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

[Zincubus]

As John1982 said ^^^

I would just add that in MY experience of handling my snakes Kings , Boas , Royals, Retics , Corns and Burmese Pythons the BOAS are easily the strongest and by quite some distance !!


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[paulh]

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?

Good advice. Unwrapping a snake from the head or tail end is much easier than unwrapping from the middle. I used a mirror a couple of times to find the tail with 3 foot snakes. That was in my younger and more foolish days, until I formulated an ironclad rule #1, Never, never, NEVER let a snake wrap completely around my neck. Zincubus' picture 2 is a fatality waiting to happen. Note the snake's body is under the man's chin. Rule #2, if the snake is around your neck, drop your chin so there is no space between your chin and breastbone. It is more difficult (but not impossible) for a snake to constrict fatally in that position.

Adult boas come in so many different lengths and weights that it is impossible to generalize. I would prefer a helper for a boa 7 feet long or bigger. And I'm an average sized male. I've seen recommendations for a helper if the snake is anywhere over 6 feet long. Each person has to make his own decision. If no helper was available, I'd try to get a big boa into a cardboard box and move the boa around in that. For what it's worth, one of my buddies used to have a 250 pound Burmese python, and he needed 5 people.