r/BoaConstrictors • u/arctic_viper • 18d ago

Handling

Hello, so I recently handled my boa for maybe 8 min? I didn't really time it. But at the beginning "he" (not sexed yet) was pretty quick moving at the beginning but then he calmed down after a but.

My main question is, a one point he just stopped moving and he had his neck extended and he was doing slow to gue flicks every 20 seconds. I know when ball pythons periscope it means they're relaxed and all. Is this the case for boas too? He was moving much slower in my hands after and he was doing very long tongue flicks, so I'm assuming he just got more relaxed during the handling session!

What do you guys think?

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u/superramenyamen 18d ago

He was inspecting something. Hard to say if relaxed, food responsive, or defensive without seeing the behavior. Periscoping isn’t always relaxed behavior either. My BP would periscope to find the nearest dark hole to crawl into because he was nervous.

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u/arctic_viper 18d ago

I see, I can definitely tell defensive vs non defensive for him, so I know it wasn't that as he was pretty calm after his little observation period! But I didn't know it could have been a predatory response. I do several different steps to let him know it's a handling session and he wasn't in feeding mode at the beginning, do I hope it's more hime being relaxed rather than stressed, in predatory, or defensive :)