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Brazilian Rainbow Boa - New Owner

1K views 17 replies 6 participants last post by  MrPhish 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hi people
This is my fist ever post on a forum .but i spend a lot of time reading them .ive been keeping reptiles for a few years but i dont consider myself an expert but im always open to new advice,and ive recently purchased a 5 month old brazilian rainbow boa and hes very strike happy at the moment so i have been looking for any tameing down tips i can pick up and i found a good video on you tube that helped me a lot ,it may help you also , its titled "snake behavior 201 handling aggressive snakes" by hlh reptiles ,check it out see wat you think
 
#3 ·
Pretty sure most BRBs have a tendency to be a tad snappy when young , mine soon grew out of it though ..... I used to handle mine during the day when they weren't as alert / active and just enjoyed them in the evening as they get their night-time colouration ...
 
#4 ·
Yeh ive read lots on how the young brb's are snappy .i was trying to reply to a previous post about someone who had a baby royal they were scared of picking up ,and l found a very helpful video on youtube which really helped me with my brb ,but i seem to have posted in the wrong place ha ha what an amature ..
 
#5 ·
My 3 year old PRB is still very strike happy....I just accepted that that is the way he is and I don't handle him very often at all. Any movement faster than a snails pace induces a strike.

That saying they are known to be nippy when young and most do calm down.....so I am told :)
 
#10 ·
I used to get my baby BRB's calmed down within the first couple of months. The trick is not to induce a strike, move slow, and try to get your hand under the snake. I kept babies in 9ltr tubs and slid my hand down the end furthest away from the snake. Very often they get their head up and into strike mode, this helps as you can now slide your hand palm up along the floor of the rub. Once you get your hand under, without touching, raise your finger slowly under the snakes lower jaw. Now its head is resting on your finger move your other fingers under the body further along. Keep your thumb tucked in otherwise the snake strikes at it.
 
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#11 ·
Ok thanks for the tips ,mines in a small viv and he only stays in his hide at the moment so i can lift out the hide so hes easyer to pick up ,ive handled him twice now without him striking at me although he looks like he is going to but if i just keep still and wait he seems to calm an lose interest and starts moving around then i can start handling him then ,which is perty much how you suggested so im gonna keep up with that ,thanks again for the input

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#15 ·
I'll share my BRB experience despite it being a little late to the thread. Mine is just over a year old and had similar behaviours as most in here.....

Handling in the evening is not really on the cards you can see how alert he is, no hands go in at that point. Handle during the day and he is a complete softy, likes to move around up and down the arm but easy to guide around. I have found though that he HATES being moved into temporary quarters which cleaning occurs, when I take him out of there he has gone for me twice and is so flighty. As far as handling I concur with the jumping comments, I pretty much use a hook for all my snakes now to get them out of the enclosure, they seem a lot less stressed than a hand coming into get them and they 99% of the time happy to be handled as soon as they are out of the enclosure,

Will only eat if he can strike and constrict, leave something in there and not interested at all. Gorgeous snake though.
 
#17 ·
Hi mrphish
Thanks for sharing your experience i will see how i go with mine as he is still young as with yours mine seems to be ok when hes out and settled down but hisses a bit when i pick him up ..ha ha
Hopefully he will get used to it at the moment i try to handle him 2-3 times a week only for a few minutes but i always wait 48hrs after he is fed .how often do you handle yours ?.

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#18 ·
When I first got him and let him settle in for a month or so, I would handle maybe twice a week for the about a month or so to see what sort of understanding we had then now its once a week/fortnight depending.

I personally am not one to handle them for the sake of it, if they seem to enjoy exploring out the cage thats fine I will handle more frequently however my BRB is more of a tolerant handle, doesn't mind but I get about 7-8 minutes before he gets the wriggle on and wants to go back.
 
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