Boa Aggression/Fright

I'm not really a boa person, but they needed a home and I could provide one, here they live.
One of them is spectacular, never struck, hissed or anything. Does whatever you want and doesn't give a whooa.
The other one is fine too - until my boyfriend comes around. She absolutely HATES him. Strikes, hisses, lunges for him every chance she gets. He can't hold her, even with gloves. Shes managed to get him four different times, once on his arm (on a tattoo x.x), once on a finger, once on his forearm and once on his chest. Its almost like he personally wronged her somehow.

I don't understand it, does anybody else have any ideas? She's not like this with anyone else, though only a handful of people have held her recently.

Not sure if it matters, but she and the other boa are still in quarantine, no mites, no signs of RI, temps/humidity are fine (87 basking spot, 75-78 ambient at night, 65%humidity). She has two hides and a branch to climb if she so desires. And she is in a tub, with cypress bedding.

Weird...

Maybe she's protecting you from him. :P

Jk - although it is kind of weird and unexplained, sometimes snakes really do despise being handled by certain people for unknown reasons. It probably just has to do with smell or handling technique, or another subtle factor that wouldn't be obvious to people.

I doubt it's something you can control, but with more handling (careful and gentle), your snake may stop hating your BF so much.

I have a friend who gets struck at quite a bit by other people's snakes. He's like a big heater so they follow him around with their heads the entire time he's around.
It's tough to tell what's causing it. Maybe put one of his shirts (unwashed) into the enclosure so that it can get used to his scent. He may also just be making more subtle movements than you without even realizing it. I always told the kids when I had a boa out not to flash past their heads or make sudden movements because they seem to react defensively sometimes.

@Walt- That may be the case here too. Sam always runs a really high body temp.

It's all very confusing, and because these are my first two boas, I really am at a loss for a solution. I'll try the t-shirt thing, if he lets me. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll update with what happens, if anything.

Does he have a dog/cat?

Get him to wash hands with soap, get a good clean soapy smell to him. LOL

No quick movements!!!

do boas tend to react with bites as opposed to balling up like bps? like if im holding my bp and he starts to go somewhere ill just put my hand in front of his head and he'll whip back. Are boas not as head shy and just bite if you startle them like that?

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Originally Posted by Mike41793

do boas tend to react with bites as opposed to balling up like bps? like if im holding my bp and he starts to go somewhere ill just put my hand in front of his head and he'll whip back. Are boas not as head shy and just bite if you startle them like that?

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No Mike - they don't. At least neither of mine do. She'll have her head out, and if you startle her she pulls her head back, muscles up and unloads on whatever warm bit of you is closest.

As for cats/dogs - We have 3 cats, so that might do it - but I'm also covered in their scent as well, and she doesn't do any of that to me. :/

I've been able to stop my boa by putting my hand in front of her face, and the only thing she does is give me a "you're ****ing WEIRD" look when I do it, or push at my hand with her nose until she give up and goes another way. I don't know if that's because she's older and has had time to mellow out, or if previous owners did that with her and she's used to it or what. I wouldn't recommend doing it with a boa you don't really know if you're not ready to get tagged though. :P

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Originally Posted by Xotik

No Mike - they don't. At least neither of mine do. She'll have her head out, and if you startle her she pulls her head back, muscles up and unloads on whatever warm bit of you is closest.

As for cats/dogs - We have 3 cats, so that might do it - but I'm also covered in their scent as well, and she doesn't do any of that to me. :/

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They dont what...? Im confused lol
You mean they tend not to bite or tend not to pull back quickly?
By unload you mean she bites you if you put your hand in front of her face right?

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Originally Posted by Mike41793

They dont what...? Im confused lol
You mean they tend not to bite or tend not to pull back quickly?
By unload you mean she bites you if you put your hand in front of her face right?

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I mean they don't ball up like BPs do. Instead she pulls back, like shes startled, and immediately lunges to bite whatever she can reach.

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Originally Posted by Xotik

I mean they don't ball up like BPs do. Instead she pulls back, like shes startled, and immediately lunges to bite whatever she can reach.

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How old is she?

That I'm not sure of. Shes around 4 feet long and 1100grams. I've only had her and the other boa about 6 weeks. They can't be more than 2 years old though.

I have 3 BCIs. 2 of them are great. 1 is the spawn of satan. She is about 5 years old and 7 feet and constantly tries to eat everybody. She also happens to be my favorite snake.

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Originally Posted by AndrewGeibel

I have 3 BCIs. 2 of them are great. 1 is the spawn of satan. She is about 5 years old and 7 feet and constantly tries to eat everybody. She also happens to be my favorite snake.

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Want another one? :P
I wouldn't have such a problem if I wasn't a very petite woman. I'm not entirely sure if I will be able to handle her when shes full grown - not even taking temperaments into consideration - just the shear size/weight. Do I want to be able to? Absolutely. Will I be able to? I guess they just have to grow up so we can see.

My BCI is feisty until she's out of her tank, then she's a big puppy dog. If I move too quickly she will whip her head back, but resumes exploring a few seconds later. She's never struck at me or anyone else. My Dumeril is an even bigger puppy dog. Lol. Maybe your boyfriend smells like someone who hurt her before or something? That's probably far fetched. Could just be that she doesn't like boys? :P

At any rate, good luck with her. Give her a little time and she'll probably settle down nicely. Who knows what the previous owners did to her. Good for you for taking them in! :)

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Originally Posted by WarriorPrincess90

Could just be that she doesn't like boys? :P

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:P I thought of this too, so I had a few of my other guy friends come over and she didn't care who held her - until Sam came around.

Weird snake.

I don't know the guy who had them originally - but he is a friend of a (previously) local breeder that I trust highly - I'm not thinking that anything bad happened to them previously. But in all honesty - I have no idea. As far as I know - he just didn't have time for them anymore.