[Behavior] male vs female-----

[shelleyr123]

I have 5 boas, 2 males and 3 females...All of them are kept under similar conditions and all are handled about the same amount--roughly 2-3times a week...The three females all appear tense and edgy about handling...they'll tolerate it for only a short time before making strenuous attempts to get away...The two males on the other hand both seem perfectly relaxed and comfortable in hand...they can easily spend 20-30 minutes outside their enclosures with no apparent stress...is this just coincidence, or do you guys notice a difference between males and females? Just wondering....Thanks...

[Zaphod42]

Re: male vs female-----

I have six female boas and three males. All of my boas are pretty easy to handle especially compared to my blood python who wants to rip my face off and my jungle carpet python who will happily bite me if he realizes I'm not a warm moving tree. That said, my females deal with being handled a lot better than two of my males who get stressed out pretty easily. I don't think it has anything to do with their sex, some boas just tolerate being handled more than others.


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[Noelle7206]

Re: male vs female-----

I'd say coincidence for sure. No matter what kind of snakes, their gender has nothing to do with how mellow (or receptive to handling) the snake is. Just individual personality...perhaps genetic influence & also early
life experiences may have a hand, but not gender.

[Morgans Boas]

Re: male vs female-----

Total coincidence . If you had 20 Boas , then it could easily sway the other way.

[Elizabeth94]

Re: male vs female-----

I do not have much experience with boas as I just recently my first this year. SHE is very easy to handle and is the sweetest little thing. However, getting her out of the enclosure scares her a little bit (or, at least she is on edge as she follows my hand almost like she is lining up her shot at me lol). Still, she has never bitten me or even tried. I think she is still so young and small that she will grow out of the defensive behavior.

Like I said earlier, I don't have much experience with boas. But, I have found my female is very easy to handle once she is out of her enclosure. I have been working with her and I can actually rub her head for mins at a time without any head shy behavior.

[Noelle7206]

Re: male vs female-----

.... I think she is still so young and small that she will grow out of the defensive behavior.....But, I have found my female is very easy to handle once she is out of her enclosure....

Yes, that's all it is. Snakes are most nervous about our approach (because visually we seem potentially threatening to them) but once in hand, they remember our touch & scent and learn to relax. Don't take
it "personal"...it takes some time for them to learn about & remember us...vision isn't the way they do that.

[Jrock23]

Re: male vs female-----

Not all males are like that. In my experience boas are very mellow, maybe not tree boas LOL. Just have to be patient and let any snake get use to you after that you build a bond with them and you will be amazed at how there so relaxed and feel safe. Yes! Most females are easy to handle until they have there babies, then is defense mode button on. LOL oh that's pythons.

[shelleyr123]

Re: male vs female-----

Thanks for the input everyone! Just wish my girls would learn to relax since they get so much bigger than the boys--one of them is over 7' long, and trying to handle 7' of nervous snake is not fun...the other one is still tiny, but doesn't welcome me either...On the other hand, there's no absolute NEED to handle them except for cage cleaning, so maybe will just let them be and turn to the males when I want to admire my snakes Thanks again for sharing your experience...very helpful...

[Pandorasdad]

Re: male vs female-----

It's all individual personalities. My CA male is hyper aggressive. He will attempt to bite me every time, all the time. The rest of my boas are cool. My biggest female, Pandora will chill with me for a whole baseball game on TV.

[bebowebb]

Re: male vs female-----

Continue what you are doing and give it some more time.

There is a decent chance that your females will calm down and tolerate handling eventually; however, there is always a chance that they will not adapt and that they will remain edgy/grumpy when outside their enclosures.

[Greenwood]

Re: male vs female-----

Both of my female BCI are puppy dog tame and seem to like just riding around on me. Just got to watch out if I'm next to something as they seem to like to explore as well and try to climb stuff if given the chance lol.

[BWBROWN]

Re: male vs female-----

My young Hog Island used to hiss at me every time I took her out - never struck, just put up this hissy fit! It didn't deter me and she always enjoyed being out, going back into her enclosure was a different story, it's amazing the twists and turns a snake can do to not go where you want it to . She has calmed down quite a bit and very rarely does she make a fuss now. I think that we have trained each other!

[Morgans Boas]

Re: male vs female-----

I have adult females that will never , ever be able to be handleld without complete restraint . they will bite at any given chance . They will only get worse as they have babies. I have had several females like this . Unfortunately, this is a reality -- not to everyone, but to some. Some can not ever be trusted.

[shelleyr123]

Re: male vs female-----

That's interesting...I wonder if it's because females have to defend the babies in the wild so some of them have a tendency to be more irritable/defensive in general? I realize there are lots of sweet easy going females out there (I just wasn't luck enough to get any of them) but I still think there might be a slight edge to the girls that's missing in the boys...

[Zaphod42]

Re: male vs female-----

That's interesting...I wonder if it's because females have to defend the babies in the wild so some of them have a tendency to be more irritable/defensive in general? I realize there are lots of sweet easy going females out there (I just wasn't luck enough to get any of them) but I still think there might be a slight edge to the girls that's missing in the boys...

Most of my males are more nervous than aggressive, although one of them is incredibly moody and swings back and forth between between being scared and being a cocky little punk who wants to constantly nip me. A friend of mine has a collection of 40+ snakes most of them are blood pythons and various types of boas. Almost all of her females are very easy to handle but a lot of her males go for your face as soon as you open the cage, lol. We're constantly going back and forth over who has the nastiest snake, I still think my Blood Python wins but she's got some real contenders and they're all boys : )