When we had Sonja with us she did strike and connect once. Sonja, as Becky would tell you, is a very grumpy shedder - she basically stays in one position and does the best snake pout in the world. We used to have to nudge her to get her moving enough to actually slide out of her own shed. One time she had done a massive poop (and boy can that girl poop) while she was in shed and in a mood. In order to clean up the stinky mess my husband, Mike, removed Sonja while I cleaned up her enclosure.

Probably because she was in blue and not happy about it she gave Mike a "love tap".



Can you even see it? Obviously a strong 6 foot boa can do a LOT more damage than this. Sonja for whatever reason simply held back and did not clamp on Mike. She basically smacked him leaving these tiny marks and made her point that she wanted to be left alone. I've seen worse bite marks from my own kids or a pet cat LOL.

The only other time Sonja struck was again while out in Mike's arms and I was cleaning her enclosure. I was moving very quickly and my long ponytail swung over her nose as I moved past her and Mike. On my second pass I heard....SNAP!...then my husband holler "HEY!!". It was quite funny afterwards that the big silly snake made a grab for my long ponytail but at the time the hair went up all over my body at that sound.

The message of this is she's a big snake, a very powerful snake but generally a very even natured one despite the poor care she was once given. Is it smart to forget for a second the power she has in her muscular body? Nope. I watched that snake, smaller than she is now, easily haul pieces of heavy furniture with nothing more than her tail. We were never afraid of Sonja, but we always respected her power and that she is a snake and will always react as one.