Progression thread!!! Female hypo bci

[erebus45]

Yes if the snake strikes or does something not wanted, you should not reward them with being put back in the cage as that will reinforce that behavior. Taming them down will come with time. Its not something you can rush or force on them. Snakes aren't like dogs where you can more or less 'break" them. You will just make them stress more and more and get worse and worse. Since your boa is so new, I personally would just leave them alone and just let them watch the area, see you changing water every other day, spot cleaning any poops or pees, feeding them, just doing the daily stuff. Soon they will realize you aren't going to eat them and then them being curious will usually come over to see whats going on. Then you can start working with handling them for a little while at a time. I wouldn't do it daily until your boas are comfortable being out.

I started out with mine just handling them every couple days. You don't need to handle your boa all the time for them to stay mellow. A couple times a week is plenty and some boas like it more than others. Like Vicky doesn't mind coming out but she isn't nearly as gung ho about it as Rosey is. Rosey LOVES to come out and sit on me or ride around on me while I do stuff but she does have days where I open the cage and she just looks outside at me and turns around and goes back in the cage. After you have them long enough, you learn to read them more or less.

I never did the t-shirt thing. They learn soon enough from smelling you/the environment every day and seeing you doing the daily stuff in their cages. My advice is just let them settle in and get relaxed. First and foremost, you want to get them eating and pooping regularly, then you can start working with them.

Lol wait until you get that one snake that is a bear to work with. My JCP was a TERROR. She bit me at least 20 times and ive only had her just over 3 months. I've gotten her where I can take her out fairly confidently and not get bit but I don't let anyone near her as she will take a shot at anything within reach if it pisses her off haha. She took a shot at a pop can when I took a drink with her sitting around my neck/shoulders. She then hissed loudly at the can haha. Once you can tame down something like that, everything else is childs play hahaha.

thank you sauzo I will do exactly that I figured it was too soon anyways for the handling the only reason I got her out in the first place today (besides me really wanting to haha) is that I was changing the water and she came out from underneath the substrate and was watching me and slowly coming closer while flickering her tongue so me being me I just picked her up thinking "well the male was perfectly ok why wouldn she be" not thinking that every single snake is completely different and that's when she realized she wasent having it lol and by then I knew if I just put her back right then she would maybe keep doing that just to be put back like you said so next time I will just let her watch me..... and another thing about pooping are they kinda like bp's can they go forever without or are they more regular (to a point lol)....so I should wait for what a couple weeks before trying again just do the normal cleaning of the cage till then I really don't want to stress her more than I have already (but to be honest I think it stressed me more than it did her ) but I am willing to wait as long as I have to I think what really made me pick her up was it was my new baby and well everybody just wants to hold their new snake but lesson learned thank you (lesson learned: patience is key!!!) thank you sauzo and I really like your jcp iv been wanting some kind of arboreal snake but I want to get these guys settled in before I take on new challenges lol (this hobby is soooooo addicting but its the best addiction iv had) bite by one snake 20 TIMES I just want to get bite once and that's just to get it over with lol ill pass on all the others

[Sauzo]

No problem. Every snake is different. Rosey goes poop about every 2 weeks or so while Vicky poops pretty much monthly. Its easy to tell, just open the cage and stick your nose in there lol. You will smell it. Also my snakes will pace the front of the cage after they poop like they are trying to get away from it haha. Well the boas at least. The retic always poops on his cool side corner and then goes back over to the warm side. I just flashlight the back corner of the cool side and can usually spot it or i'll slide the door open and take a whiff lol.

And yeah, if the little girl is just wandering over sniffing, she is just checking out whats going on. Let her do that and after a few times, I bet she will come check out your hand lol....or she will take a shot at it thinking its dinner haha. Either way, she will initiate the interaction

[erebus45]

No problem. Every snake is different. Rosey goes poop about every 2 weeks or so while Vicky poops pretty much monthly. Its easy to tell, just open the cage and stick your nose in there lol. You will smell it. Also my snakes will pace the front of the cage after they poop like they are trying to get away from it haha. Well the boas at least. The retic always poops on his cool side corner and then goes back over to the warm side. I just flashlight the back corner of the cool side and can usually spot it or i'll slide the door open and take a whiff lol.

And yeah, if the little girl is just wandering over sniffing, she is just checking out whats going on. Let her do that and after a few times, I bet she will come check out your hand lol....or she will take a shot at it thinking its dinner haha. Either way, she will initiate the interaction

ok, I just don't like the thought of me stressing her out I should of waited anyways but the anticipation got the better of me this time but it wont happen again haha plus it doesent help that im very impatient. I think I might try round two with the Aether today he seems very chill maybe I can just focus more with working with him for now and just do the normal routine (no handling) with her for a couple more weekly feedings
then see what happens....thank you sauzo

[erebus45]

Well I decided to give it another go with handling nyx and it went very well actually... I went and picked up a snake hook so I could start doing to tap training and today I opened her cage she was laying with just her head sticking out of aspen (like always haha) so I gently rubbed her neck area with it she was a little jumpy and curious at first then I just reached in and picked her up I made sure I was not nervous in anyway.... I think I figured her out she gets nervous when she senses nervousness if that make sense like for instance the last time I got her out I think since she looked like she was going to strike so I got nervous (never been bitten) and so that made her nervous which made me even more nervous which all ended in her looking the way she did in that picture when I put her back in her cage so what I need to do it to just not get that way when I'm holding her and now that I figured out that as soon as I start moving her around in my hands she starts to get curious and roams about everywhere haha but anyways here are some pics of our successful handling session (she actually sits still for pics unlike aether) she may not look like it from the pics but she was actually really calm and wanting to explore
... Oh and she weighs in at: 117g







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[Sauzo]

Awesome. And yeah snakes get nervous if you are nervous. I found that out with Caesar when I got him. I was afraid he was going to bite me so I tried to hook train him and it made him mad. He opened his mouth at the hook lol. I gave up and just use a twisted up paper towel to rub on his head if he is excited when I open the door. otherwise I just reach in from the side and scoop him up from underneath and he's fine. Sometimes he wants to come out and other times he just tries to squirm off lol.

I never hooked trained my boas. I just reached in lol. But I did use the go in from the side and underneath method until I was pretty sure they were "tamed". Now with Rosey who i'vre had for 4 years, I just grab her whenever. Vicky I've only had almost 2 years and I go in from the sides with her as she seems to really love to eat and usually her response to the door opening is perk up and look for dinner, kind of like Caesar lol.

I'm sure she will mellow out more with time. Once they get to know you and know you aren't going to hurt them, they tend to not even care about you grabbing them. At least mine don't seem to care. Plus with age comes confidence. Older bigger snakes know they are pretty safe.

And I remember the days when my girls were small like that /tear

[erebus45]

Awesome. And yeah snakes get nervous if you are nervous. I found that out with Caesar when I got him. I was afraid he was going to bite me so I tried to hook train him and it made him mad. He opened his mouth at the hook lol. I gave up and just use a twisted up paper towel to rub on his head if he is excited when I open the door. otherwise I just reach in from the side and scoop him up from underneath and he's fine. Sometimes he wants to come out and other times he just tries to squirm off lol.

I never hooked trained my boas. I just reached in lol. But I did use the go in from the side and underneath method until I was pretty sure they were "tamed". Now with Rosey who i'vre had for 4 years, I just grab her whenever. Vicky I've only had almost 2 years and I go in from the sides with her as she seems to really love to eat and usually her response to the door opening is perk up and look for dinner, kind of like Caesar lol.

I'm sure she will mellow out more with time. Once they get to know you and know you aren't going to hurt them, they tend to not even care about you grabbing them. At least mine don't seem to care. Plus with age comes confidence. Older bigger snakes know they are pretty safe.

And I remember the days when my girls were small like that /tear

Yeah she is very chill and awesome now that I have gotten past the me being nervous part I am going to hook train just because it makes alot of since in my head to get them out of hunt mode before reaching in haha I have done it once with her and once with him and so far it seems to do what it's suppose to lol

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[erebus45]

Well guys I hope eeverybody is having a wonderful christmas..... A little update on nyx I feed her yesterday and after she ate I noticed she had a bulge in her lower lip (looked like she had a dip in to be honest) I knew it was aspen but didn't want her to regurge so I waited till today to get it out and being that she must have been in pain she handled me opening her mouth very well it was the first time iv ever had to do this but with all that being said I got it out and she didn't as much as hiss at me and it was a pretty big chick compared to her lip so I'm still going to be watching it very closely to make sure no infection is taking place.... If it does start to get infected what is the best way of going about that? Thank you everybody and once again have a good Christmas

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[Reinz]

Great job on the Aspen removal. What a great snake!

If infection sets in, best to go visit the Vet.

[erebus45]

Thank you....and yea like I said it was a first so I'm rather pleased with how it went and how she acted....and I will deff go to a vet I just didn't know if their was some home remedy to try while waiting for the appt (if their is a wait) thank you reinz

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[erebus45]

Well she just regurged yesterday's meal so Idk really what to do about that she is drinking alot right now after the regurge tho.... How long should I wait to see if she wants to eat again?

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