I am starting a new page on my website. We receive lots of questions and emails on the handling of snakes. I am placing some of the more interesting questions online in the hopes it can help other readers.

Keep in mind I am in CANADA and would not know about the laws and regulations for the United States.

If you have a general question please send us an email.
If you have a husbandry question please click here .

I just found your site, and find it quite interesting and informative. I was hoping you wouldn't mind taking a little
time to give me some suggestions, if you can.

I have three snakes. Lately one of them has been giving me some problems, and I don't know what happened.

The snake is a male Argentinian Boa, about a year and a half to two years old. He's around 4 feet long right now. He is
housed in a glass cage, around 5 feet wide, and currently has newspaper bedding. This snake I got as a present, and since I got him he's had mites, and actually infested my Surinam Red Tail. In any case, I've treated both snakes for the mites, the Surinam doesn't have any mites right now, and the Argentinian still has some. He used to be very tame, until about a month and a half ago. I put a rat (I feed live, at the recommendation of a vet) in there, and the snake started hissing at the rat, and wouldn't eat. Since then, every time I open the cage and try to pick him up, he starts hissing. A couple of weeks ago I managed to get him close to the head and take him out to clean the cage and add water, but haven't been able to take him out since then. It hasn't eaten in a couple of months, which is surprising, because he was the most aggressive eater of my three snakes.

Any suggestions as to how I can bring him back to being tame?
Could it be that it's sick? I was planning on getting a snake
hook, so I can at least take him out the cage for cleaning, and
to handle him more.

I would really appreciate any suggestions you can make.

Thank you very much,

Gerry Salazar
Camarillo, California

"Nefertiti" - Surinam Red Tail Boa
"Aquiles" - Argentinian Boa Constrictor
"Neron" - Alamo Lake Rosy Boa

Hi Gerry

I need to know how long you have had this snake.

I have personally had this happen to me too. You acquire a snake that has not been looked after too well (judging from the mites), its not feeling that great, may be weak, dehydrated, etc. We interpret this as being tame, when in fact the snake is just not 100%. We demit it, feed it and house at the proper temperature, the snake feels better and reverts to its nasty aggressive self. Its not eating could be attributed to this time of the year its breeding season, I have several boas right now completely off food and more interested in mating.

Try to eliminate the mites, this could be irritating the snake and making the situation worse. I use NIX lice shampoo you can get it at the pharmacy. I mix the whole bottle with 4-5 gallons of water and soak the snake in this solution for several hours. Thoroughly clean the cage making sure there are no mites. This should do it.

Let me know how it goes,

Good luck
Henry

Our Royal python has had what we think was repiratory problem. She is now on her second set of antibiotics from the vet. There is no one in our area that deals with pythons so the local vet is the only source of info for sickly snakes. She is 9 months old and has not shed since we have had her (3 1/2 months) She gets a thick mucus fron the mouth and "bubbles" along with a sound that is more of a "gurbble" than a hiss. Her respiratory prob. started and seemed to go away with the use of 'BAYTRIL' every 24 hours. We gave her 3 weeks worth and she seemed to get better. She feed 3 or 4 times (once a week) and then seemed to get the same problem again. Today (Tuesday Mar.5) we resarted the medication in the hopes that it is the same problem again. There are some differences though: she has "extra skin" all over and does not seem as big as she should be. Possibly dehydration? The stuff that comes out of her mouth seems thicker and she does not have as much strength. Her cage is just as wee have seen pictures of and we try to keep it at 80 degrees F at one end and slightly more at the "hot" end of a 100 gallon tank with a substrate type heater against the under side of the glass. There is two rubbermaid containers with water that we keep fresh. A few fake plants and rocks that we had sterilized. My question is this... Knowing the above info. do you have any suggestions? ... Or do you know anyone in Canada or the USA that would know more. We are frusterated because no one seems to know much of anything about this type of problem with pythons. HELP HELP HELP PLEASE!!!

Hi Brett,
First off it sounds like you are not really keeping her warm enough and you have the classic 'Cage too big for the snake" syndrome. Most people make the mistake with baby ball pythons of keeping them in too large an enclosure and too large a hide box. I keep mine in a shoe box size Rubbermaid (these are plastic contains that are 8"x12"x4") and a tight fitting clay/plastic hide box. They should have a warm end of at LEAST 90 degrees and a cool end around 80 degrees. Try placing the Rubbermaid inside your aquarium/cage, so the ambient air temperature is warmer and use a heat pad (the kind you get at the pharmacy) and place it under one end of the Rubbermaid.

I personally use a drug here called: Excenel made by UPJOHN. Its new and works like a charm for snake respiratory infections. Its my personal experience that most respiratory infections are directly related to too cool temperatures for too long of a time. So, increase the temperature and see if you can find this drug.

When using Batril you have to really watch they have enough water, as they do get dehydrated, plus it is extremely hard on their kidneys and no matter what your Vet says you must inject the medicine in the first third of their body, otherwise its filtered out by the kidneys before it does any good.

Good luck
let me know how it goes.

Help my Spotted python will not eat!

Hello, I have a spotted python, about 3mos.old he won't eat, I have tried frozen pinkies and fresh ones,it has been about 3wks. since he ate, that's what the pet shop told me anyways,what should I do? Please reply a.s.a.p
Thanks,
Lynn

Its very hard to diagnose the problem without more information. What cage
do you have him in, what temperature? Do you have a hide box? Baby Spotted
pythons prefer very small cages, like a 'shoebox' size rubbermaid container.
Heat pad under one end set at 90 degrees, room temperature at the other. A
very small tight fitting hid box i.e.: a toilet paper roll flattened and
stapled at one end. One method that works really well with spotted pythons
(though it is a little gruesome) take a thawed out or dead pinkie take a
pair of scissors and split its head half way open and smear the contents of
the brainmatter around a bit, this works about 95% of the time.
Good luck

Thank you for maintaining a beautiful and informative web site on reptiles and reptile care.

After having good luck with a common boa, I fell in love with Dumeril's and acquired a female about six months ago at the All-Ohio Reptile Show in Columbus, Ohio. I was told the snake was captive bred by the seller and about
a year old, but she seemed very small for her age (about 12 inches). The snake is doing well: she is eating frozen and thawed fuzzy mice, and she is now about 15-16 inches. She is still very slender and petite, however. She has a very sweet disposition and enjoys being handled; she appears to be very healthy.

Here are my questions/concerns:
1. At this size, how often should she be fed? I have been feeding her about every 10-12 days, but sometimes she doesn't produce a stool in that time period (only urates), and I am concerned about over-feeding her. Should I
wait for her to "stool out" before feeding her her next meal? (I was always told to do that with my common boa.)
2. As she grows, how should I adjust the length of time between feedings?
3. If, later, I consider breeding these beautiful animals, are there any special problems/concerns I should be aware of? I have read that these boas are the most seriously inbred boids in private collections. Does it jeopardize the female's health to breed her?

Thank you for your time and assistance.
S. Heckman

Your dumerils will definitely be captive born as they are impossible to get from the wild. Dumerils are relatively slow growing compared to other snakes.

Feed you snake once a week, you can also increase the meal size to hopper mouse or fuzzy rat. Dumerils can get imprinted onto mice and its a good idea to get them onto Rats as early as possible. Don't wait for the snake to stool out until you feed again, its not necessary. You cant really over-feed a baby snake they will just turn it into growth and if they are not hungry they will refuse the meal.

Yes, they are very inbred. Generally it doesn't jeopardize the heath of the snake to breed it, if she is healthy going in.

Good luck!.

I what is a C.I.T.E.S permit? why do you need it?

CITES stands for the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species Act, you need Cites permits to export or import snakes in and out of a country. Check out their website: http://cites.org/

I have been looking into getting either a cape york spotted python or a childrens python. (I'm not sure whether you have the correct phase of spotted ubt hey that isn't the be all or end all) I was wondering since you keep both whether you have any opinions as to which is the better buy in terms of keeping, feeding, and breeding.

There is basically no difference between the two snakes (children's vs. Spotted) as far as husbandry goes. Its really just personal preference which one you end up buying. I dont have the cape york spotted python phase, i only have the regular spotted python. I find Childrens pythons very hardy and easy to breed. Keep them like you would a kingsnake, just a few degrees warmer thats all.

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