lisaxaphona
New Member
Hey guys.
So I am basically out of ideas for my snake. I will give you guys the whole story first. Please please help me out with this if you can, don't let it be a TLDR.
Back in the winter of 2008 (late November early December) my mother got me a baby red tail boa for my birthday. Everything was fine, I was very happy to have another snake (we've had boas, pythons, and corn snakes before). It didnt take long for me to see that whenever I would go to get her from her cage, she would act scared, and get into the striking position. This already would intimidate me, and I didnt like being nervous every time I tried to hold my baby snake (although I know now since she was a baby it should've gone away). After having her for a little over a month, she bit me (first time i'd been bitten by a snake) and it made me very scared of her, but I would still "be more aggressive than the animal" and go ahead and push through her striking and grab her (my dad's idea). Sometimes I would have her out and she would just randomly strike at me or somebody else, for instance she was on my bed and I was taking a picture of her, maybe holding the camera too close (no flash). Then she randomly struck at it. After a couple times of this happening, and about 7 bites from her, I decided I would sell her. So I sold her to one of my teacher's sons. Every time I saw her, she would tell me that the snake is doing very good and hasnt been striking or anything. I ended up moving from that town in the spring.
A year later, March 2009, I went back to the town to visit. I had to go to my old High School and say hi to my teachers. I came in the room of the one who bought the snake, and asked her about it. She told me how mean it was now, and that it is always striking, and has bit her son a couple times. I told them how sorry I was for selling him a 'faulty snake' :lol: just playing around of course. After leaving the town, I hadn't heard from my teacher or her son in a while.
Now, about a month ago, the son contacted me on facebook, and told me that he was trying to get rid of the snake. Talking to his mom on the phone, apparently he has been trying to take her out a lot and get her used to things, but she still is the same. The point of him giving up and deciding to get rid of her was when she struck at him and bit him right between the eyes. Keep in mind, she is almost two years old now, so she is almost 5 feet, and according to the son, 8 inches around. She is not that big, but big enough for her bites to be very painful now. So I told him I would look around my area and see about finding her a rescue center/zoo/home with experienced snake owners. Since the son is going to college in the Fall, he needed to get rid of her ASAP (his mother was NOT going to be taking care of such an aggressive snake).
So I told him I would take her until I found a legit place for her to go. So here I am looking around for info on aggressive snakes and how to handle them and if possible, lower if not all together exterminate her aggressive behavior.
So now I will tell you some things about her that could be making her this way
I cant help but to think I had played a part in her aggression. I hadn't really given her a lot of time to settle in her new environment before I was holding her. Although my mother had her as a pet before me (she wasn't living with me when I got the snake as a present) and she had told me recently that when she had the snake, it had struck at the glass a couple times.
When I had her, I would feed her one full grown mouse a week. So I dont think she was striking because of hunger.
Currently, she is being fed one rat every two weeks. This makes me wonder if he possibly wasnt feeding her often enough, so she would strike because she was hungry?
The time she seems MOST aggressive and prone to bite is getting her from her enclosure. When I brought her and aquarium into the house, after a little bit I lifted up the box she was under (I just HAD to have a glimpse of her, I hadnt seen her in almost two years) she already was all coiled up and looking like she would strike. I put the box down and left her alone. After about 6 hours of being alone, I decided I would try to hold her. I got on my jacket (for the long sleeves) and leather gloves. I was using a small rod to try to lift her out but she seemed to freaked so I just left her alone and decided to look around on the internet for tips on handling aggressive snakes. Then she decided she would try to climb out of the cage and explore (the lid was still off). After a couple minutes I decided I would grab her again, and since she was half in, half out of the aquarium, she wouldnt really be able to bite me. Once I did get ahold of her, she wasnt as scared/aggressive. She would stretch out and go through my hands and try to go up my arms (I kept her from going up my arms, wasnt ready to get bit in the face too) and she seemed fine. If I made too fast a move or I would walk to sit with her, she would kind of coil up, but she didnt seem like she would bite. All in all it was a pretty good handeling session, she was only out for about five minutes. But a reason why she didnt bite my hand could be because my leather gloves were pretty thick, and she probably didnt sense that they were actually hands she was on.
Basically, what I am really wondering is if there is any hope at all to tame her a little bit. Since she is older and bigger, I wasnt sure if you could. Kind of like trying to teach an old dog new tricks. My teachers son would tell me how he would take her out all the time though to try to get her used to being held, and he was very bummed when giving her to me that he basically failed at 'taming' her.
So if there is any ways to make her at least a little less aggressive, I would like to know!
Does this seem like an aggressive snake, or just a scared one?
Thank you for any input,
-Lisa
So I am basically out of ideas for my snake. I will give you guys the whole story first. Please please help me out with this if you can, don't let it be a TLDR.
Back in the winter of 2008 (late November early December) my mother got me a baby red tail boa for my birthday. Everything was fine, I was very happy to have another snake (we've had boas, pythons, and corn snakes before). It didnt take long for me to see that whenever I would go to get her from her cage, she would act scared, and get into the striking position. This already would intimidate me, and I didnt like being nervous every time I tried to hold my baby snake (although I know now since she was a baby it should've gone away). After having her for a little over a month, she bit me (first time i'd been bitten by a snake) and it made me very scared of her, but I would still "be more aggressive than the animal" and go ahead and push through her striking and grab her (my dad's idea). Sometimes I would have her out and she would just randomly strike at me or somebody else, for instance she was on my bed and I was taking a picture of her, maybe holding the camera too close (no flash). Then she randomly struck at it. After a couple times of this happening, and about 7 bites from her, I decided I would sell her. So I sold her to one of my teacher's sons. Every time I saw her, she would tell me that the snake is doing very good and hasnt been striking or anything. I ended up moving from that town in the spring.
A year later, March 2009, I went back to the town to visit. I had to go to my old High School and say hi to my teachers. I came in the room of the one who bought the snake, and asked her about it. She told me how mean it was now, and that it is always striking, and has bit her son a couple times. I told them how sorry I was for selling him a 'faulty snake' :lol: just playing around of course. After leaving the town, I hadn't heard from my teacher or her son in a while.
Now, about a month ago, the son contacted me on facebook, and told me that he was trying to get rid of the snake. Talking to his mom on the phone, apparently he has been trying to take her out a lot and get her used to things, but she still is the same. The point of him giving up and deciding to get rid of her was when she struck at him and bit him right between the eyes. Keep in mind, she is almost two years old now, so she is almost 5 feet, and according to the son, 8 inches around. She is not that big, but big enough for her bites to be very painful now. So I told him I would look around my area and see about finding her a rescue center/zoo/home with experienced snake owners. Since the son is going to college in the Fall, he needed to get rid of her ASAP (his mother was NOT going to be taking care of such an aggressive snake).
So I told him I would take her until I found a legit place for her to go. So here I am looking around for info on aggressive snakes and how to handle them and if possible, lower if not all together exterminate her aggressive behavior.
So now I will tell you some things about her that could be making her this way
I cant help but to think I had played a part in her aggression. I hadn't really given her a lot of time to settle in her new environment before I was holding her. Although my mother had her as a pet before me (she wasn't living with me when I got the snake as a present) and she had told me recently that when she had the snake, it had struck at the glass a couple times.
When I had her, I would feed her one full grown mouse a week. So I dont think she was striking because of hunger.
Currently, she is being fed one rat every two weeks. This makes me wonder if he possibly wasnt feeding her often enough, so she would strike because she was hungry?
The time she seems MOST aggressive and prone to bite is getting her from her enclosure. When I brought her and aquarium into the house, after a little bit I lifted up the box she was under (I just HAD to have a glimpse of her, I hadnt seen her in almost two years) she already was all coiled up and looking like she would strike. I put the box down and left her alone. After about 6 hours of being alone, I decided I would try to hold her. I got on my jacket (for the long sleeves) and leather gloves. I was using a small rod to try to lift her out but she seemed to freaked so I just left her alone and decided to look around on the internet for tips on handling aggressive snakes. Then she decided she would try to climb out of the cage and explore (the lid was still off). After a couple minutes I decided I would grab her again, and since she was half in, half out of the aquarium, she wouldnt really be able to bite me. Once I did get ahold of her, she wasnt as scared/aggressive. She would stretch out and go through my hands and try to go up my arms (I kept her from going up my arms, wasnt ready to get bit in the face too) and she seemed fine. If I made too fast a move or I would walk to sit with her, she would kind of coil up, but she didnt seem like she would bite. All in all it was a pretty good handeling session, she was only out for about five minutes. But a reason why she didnt bite my hand could be because my leather gloves were pretty thick, and she probably didnt sense that they were actually hands she was on.
Basically, what I am really wondering is if there is any hope at all to tame her a little bit. Since she is older and bigger, I wasnt sure if you could. Kind of like trying to teach an old dog new tricks. My teachers son would tell me how he would take her out all the time though to try to get her used to being held, and he was very bummed when giving her to me that he basically failed at 'taming' her.
So if there is any ways to make her at least a little less aggressive, I would like to know!
Does this seem like an aggressive snake, or just a scared one?
Thank you for any input,
-Lisa
