No experience with sand boas but I've got a hognose. Before I got him my boyfriend mentioned that I should get a sand boa because he liked how they burrow, but turns out my hognose likes to burrow a lot. He's a hiss factory. Whenever you so much as touch the lid of his cage he rears up like a cobra and hisses and "strikes". In quotes because he's always got his mouth closed and I've never been bitten by him. When I get him out of the cage he mostly calms down. When I leave though he goes back to hissing as if to say "yeah you walk away punk." I've heard them described as drama queens and for mine at least it seems pretty accurate.

I really like the smaller snakes. If I was to get another one I'd get an african house snake but sadly I'm up to four and the boyfriend would throw a huge fit if I got another.