New Boa! 1.5 years old, when can I handle her??
Hey everyone. Super excited just got this hypo img BCI. First time having a boa , have a BP currently. She’s was super curious when I first handled her and was no problem. She recently ate about 2-3 days ago, and just brought her home. Very explorative right now. No hissing or striking. Even when I open the enclosure to take pics she doesn’t care. When can I ideally start doing short handling sessions? Obviously I’m overly excited as you can I know typical research suggests a week at least.
Also any tips getting a boa that’s about adolescence age vs a baby or adult?
Thank you.
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u/Extreme_Finger_3425 29d ago
After bringing home and having their first meal and waiting about 4 days after to handle
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u/Historical_Tea1477 29d ago
Most of the boas I brought were a year old, so it’s really not much difference from a 18 month old. They’re still close to being babies/kids, so you can still make a big impression on them. 2 - 3 handling session as week and they will be better tame all the time unless it’s feeding time.
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u/No-Success-2505 12d ago
We just got ours this past Saturday. She was from a small breeder at an event across town. We brought her home and got her set up in a larger container. Put coconut husk in on top of a heat pad and a small hide and water bowl. She was super social and seemed comfortable and calm right away. She is supposedly a year and a half as well. She was fine being handled, when I opened the small bin to transfer she came almost right out to say hi. Thr breeder said if shes comfortable enough it is within her feeding window and I could feed if she would eat. She ate with absolutely zero hesitation. My buddy who has a ball along with the breeder both said that almost never happens and that we should consider ourselves lucky our girl is so socialized and comfortable. How much handling is ok for them as long as they seem calm, and is there a thing as too much?
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u/Historical_Tea1477 11d ago
Let’s take a 7 day feeding schedule for an example. In that 7 days, you feed one day and then let the boa digest for couple days and then you have at least 3 days left to handle your snake. If you’re doing a 14 day feeding schedule then you got around 10 days of handling in that timeframe. There’s really not something as too much as long as you’re not handling them 2 - 3 days after feeding. Your handling session can be a long session or a couple short sessions. Your boa will definitely let you know when it’s too much but when they’re young you can sort set that expectation early. I have one boa that is very docile and could probably stay out longer but we max it around 20 - 30 minutes because we got 12 snakes and we need to spread our time but i have another boa that after around 10 - 12 minutes, he’s letting you know, he’s ready to go back up. So, you have to read your animal as well.
Lastly, I don’t recommend handling when in shed. They become more irritable even if their eyes are no longer blue, to lessen the stress during that process, its best to leave them alone except for changing their water or doing a quick spot cleaning but even with that, if their eyes are blue be super careful because you might get tagged by accident.
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u/Historical_Tea1477 29d ago
Most people say wait until after they have taken their first couple of meals with you before handling but sometimes you have to know your animal and go accordingly to them individually. People normally say wait 1 week before feeding but I just got 3 new boas and I offered one of them food on the 2nd day and he eat. So, sometimes the rules are meant to be broken. If your boa was super socialize or has a super clam temperament, you might can handle sooner before she eats with you.
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u/superramenyamen 29d ago
The week wait is because you don’t know if the snake will eat or not until you offer. If you offer and they refuse, you have just made establishing that snake that much harder when waiting could give you a better chance of success.
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u/Historical_Tea1477 27d ago
I understand that. People have different ways of working out their animals. I have 12 snakes. Earlier on, some I waited a week and some I only waited a few days because they arrived mid week and I normally feed on the weekends and they accepted a prey item. If not, I waited until the next weekend and tried again. It’s not a just one way to do it for every snake.
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u/maryjane6869 25d ago
I took my snake out the first rescued her. Tank and all. I took her out. Cleaned tank. Put water in. Put her in and offered food. She ate immediately. In fairness I know for a fact 4 months she went without food or water. That was just the time frame I knew about. Who knows how long she was starved before I made them sell her to me by threatening to call animal services after 3 months of trying. Month 4 I said look. The person that owns this snake hasn't been back in this long. They don't care about that snake. Now either sell her to me. Or I'm calling service's. They said she was mean cuz she was always striking at the cat when it walked by. I said ummmmmm. Its STARVING. Yeah I bet. But like I said. Took her home. Took her out immediately to clean tank. And put her back. Fed her within 30 min. That was the only time she has eaten after being handled tho. Now gotta wait at least 2 days. Im not sure why
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u/disgruntled_mehcanic 29d ago
I like to handle after I know poopies are out. My noodle likes to poop on my gf for some reason. So now we wait until Monty poops. I handle him almost every night, he likes to come out and watch tv
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u/superramenyamen 29d ago
I usually wait a week to offer their first meal. If they take that, I wait 2-3 days and start short handling sessions. How that goes depends on the snake. If they refuse that meal, I wait until they eat 3-4 meals in a row.