Quote Originally Posted by cehmz View Post
What is all this talk of snake hooking and paper towels? I just got my red tail today and she is about 3 months old. After she is acclimation I'll still have to worry about picking her out of the tank? I thought they were supposed to be pretty docile? Even if I feed her in a different container is this a big deal with reaching in to take her out or do maintenance?
People use paper towels or snake hooks to train their snakes that it's not time to eat. I think generally you just genetly touch them with it. I personally wouldn't recommend feeding your boa in a different container unless you are leaving her in it over night. I found with my BPs that I more likely to get bit moving them back into their cage.

Boas generally are very docile, but they tend to have wicked feeding responses and will strike first and question later if they are hungry. This is why people use paper towels and hooks. My boa is a year old and I've had her about 4-5 months and this is the first time she bit me. I'm not worried about her yet because she is so small. I was stupid for leaving my finger near where I usually place her rat pups. She's normally a super sweet heart (in fact she's been sitting on my head for the past 10-15 minutes. It never hurts to err on the side of caution though, especially when they get to be 5-7ft or bigger, which is why I will start hook training mine once she out grows her hide.