Hi I've aquired my daughters common boa, she's about 2yr old and eating a mouse once a week and is strike feeding. Today as i put my hand in to get her out she struck and bit me ( which she ain't done before) When my daughter had her she would hiss every time she went to get her out ( my daughter is pregnant). She is normally very placid and handles well and I just wondered if anyone has an idea why she would have done this.

Also we were told today that the place we bought the boa and my corn snake from was a shady bloke so can you let me know how to sex them as my corn is supposed to be male. Big thanks

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I wish I was a glow worm,
A glow worm's never glum,
'Cos how can you be grumpy
When the sun shines out your bum!

At two years old and eating a mouse a week... how big is she? A mouse seems an awfully small meal for a two-year-old subadult common boa who I'd be inclined to think should be around four to five feet in length... in which case, she might just be hungry! It could just be she's been woken up on the wrong side of the hide, too...

As for sexing them, you're probably best taking them to a reliable shop to be probed or asking if there's anyone near you who knows how. Although you can guess the sex from tail shape it IS a guess and you have at least a 50% chance of being right... and a 50% chance of being wrong. I've bought no less than three royals as "these are females" who turned out to be no questions about it males.

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- Ssthisto






Lizards: 2.2 E. macularius, 1.2 H. caudicinctus, 1.0 R. ciliatus, 0.2.1 A. fragilis, 1.1 T. merianae, 1.0 V. niloticus ittibittius
Colubrids: 4.4.8 P. guttattus, 1.0 P. guttatus X E. climacophora, 1.0 P. o. rossalini, 1.0 P. o. lindheimeri, 0.1 E. anomala, 0.1 C. radiatus
1.2 Lamprophis spp, 1.0 L. g. nigritus, 0.1 L. g. californiae, 1.0 H. n. nasicus
Boids: 1.1 E. c. maurus, 0.1 E. conicus, 4.1.6 P. regius, 1.1 A. maculosa
We HAD a three-bedroom house... Current lodgers: 1.0 E. c. maurus, 1.1 E. c. loveridgei

Is she about to shed.
I had a boa that hissed and struck at hands, i discovered he had mites.
I got rid of them and he started to calm down.
I still had to get him out with gloves on, then took them off when i had hold of him.

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Thanks, we only give her 1 mouse as the bloke said that will slow down her growth and we asked him about possibly increasing feed when she got older and he said the mouse would suffice. Would you suggest increasing to small rats? if so how often? She is roughly four foot in lenghth

__________________
I wish I was a glow worm,
A glow worm's never glum,
'Cos how can you be grumpy
When the sun shines out your bum!

How can you tell if she has mites? She shed 2 weeks ago.

__________________
I wish I was a glow worm,
A glow worm's never glum,
'Cos how can you be grumpy
When the sun shines out your bum!

It is really really bad to underfeed a snake. I would be feeding something slightly wider than the snake once a week at that age. Underfeeding just makes them aggressive shortens their lifespan and causes no end of health problems!

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Needs to be on small/medium rats at that size.

Mites can be seen as little black dots on the snake (hard to tell with a boa) best place to look is on the inside walls of the viv, should easily be seen !!

Sexing should also be done by someone who know what they are doing !!!

What does she weigh?

Yes, you can stunt the growth of a normal common boa by underfeeding but you're not doing the animal any favours. There's a difference between feeding a normal, healthy diet (which is less than many people feed their animals) and underfeeding.

Have a look at this table of snake weights and ideal rodent prey weights.

If she's four feet in length and has been fed very, very conservatively indeed, I'd guess she's between one and three kilograms (depending on what her weight is like) - which means she should be given between 30 and 50 grams of rodent a week for strict maintenance, and double that for growth. That translates to one extra-large mouse or weaner rat (for 30+ grams of weight) minimum per week for her metabolic processes - and up to a medium rat weighing 100grams per week for growth.

__________________
- Ssthisto






Lizards: 2.2 E. macularius, 1.2 H. caudicinctus, 1.0 R. ciliatus, 0.2.1 A. fragilis, 1.1 T. merianae, 1.0 V. niloticus ittibittius
Colubrids: 4.4.8 P. guttattus, 1.0 P. guttatus X E. climacophora, 1.0 P. o. rossalini, 1.0 P. o. lindheimeri, 0.1 E. anomala, 0.1 C. radiatus
1.2 Lamprophis spp, 1.0 L. g. nigritus, 0.1 L. g. californiae, 1.0 H. n. nasicus
Boids: 1.1 E. c. maurus, 0.1 E. conicus, 4.1.6 P. regius, 1.1 A. maculosa
We HAD a three-bedroom house... Current lodgers: 1.0 E. c. maurus, 1.1 E. c. loveridgei

Oh no, sorry i meant he had ticks, lttle red flat things, he had them when i bought him but didnt realise at the time, i didnt even get a chance to handle him the bloke just took him out of the tank and stuck him in a pot.

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1.1.0 Chinese Mantids
1.4.0 Border Terriers
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Add me as a friend on msn

Many thaks to Doodles,M@rt1n, Jag loves beardies and Ssthisto for your advice and web link. We were only doing as told but i now know why the shop has been closed down and he was sent to prison, obviously all he wanted was to get rid of the reptiles and didn't care that the info he gave was very very wrong. Once again thankyou guys

__________________
I wish I was a glow worm,
A glow worm's never glum,
'Cos how can you be grumpy
When the sun shines out your bum!