Can you hold an adult female Boa by yourself with no assistance?

[ThrillCosby]

Can you hold an adult female Boa Constrictor by your self on your own is it too dangerous. I know Boas are very docile and dont attack but accidents can happen.

[meshuga]

i don't think the problem comes from danger to oneself but danger to the snake.

i could absolutely get an adult boa off my neck or body if it was actually trying to suffocate me, but what is the cost to the snake? i would likely have to injure it severely. so it isn't simply a matter of being strong enough to prevent the animal's killing you. it's a matter of how much harm will come to the animal through so doing.

i did bjj for some time and am pretty familiar with chokes. my 500 gram ball python can nearly choke me unconscious (i let her around my neck and can feel the pressure building in my head as my blood supply is cut). a large boa could easily strangle someone. if it got around your neck with all its force you'd be unconscious in 7-9 seconds. if you're a small or weak person it is dangerous. that's why i cringe when i see youtube videos of relatively small looking people with their "pet" retics or burmeses that weigh over 100 lbs.

moral is you may have to be willing to harm the snake if you're alone with it. if you have more people around there is a greater chance that they can grab and try to uncoil it.

also keep in mind that if a snake (or anyone) has you by the neck and is cutting off your blood supply you only have (like i said) about 8 seconds on average before you lose consciousness. so it isn't only getting the snake off, it's being able to do it with the clock ticking.

don't ever let them coil around your neck if you do not have people around or are not extremely comfortable with them. it wouldn't always be a gradual wrapping. image how they strike prey. no reason they couldn't be on you as rapidly

[cchardwick]

I have a 50% dwarf retic that is about 35 pounds and I handle her myself, although I'm over 6 feet tall and weigh 235 pounds. Not sure I would do it if I was small and petite. Plus I never would wrap the snake around my neck or around my chest, that's asking for trouble. I also know and trust my retic, if it were a bit sketchy I wouldn't handle her without assistance. If she were to bite and wrap I'd be in a whole lot of hurt. You also have to know how to read your snake, if she is in a bad mood I just walk away and try again the next day LOL. The funny thing is that after handling big snakes for so long you get to the point where you are not intimidated at all by smaller snakes, in reality they can't do much damage compared to something big.

For a large boa I would take the same precautions. For example, this is not the right way to handle a big snake, it could choke you out in a heartbeat:

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/HKImcS75U8s/maxresdefault.jpg

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qB3KlnS2V-Y/maxresdefault.jpg

This is a better way to hold it:

http://www.mccarthyboas.com/BS_5_201...t_60LBS_02.jpg

http://media.gettyimages.com/photos/...re-id179611158

[Momokahn]

Female boas come in different sizes and so do the handler. Impossible to give a definitive answer.
Myself I have never had an issue holding a boa by myself in about any manner I choose. The rules I have for myself if it isn't my snake I will not drape it around my shoulders even if the owner or pet shop says it's "puppy dog" tame. My snakes I have no issue since I have a better handle on their moods. The other rule I have is I will not allow any snake (including mine) regardless of size to allow it's head get close to my face. I've seen the result of a snake bite to the eye area from an "expert handler" customer at a pet store years ago. I think his passion changed to fish that day.

[bcr229]

i don't think the problem comes from danger to oneself but danger to the snake.

i could absolutely get an adult boa off my neck or body if it was actually trying to suffocate me, but what is the cost to the snake? i would likely have to injure it severely. so it isn't simply a matter of being strong enough to prevent the animal's killing you. it's a matter of how much harm will come to the animal through so doing.

i did bjj for some time and am pretty familiar with chokes. my 500 gram ball python can nearly choke me unconscious (i let her around my neck and can feel the pressure building in my head as my blood supply is cut). a large boa could easily strangle someone. if it got around your neck with all its force you'd be unconscious in 7-9 seconds. if you're a small or weak person it is dangerous. that's why i cringe when i see youtube videos of relatively small looking people with their "pet" retics or burmeses that weigh over 100 lbs.

moral is you may have to be willing to harm the snake if you're alone with it. if you have more people around there is a greater chance that they can grab and try to uncoil it.

also keep in mind that if a snake (or anyone) has you by the neck and is cutting off your blood supply you only have (like i said) about 8 seconds on average before you lose consciousness. so it isn't only getting the snake off, it's being able to do it with the clock ticking.

don't ever let them coil around your neck if you do not have people around or are not extremely comfortable with them. it wouldn't always be a gradual wrapping. image how they strike prey. no reason they couldn't be on you as rapidly

Hey I also take BJJ now! Cool to find someone else who knows it.

What you have to remember when you pick up and handle a big snake is in the vast majority of cases, if it's grabbing you it's not a food response, the snake is insecure and doesn't want to fall. So yes, keep it away from the front of your neck but if it does end up there and tighten up on you, sitting or lying down so that it is on the floor will encourage the snake to loosen up on its own. In order to move away to find a nice hiding spot, it has to release you.

[Zincubus]

Wow , see what some construction does to your head .

Such a difference between pic 1 and pic 2

Dread to think what happened to her boobs !!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Godzilla78]

I don't think it would be a great idea to hold a massive boa on your neck by yourself. Handle one?.. yes I would handle one by myself, but I wouldn't hang it on my body, like in the pics Zincubus posted. Not if it was a very large female, and nobody was around.

edit: I just realized I basically echoed everything in cchardwicks's post.

[SDA]

I would hold one but never by myself. I am not really all that strong so I know if one got away from me or started constricting I would be in bad shape. I think about an 8 foot snake would be the limit of what I would be comfortable alone with but anything bigger I would need help and never would I let it drape around my neck without someone watching it closely.

[larryd23]

When I was in college we had quite a few reptiles in the dorms. Back then I remember being advised that you should never handle a constrictor unless there was a mirror in the room. The thought being that the mirror would make it easier to find the constrictor's head or tail should it become necessary to unwind them (from your neck in particular).

Is that an old wives tale or good advice?

[John1982]

Easy enough to get hanged by a rope. Snakes are basically musclebound rope. I have colubrids that could give a strong person a run for their money if they let themselves get in a compromising position. The short of it, you can absolutely maneuver an adult female BCI/BCC on your own safely. You can also do it unsafely, which is when problems might arise.