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Feeding red tail boa

henry2009

henry2009

New member
Just wondering how many people feed their boa in there cage? I have been feeding her in her cage, but it seems like every time i go in there to hold her she is in strike mode thinking its dinner time. Once i get her out she is fine. Am I just going to have to deal with that, because i dont think it would be practical to put her in a separate tank when she is 8ft long.
 
I fed mine in his tank, but he was a nasty monster who would happily have bitten me anytime.
 
I feed mine in the tub they're in... I have 19 snakes at this point and all are fed on one night, so it's easier for me to just drop and move on. I have 2 I have to do some tricks with their food, but other than that the others eat fine.

None of my boas have confused handling time with feeding time yet. I'm not going to say it won't happen, but they seem to recognize the difference. I have one boa who will strike the tub on feeding day, but has never struck me, or the tub, on days that weren't feeding days.
 
henry2009 said:
Just wondering how many people feed their boa in there cage? I have been feeding her in her cage, but it seems like every time i go in there to hold her she is in strike mode thinking its dinner time. Once i get her out she is fine. Am I just going to have to deal with that, because i dont think it would be practical to put her in a separate tank when she is 8ft long.
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Is the food item the right size? Maybe it's not getting a full belly.
 
I feed all of my snakes in separate tubs, it's more work, but out of 16 snakes, only one is slightly pi$$y when I reach in her tank. The rest are perfect when I reach in their cages, so I would definitely recommend feeding in a separate cage. I'm also sure you could find a large enough tub to feed her in, it doesn't have to be another tank.
 
I've just got Baby my rscue boa to start eating. I have to take her out and put her in a tub with a F/T rat over night inorder to get her to eat. Once she becomes a better feeder and is full grown I'll probably just feed her in the enclosure.
 
Michael823 said:
I feed all of my snakes in separate tubs, it's more work, but out of 16 snakes, only one is slightly pi$$y when I reach in her tank. The rest are perfect when I reach in their cages, so I would definitely recommend feeding in a separate cage. I'm also sure you could find a large enough tub to feed her in, it doesn't have to be another tank.
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I think the main concern is being able to get the snake in and out of the tub when it reaches 8 feet and 10+ pounds... A bit different than a cornsnake, yes?

The danger is probably the same, either way. You risk the snake striking on a normal handling day when fed in the enclosure, just as you risk the snake still being in feeding mode when you remove her from the feeding bin.

Chances are, with my two, I'll be feeding in the enclosure. (Though that may change for my male if he stays on the super-small side.) If you do the same, invest in a hook to start "hook training" her... I'll be doing the same with my pair once I get front-opening, adult enclosures for them.
 
Ya im going to buying a hook soon im in the middle of making her a cage now. Thats what i do now, with a homemade one. I stretch her out with it and grab her from the back. As soon as i get her on my hand she is fine.
 
Our Boa is about 6ft long and a pretty hefty guy. Put it this way.....I can't lift him out of the tank by myself. Anyway,he is fed in his enclosure with tongs. He's never confused either of us with food(thus far) and seems to know when he is being fed and when he is just being handled. We don't have him hooked trained but as big as he's getting I'm sure we'll probably have to give that a shot,soon to help us lift him.
 
I feed my boas in tank. I've also got them hook trained. That's definitely something you might want to think about doing. One of the best things I've ever done for my big snakes.
 
Yeah,hook training is definetly on the to-do list for him! Not that he's aggressive at all! He's a true sweety with everybody but my daughter. We don't know what it is about her but he really doesn't like her so we can't handle him when she's in the same room. I just think the hook-training will help with lifting his big-butt out of his enclosure! God, is he heavy! And you never EVER touch him by his tail. He HATES having his tail touched. Don't know why on that one either. We've checked it over to make sure there are no abnormalities or wounds and there isn't. He just doesn't like his tail messed with. So I think hooking him will help with not accidently grabbing the tail because it seems like that's always the part of him that's most visible and likely to be touched!

I just can't imagine feeding him out of his enclosure with his size. You'd almost HAVE to pick him up to put him back in his viv and that's A LOT of jostling around not to mention Hades stays in feeding mode for a good hour after eating. I'M not going to try getting him back in his enclosure when he's trying to find more food and my hand looks nummy!
 
henry2009 said:
Ya im going to buying a hook soon im in the middle of making her a cage now. Thats what i do now, with a homemade one. I stretch her out with it and grab her from the back. As soon as i get her on my hand she is fine.
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Get one from http://thesnakeguru.com/
Brad makes some really great hooks and they are very reasonable and cheap. I have a set here from him. I want to get a push stick for my burm from him as well.

But hook training is the way to go. For all my larger boids, I reach in with the hook and set it on their heads to let them know I am coming in for them. And when I place my hand on their bodies they get the hint and get out of hunger mode pretty fast.
 
I dont know i tried to take her out today. With a home made hook. This must of really got her pissed. She keeped stricking the hook started hissing. Now she wont even let me take her out of the cage. I dont know what is going on with her. As soon as the top comes off she is in strike mode.
 
henry2009 said:
I dont know i tried to take her out today. With a home made hook. This must of really got her pissed. She keeped stricking the hook started hissing. Now she wont even let me take her out of the cage. I dont know what is going on with her. As soon as the top comes off she is in strike mode.
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She's scared of it, at the moment. Keep trying to work with her with the hook. Eventually, she'll calm down, and realize she's in no danger when the hook comes out.
 
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