Requiem ... or just "Q" for now (2019 IMG Motley het CA T+)

[RedRabbit]

He could be sassy because of his age, but I've also heard some morphs are a little more defensive than others. Richardhind1972 on here has an IMG that took a while to calm down. I believe she was older when he got her though.

Let him settle in and then work with him and he should mellow out. Katie is not a fan of defensive animals (not that I am either - all my animals are kid friendly and can handled by anyone with supervision, except for Toref who is a flight risk, not a biter). Both boas I have I had the breeders assure me that they were docile animals but great feeders.

When I got Behira, I wanted a sunglow, but was working with a local breeder who had kept her as a holdback and said she was the calmest female he had and she was a little older and established. She's gorgeous, but far from a sunglow. She has been an awesome snake, but I have hook trained her, Feliz, and Yafe - my carpet python. All are aggressive eaters and I took one food strike from Behira early on and that was enough. She's been hook trained since and we have had zero incidents. She was only 500G when she nailed me, and I was no worse for the wear, but she drew blood and it scared the crap out of Katie.

If you have questions on hook training, I have a thread on here I can send the link to. It will pay dividends as they grow.

I had to put a drape up for Behira because she often struck the acrylic doors when I walked by at night. Not good for her. Many of my animals are nocturnal and I feed at night. The drape keeps her calm. Feliz has been striking the acrylic too, so I might need one for him as well. I like having them as display snakes, as they are often out and about, but don't want any jaw or teeth issues. Behira bent a tooth early on, and it luckily fell out on its own next feeding, but her health comes before showing her off in her tank.

People who haven't met Behira or Feliz get nervous when I tell them I've hook trained them and need to let them know food isn't coming. However, once out and about, they are the calmest and most inquisitive snakes I have. Many people do not understand the difference between a food strike and a defensive strike. When Behira nailed my arm hoping for a rat, she let go right away and was like, "sorry Dad. I was hoping for food." I picked her right up and she was chill as can be.

Anyway, coming from BP's, boas are crazy feeders who strike hard and are garbage disposals. Not picky at all. However, even though that's awesome, that they rarely skip a meal, it means hook training makes sense. Better to do it when they are young and before they can do damage.

You make some excellent points. I would actually love to have the link to your thread on hook training. I bought a snake hook back when I got Iggy, my first BP, but with just one and later two very mellow BPs for a long while, the hook never saw any use and has just been collecting dust. Now may finally be the time for it to come in handy. Both my boas are male with Central American contributors to their genetics, so they may not be getting as big as some other boas at adult size, but I can already tell that they have a lot more strength and power, in proportion to their size, compared to the BPs, so it'll be important to have them well-trained early on.

That mental image of apologetic Behira though - awww!

I've definitely already seen the evidence of that enthusiastic feeding. (And it's a joy, compared to the perpetually iffy BPs, haha.) During feeding night this week, Q was dangling from a high branch in his enclosure, and didn't seem to want to come down anytime soon even after I waited another hour. So I offered his f/t mouse, and he just grabbed and devoured it in midair while still hanging from the branch like a piece of laundry. Zero qualms, zero hesitation.