11045.jpg

Well, the bad news is, someone already has an application in on her, plus they want to have ALL my roommates come see her in person to give their approval (which they all approve, it's just I live with 5 other people, one of which has no car, one that works crazy hours and another that travels for work, so it's basically impossible for them ALL to go an hour out of their way to see her...) so it looks like she won't be coming home with us... :tears: I was very excited about her...

HOWEVER, now that I've done so much research and actually held one, I have fallen in love with the breed and I'm currently looking at other ones up for adoption in Maryland. Hopefully, there's one out there that needs a loving home, and I'll be there to provide one!

I hope whoever takes the girl at the shelter home gives her a forever home. :)

how much of an adoption fee was the shelter asking ? you could check out craigslist might be just as cheap as an adoption fee at a shelter .... there was a red tail and enclosure on Pittsburgh craigslist in this last week and they were asking $25-$35 :D

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Originally Posted by dragonmoon

how much of an adoption fee was the shelter asking ? you could check out craigslist might be just as cheap as an adoption fee at a shelter .... there was a red tail and enclosure on Pittsburgh craigslist in this last week and they were asking $25-$35 :D

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She was classified as a "small animal" (:rolleyes:) so there was no adoption fee. However, I found the rescue she's from and they have another girl up for adoption, so I inquired about her availability, etc.

Good luck with things! Sorry this particular one won't work out, but sometimes things happen for the best. I am sure you'll find one you'll absolutely love - and good for you for rescuing one in need!

BTW, the first time my hubby held a fully grown adult boa was AFTER we brought Peaches home. LoL, he asked me then "will Peaches get this big?" and I had to say of course "yes, in fact maybe a bit bigger since she's a female and this is a male" and he says, "COOL!!!" heehee... he was hooked... :P

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Originally Posted by Evenstar

Good luck with things! Sorry this particular one won't work out, but sometimes things happen for the best. I am sure you'll find one you'll absolutely love - and good for you for rescuing one in need!

BTW, the first time my hubby held a fully grown adult boa was AFTER we brought Peaches home. LoL, he asked me then "will Peaches get this big?" and I had to say of course "yes, in fact maybe a bit bigger since she's a female and this is a male" and he says, "COOL!!!" heehee... he was hooked... :P

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As long as she gets adopted to good people I'm happy. :) It definitely would be easier to just go to a breeder but there are so many snakes out there that need homes, and they usually sit forever because they're not furry or small, or people get "bored" with them. I don't see how anyone could be "bored" with a snake! :D

My bf is hooked as well. He never seemed interested in snakes but now he's talking about when he/I get a house he wants to convert it into some kind of crazy awesome snake zoo-habitat. Which I am ALL for. :D

Although he wants an anaconda. I told him we'd have to work up to that. xD

Yeeeeahh.... Work up to that Anaconda, lol... :D

Gee, I'd love to have a snake habitat in my house - even just a room! But I raise German Shepherds and right now my girls pretty much have the house. But we'll see what happens in the future - I have some ideas for our spare bedroom off our finished basement... ;)

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Originally Posted by Evenstar

Yeeeeahh.... Work up to that Anaconda, lol... :D

Gee, I'd love to have a snake habitat in my house - even just a room! But I raise German Shepherds and right now my girls pretty much have the house. But we'll see what happens in the future - I have some ideas for our spare bedroom off our finished basement... ;)

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I know, all I wanted was like a spare room or a basement, but he's talking about spending top dollar to make these natural habitats for all our future snakes. For instance, he wants to make a "real" rainforest, rain/mist and all for the anaconda. Although I don't know when or if it would actually happen, it makes me happy he's so enthusiastic about them. :) Who knows, maybe one day you see me posting pictures of "the 'crazy snake lady's' snake habitat house". :D

Funny thing, when we were at the shelter looking at the RTB, the "snake handler" guy said that anacondas are so rare to get and about the ONLY way you could ever get one was through a poacher or the like. I didn't say anything, but I wanted to be like "Uh, I know a site where I know I could find reputable breeders." :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by xFenrir

Funny thing, when we were at the shelter looking at the RTB, the "snake handler" guy said that anacondas are so rare to get and about the ONLY way you could ever get one was through a poacher or the like.

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OMG seriously ??? we get them every once in a while on craigslist here in Pittsburgh haha

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Originally Posted by dragonmoon

OMG seriously ??? we get them every once in a while on craigslist here in Pittsburgh haha

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I see them on Craigslist here in Baltimore from time to time too, or just on websites in general. I dunno where this guy got his info. :rolleyes:

So, a bit of good news: The rescue that gave "Buffy" (the previous RTB in the thread) to the shelter has one other "girl", Satin! (they're unsure if she's actually a girl, but I don't mind either way :D ) I got an immediate response from the woman about her and I've filled out the paperwork, so cross your fingers that this works out!

This is the photo they had on Petfinder:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...863669-2-x.jpg

I prefer a cage with front door/opening for a boa. The cages aren't hard to clean.
I have kept snakes in aquariums/tanks before and can relate to you saying they're a pain to clean.
Good luck with the adoption process.

Looks very nice, good luck with the adoption.

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Originally Posted by xFenrir

Although he wants an anaconda. I told him we'd have to work up to that. xD

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Not exactly

Yellow anacondas are actually within the same range as a boa. Females can be up to 12, even 14 foot though. so there is a size difference. but its not a huge size difference (AVERAGE size is about 10 maybe 12 foot for females and 7 - 9 foot for males)

GREEN anacondas are the huge ones. even the males

So if you can handle a female boa, you can handle a male/female yellow annie. In thoery. this isnt accounting for the possible satanic attitude some anacondas can have. but keep in mind as with blood pythons this is usually not the case.

Good luck!

good luck with the adoption :D

Good luck with Satin! Hope this one works out for you... :gj::gj:

Good Luck! And keep us posted. :gj:

The best news of all: Satin will be coming home with me tomorrow afternoon!! The woman who runs the rescue called me this evening and approved my paperwork. :D I went out to buy a tank and GOOD LORD they were all expensive, so I made a rack for her for a temporary enclosure until my boyfriend builds the vivarium this weekend.

I promise pictures when she gets home before she settles in for her week of relaxing. :)

Congrats! you are going to LOVE this snake. im warning you :D

:gj:

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Originally Posted by xFenrir

The best news of all: Satin will be coming home with me tomorrow afternoon!! The woman who runs the rescue called me this evening and approved my paperwork. :D I went out to buy a tank and GOOD LORD they were all expensive, so I made a rack for her for a temporary enclosure until my boyfriend builds the vivarium this weekend.

I promise pictures when she gets home before she settles in for her week of relaxing. :)

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Congratulations! How big is she?

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Originally Posted by xFenrir

The best news of all: Satin will be coming home with me tomorrow afternoon!! The woman who runs the rescue called me this evening and approved my paperwork. :D I went out to buy a tank and GOOD LORD they were all expensive, so I made a rack for her for a temporary enclosure until my boyfriend builds the vivarium this weekend.

I promise pictures when she gets home before she settles in for her week of relaxing. :)

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I don't mean to be a downer because I'm sure she's great, but have you met her in person yet? Not all snakes are the same so she could be very different from the one at the shelter. Congrats on getting her and I hope she turns out to be what you were hoping for. :) RTBs are great!

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Originally Posted by MikeV

GREEN anacondas are the huge ones. even the males

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Forgot to clarify on it that he wants a green 'conda. :P Knowing now that they're the monsters (in size), I think that'll have to wait until I own my own house. My landlord is very easy-going about me having snakes, but I think any bigger than 12 feet and he'd start getting antsy about it.

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Originally Posted by Vypyrz

Congratulations! How big is she?

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Thanks! About 4 feet.

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Originally Posted by Kinra

I don't mean to be a downer because I'm sure she's great, but have you met her in person yet? Not all snakes are the same so she could be very different from the one at the shelter. Congrats on getting her and I hope she turns out to be what you were hoping for. :) RTBs are great!

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I met her at a previous adoption show, but that was a few weeks ago and I thought she had already been adopted, because I was told there were 2 RTB at the humane society shelter and it turned out to be only one RTB and a normal Ball. I guess she kept the other girl back at her private rescue, maybe because she couldn't handle two? I dunno the reasons. :P


Also, the other girl in this thread was adopted a few days ago as well. Happy endings for everyone!



(I get so excited for new snakes now, I can barely sleep the night before. I feel like a kid before Christmas, haha :D )

Satin is now home safe and sound in her temporary tub, doing a few rounds to check out her new home. :) I only snapped a quick picture of her since she just went into shed this morning, so I didn't want to stress her out.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...n/SDC11047.jpg

She's about 4+ feet and the sweetest thing ever. While I was switching the lightbulb quickly (I got another infared one because the bright white one was keeping me awake) she decided to climb all over me and peer off the top of my head at everything I was doing, and continually tried to slither across my glasses. :P I can't wait for her to be out of shed and off her week of settling in!

HUGE congrats!!! She looks lovely! Sounds like her personality is terrific too. I just love our baby boa, Peaches. They are sooo different from BPs! You're going to just love having her. Can't wait to see more pics!

She's beautiful! Congrats!!

Still waiting on her to shed. UGH it's like torture, I want to hold her SO BAD. :rage:

Congrats :D

Is she grumpy right now cause she's near shed? Or are you just waiting cause it's what we do with BPs? If she seems uncomfortable and grouchy, then yes, wait to hold her. But boas aren't like BPs. They actually seem to enjoy being held. We held our baby from day one and offered her food on day 3. She ate like a champ. And she has learned to expect to come out in the evenings and really seems to like it. If Satin doesn't seem upset by being held, I don't see why you shouldn't be able to gently hold her for a few minutes at a time even though she is in shed. Read her body language though and if she seems to have had enough, just put her back. :gj:

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Originally Posted by Evenstar

Is she grumpy right now cause she's near shed? Or are you just waiting cause it's what we do with BPs? If she seems uncomfortable and grouchy, then yes, wait to hold her. But boas aren't like BPs. They actually seem to enjoy being held. We held our baby from day one and offered her food on day 3. She ate like a champ. And she has learned to expect to come out in the evenings and really seems to like it. If Satin doesn't seem upset by being held, I don't see why you shouldn't be able to gently hold her for a few minutes at a time even though she is in shed. Read her body language though and if she seems to have had enough, just put her back. :gj:

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It's because I'm used to the BP shed deal. I actually have held her for a brief minute while I switched her paper towels, and again today because she was out of blue to give her a nice, quick soak to make sure she sheds nicely. Each time she's been such a lady (even kinda bossy for our attention) occasionally climbing over mine and my boyfriends' shoulders and heads and arms to flick her tongue all in our faces. :D Like "So whatcha doooin'?" (Admittedly I'm still getting used to the 'in-your-face' attitude; I'm so used to my Ball being all skittish so I still get a tad nervous when she does this, but I'm getting used to it). I haven't seen a hint of upset-ness or stress, she's a big, lazy, lovable worm. :P I just wanted to leave her be to acclimate a little more and to get through her shed. I don't think holding her gently is an option; she holds on so firmly we rarely have to hold her at all. :P

I went to mist her a little and my bf went "... Can't we have her out for just a little??" I can tell she's going to be a 'daddy's girl'. :D