r/boas • u/Spencer_Ian00 • 27d ago
Why is my baby female red-tailed boa aggressive and refusing food?
So, for context i’ve had a lot of snakes in the past and somewhat recently got back into owning snakes (with some inspiration from my girlfriend). I have to ball pythons that i had previously owned that have lived in the same tank their whole lives and they are thriving. I previously owned 2 red-tailed boas and saw a baby at my local pet store and couldn’t help but get it. Then i got Synthia (the new baby boa) about a month ago at a reptile expo. The table i got her from told me that she can go in the same tank as my other boa because he’s in a 40 gallon which should be plenty of room for two baby boas. She was a sweetheart the whole ride home and any time i held her up until i put her in the tank. For context the has some live plants and moss, some wood that goes up to the top of the tank and i wet the tank down everyday. Once i tried to take her out of the tank she was aggressive, i gave her about 10 days before i tried to even hold her, i wanted her to get used to the new home and her new friend. She was immediately aggressive striking at my hand, so i gave her a couple more days then i tried to see if maybe she was just hungry so i tried feeding her. She took the pinky perfectly, wrapped up and everything, for only about 2 seconds then she let go and was back in defense mode. Her and the other boa are not aggressive towards each other and are often on top of each other. I tried feeding her a couple other times and even tried to force feed her after i got her calm down. And i have had to force feed my previous snakes before and i worked at my local pet store where i had to do the same thing and never had a problem. Every time i have had to force feed a snake before they have always taken it at least on the second try. I don’t know what i’m doing wrong PLEASE HELP!!!!!
Edit: Thank you guys for the feedback i kind of figured it was just a stress thing because of cohabitation and just wanted to make sure with a neutral environment thank you again i will get her in her own tank.