Quote Originally Posted by dboeren View Post
While psychologically it's normal to be apprehensive even about small bites, it's usually not that big a deal with young snakes. You saw my carpet python the other day, she's only bitten me once accidentally when she thought she was being fed. At that time she was about 3' 9" and I barely felt it. I had to check my hand and saw yup, there's some tiny red pinprick marks so I guess she did get me. Bottom line, it's scary in your mind but you're not going to be rolling on the floor in pain or anything.

Teeth size/shape does differ between species, I'm not sure how a boa compares to a carpet in that aspect but at least they're roughly the same build so hopefully it's comparable. If anything I would expect an arboreal species like a carpet might have slightly longer teeth because they may need that extra grip to hang onto their prey as they're going to have to support their weight in the air.

You'll recall that I put on a glove with the blood python, but that's only because I know she's definitely going to bite as well as because I haven't worked with them before so I don't know how strong a bite it will be. I do know that short tails are reputed to hit fairly hard though and while she's not long she's got a lot of weight behind her. Once she's comfortable here and settles down I'll ditch the glove.

By the time your boa gets big enough that his bites are stronger, I expect he won't be inclined to give them anymore. Boas are generally a pretty mellow species, I think this is more of a thing where babies of any species tend to be nippy because they're so low on the food chain so they have to be a bit paranoid.
Good points Dave! And I agree its 99% psychologically because it happens so fast that you don't see it coming. I'm not too worried about the pain. I had an iguana who would whip and bite every time you would go near him