First Boa question

A friend of mine has fallen on tough times & has to move home with his parents. He has a red tail boa & his parents are of the anti-snake variety. They will not allow him to bring the snake into their home. He asked if I would take the snake for a little while. My initial response was no for a variety of reasons. First, most of what i have heard about Red Tails is that they are CRANKY. I always seem to hear that they have bad temperments, especially if they are unfamiliar with you. Two, I don't really feel like I have the experience I need to have to handle two snakes right now, especially with one being of a different breed. Three, I have often heard that compared to a BP, they are high maintenence. Four, I am not really sure that I have the money to support another snake. Five, I am not sure that my girlfriend is ready for another snake this soon when it took so long to get her to agree to Hissy!

Basically, I am puttin this out to you, my friends, to find out if they really are ill-tempered & high maintenence because I wanna make sure that he is able to give her a good home. Help me out friends! :)

red tails from what I have read seem pretty docile if not friendly .. but of course this is snake rather than species specific - it depends how much handling he has gotten. You could always hang on to him for a little bit and try to find another home, from what I have read they are higher maintnence than a BP but not sky high.

perhaps you were thinking of blood pythons... I hear they can be cranky

Actually Jonah, & I am kickin myself for not being able to locate it right now, over a year ago when i first started to develop the desire to own my own snake, i was reading through care sheets & the like & the one in particular said something about Boas of all types being far more likely to be cranky than most pythons. A different friend of mine has a red tail & he handles her every a ton. She is ok with him, far from friendly, but sorta deals with his handling of her. But, when some one new tries to handle her, she stares them in the eyes for 20 minutes at a time & if they flinch for even a second, they are gunna have 2 & 1/2 feet worth of Red Tail attached to their lip. It seems like an odd practice, but it is what she does. I would have to talk more with the guy who wants me to hold his snake. (wow could that sound perverted in other forums!) He plays hockey with my dad & he mentioned that he needed some one to hang on to the snake & my dad knew that i had just gotten Hissy. So, my dad offered. I would have to inquire more closely. I know that temperment is definately a snake to snake thing rather than a species to species thing but i thought that i would throw this out there to get a general feeler. Thanks for the input JJ!

LOL.....a cranky Boa? Oh boy....sorry.....that got me laughing. I assume by "red-tail boa" you mean a Boa constrictor imperator.....aka Columbian Boas. These are the most common of the "red-tails" in captivity. These are generally very calm....in fact they are like scaley puppy dogs, lol. They are very low maintenance and easy to care for, but they do reach a decent size (5-7 feet). Go to this site and see if you see what the snake looks like:

http://www.boa-constrictors.com/

What David says is true. And there's a good chance that's what it is. But if it is a "true" Red Tail...such as a Surinam (Boa Constrictor constrictor), they DO get quite a bit larger, and are less forgiving of husbandry errors. Here's a good thread about the differences between the two:

http://ball-pythons.net/PNphpBB2+viewtopic-t-2150.html

Yes...you need to ask a lot more questions! :D

There are no stupid questions! Always be sure of things when it comes to our herps.

eddie, if it helps, my science teacher has a 5ft red tail boa and he keeps it in class. he lets the students hold it and he has not snapped or even thought about snapping once. you might want to ask your friend how much handling its gotten and how docile it is. as for the money, if hes planning on taking the snake back, i see no reason why he wouldnt reemberse you. as for your girlfriend, that may be a little tricky. just try talking to her i guess. hope i helped, youve helped me alot latly.