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sandi
Sub Adult
787 Posts |
 Posted - 09/05/2011 : 19:53:34
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I agree with scubadude, the more you handle and get to know your snake with confidence, the more you will relax and the snake will relax too. My boy was not treated well as a youngster, he is now living the life of luxury but has never been nippy, even when i first got him. The strength of them is something you just get used to, they dont use it against you, its just a snake thing! My hubby is also very strong, it doesnt mean I'm scared of him!!!! The first time i handled Boris i was shocked at how powerful he seemed, now i just dont consider it.
Dont be put off by first encounters, you need more positive experiences. A 6 ft boa can seem enormous the first time you meet but give it a week and you will think hes just a wee, cute snakey like all the rest! |
0.1.0 Royal Python - Florence
1.0.0 Boa Constrictor - Boris
1.1.0 Alaunts - Willow & Brochan |
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Kelfezond
The bearded one
United Kingdom
4803 Posts |
Posted - 09/05/2011 : 20:28:13
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I'm not really one to comment as I've not had a boa who bites nor a baby, mine was very well "trained" and even attended school :D (to teach young kids about snakes) so I guess I'm lucky.
However I did deliberately jump in at the deep end by buying the biggest strongest girl I could find to keep me on my toes, I know that any big snake is potentially lethal and I know I suck at being safe when handling anything from a dog to a snake so I thought if I go with something that scared me a little I'll keep the safety precautions up longer than raising a baby myself and suddenly during a hold one day going "Christ this girl is 10ft and breaking my neck" so basically safety is most important when you handle a boa as they're strong.
Boring "health and safety lecture over"! On the other hand I'd recommend a boa to anyone now having had one myself, I'm not sure about the smaller (or bigger) boas but the BCI I have is adorable, I'm fully prepared that if I one day do get bite, like you said it'd leave a bruise and it'd probably hurt, but it's the same kind of "fully prepared" as you are when you stroke a dog that's bigger than your shins, when you try to cut carrots like the chef on the TV just did, or when you jump into a mosh pit at a concert. Unless you're very very unlucky it's not going to be dangerous and if you follow the correct safety precautions there is almost 0% chance it'll be anything more than a bruise or an unlucky incident. I always have my girlfriend with me when I handle our boa even though she never shows signs of aggression (Funny story: See bottom of page) just to be safe, she is too weak to handle the boa alone as Pandora is too heavy but as long as your second person is strong enough to pull the tail or head away you should be able to get control of a big snake again :) (ps: most of the time a bite doesn't lead to constriction anyway it just ends in profanity being thrown at the serpent)
Funny story: I was holding Pandora a few days ago while we cleaned the viv out as she decided to ruin it, she was getting heavy and my arms were really starting to strain under her weight so I put her over my shoulders and had a walk around the upstairs (I don't let her touch anything in my bedroom as we have royals there too (yeah I know that's breaking a rule)) so eventually the weight was starting to ache my shoulders too and I thought screw it! I'll go into the study and sit on the computer chair with her, I let her crawl around my lap and I started facebooking and what not. I finished checking my emails and realized my left arm was slowly going numb, she had coiled around it and pinned it to the arm of my chair :P great I thought! I slowly started to unwrap her with my free right arm but the problem being that when I pulled a coil I had to let go to get my arm around the inside of the chair to start pulling the coil through the free space (confusing but if you have a chair (what kind of stupid question was that ? "If you have a chair") then you'll know what I mean). so I noticed the problem immediately that she was just going back to her original position before I had a chance to get my arm around into position... Damn ...I thought. Okay I'll just left her up and stand up so I've got a better position to unthread her through (it wasn't hurting and she wasn't constricting she was just in an annoying position and I couldn't squeeze my hand out without really pulling against her belly scales) I was about to stand before realizing as anyone who has a big boa will know the difference between royal and boa is the tail which boa's constantly wrap around anything it hits, so the tail was around the arm of my right chair, I was literally pinned in place by her :P
2 minutes later "Honey.... Honey can you help, I'm stuck in the chair" most embarrasing words ever shouted through my house, my girlfriend arrived and instead of "saving" me she just laughed at me before eventually unwrapping the tail for me and helping me escape, she still laughs whenever she thinks about stumbling across me pinned to my chair by Pandora :P
Naturally after time Pandora would have crawled off and there would have been no problem, just a funny story thought I'd share while on the subject of boa behavior! :D
Sorry for long post |
\v/ Click me for Kelfezond Reptiles Facebook Page! \v/
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deleted
7384 Posts |
Posted - 09/05/2011 : 21:34:17
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Oooo - boa-ndage???  |
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Kelfezond
The bearded one
United Kingdom
4803 Posts |
Posted - 10/05/2011 : 10:12:58
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| We need to get a filter system for you Bats so these terrible puns stop pouring from your fingertips ;) |
\v/ Click me for Kelfezond Reptiles Facebook Page! \v/
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scubadude
Yearling
United Kingdom
326 Posts |
Posted - 10/05/2011 : 10:27:05
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| yeh it's a pundemental issue |
1.0 Classic corn snake
2.3 Normal Royal
1.1 spider royal
1.0 Mojave Royal
1.0 Butter Royal
0.1 Pastel ph ghost Royal
1.0 Enchi Royal python
1.0 Pastel royal poss ???
1.1 Yellowbelly Royal
1.1 Cinnamon Royal
1.1 Fire Royal
1.1 100% het Clowns
1.1 Crawl cay boas
1.0 Hypo hog island boa
0.1 Hog island Boa
coming soon
0.1 Bumblebee
opinions are like ars*holes, everyone's got one, but you don't need to share them with the world. |
Edited by - scubadude on 10/05/2011 10:27:22 |
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deleted
7384 Posts |
Posted - 10/05/2011 : 11:58:02
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LOL - I can still visualise the scene in Kelf's house ....
Victoria - 'Kelf, are you busy?'
Kelf (struggling with Pandora) - 'Yeah, I'm a bit tied up at the minute ...'
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Kelfezond
The bearded one
United Kingdom
4803 Posts |
Posted - 10/05/2011 : 15:12:31
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| Nah Victoria was on her knee's cleaning out the viv lol (Best thing about having a snake too fat for my girlfriend to hold :D I'm trading my royals in for retics to save on cleaning time) |
\v/ Click me for Kelfezond Reptiles Facebook Page! \v/
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Laws
Fully Grown Royal
United Kingdom
1007 Posts |
Posted - 10/05/2011 : 15:33:54
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| Hehehe ! Well I'm now contemplating another royal instead of a boa. But my other half said no more snakes , so I have to choose this one wisely . She said why have a snake same as the others ? So she thinks boa . X |
www.facebook.com/Thehogbox
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Lotabob
Royal Python Moderator
United Kingdom
5008 Posts |
Posted - 10/05/2011 : 19:02:11
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| Buy one of those super new mini Boa nonconstrictor, tell her all about them, then just buy whatever Boa you want and by the time it gets big enough to blow your story out the water it will be too late and she will be fond of the little (big but shhh) Boa |
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deleted
7384 Posts |
Posted - 10/05/2011 : 20:08:50
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| LOL - yeah, I once heard a story about a woman who got a rottweiler cross Irish Wolfhound that way when she'd agreed only to buy a small dog. It was black and tan and shaggy so she told her partner it was a cross Yorkshire terrier ... |
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reptiledanny
Old Royal - I Post too much!
United Kingdom
2106 Posts |
Posted - 10/05/2011 : 20:44:38
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haha, i told my dad that maya would ony get to about 4ft, 5ft max, eve though she is more like 5ft, 6ft max, and that she would be about as thick as the royals, not as big as a grown mans thigh 
as long as she will fit in a 4ft viv then she will be fine lol, if not then i will just have to get a bigger viv for her  |
1.2 royal pythons 0.1 hog island boa 1.0 corn snake
sig made by stapey |
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Laws
Fully Grown Royal
United Kingdom
1007 Posts |
Posted - 10/05/2011 : 20:47:44
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| lol bob i love it ! trouble is shes too clever ! we saw a nice baby normal common boy in pet shop this afternoon and she coo'd and aaaah'd at him for ages . she def wants a crawl cay i think lol ! |
www.facebook.com/Thehogbox
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Kelfezond
The bearded one
United Kingdom
4803 Posts |
Posted - 11/05/2011 : 10:06:26
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| If you don't intend to breed i'd go for a boa too instead of a royal, if I wasn't breeding i'd just buy loads of different kinds to see them all and learn about them |
\v/ Click me for Kelfezond Reptiles Facebook Page! \v/
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oh boy ....or boa !
