Do your larger boas climb?

Eric From Cincinnati · #1 (**permalink**) 08-25-2002, 10:33 PM

I was just wondering if any of you out there have a larger boa that can get up higher in an enclosure. My little one seems very fond of climbing but I'm kinda wondering if this is just a common behavior of young 'uns. I'd like to maybe get a taller enclosure for her if she'll climb but at the same time I don't wanna do it if she's just gonna hang out down near the substrate when she gets older and bigger.
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hisba · #2 (**permalink**) 08-25-2002, 11:15 PM

Autumn, she's 13 yrs old, 7.5' and loves to climb. I don't have any branches in her
enclosure (nothing big enough to support her fits well in the tank) but I let her out for
climbing exercise around the house, setting up branches against walls or up to windows.
If I go outside and carry her she tried to get up trees or onto fences or up on the roof even!
lol Normally large boas spend their time on the ground since their bulk and size makes it
difficult for trees to support them sometimes, but I deff. think they still enjoy it.
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payeager · #3 (**permalink**) 08-27-2002, 02:27 PM

My boa 'Daisy' loves to climb. If I put her on the floor in front of the couches in the living room, instead of going under anything, she immediately starts looking for somewhere to go higher. She is 8'+ and climbs out of her tank...on to me (I'm 6'4'') and on to a 7 1/2' exercise stand that I have in the room next to her tank. I reinforced a 6' heavy duty curtain rod on the set of windows next to the stand and she likes to hang around between the stand and the windows (back and forth). She stays there until one of us decides that she has to go back (usually me), but sometimes she goes back in her tank by herself. Lots of fun watchin' her...
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herpbreakout · #4 (**permalink**) 06-29-2005, 06:30 AM

u know what..how come every snake ive had never wants to go back in there inclosure?i feel like im being cruel trying 2 almost stuffing them back in while there struggling to get back out.

garrett · #5 (**permalink**) 06-29-2005, 07:40 AM

^^because they do not know what you are putting them into, so they are afraid. My little boa NEVER climbs. I only have seen him once up on a branch because i just got a new cage, and he was a wee bit scared so he just chilled on the branch for a bit. Then again, it could be because i got him from a pet store and the petstore didnt have a branch in his cage...

lisagordier · #6 (**permalink**) 06-29-2005, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by herpbreakout

u know what..how come every snake ive had never wants to go back in there inclosure?i feel like im being cruel trying 2 almost stuffing them back in while there struggling to get back out.

Well, you've not "met" one that does. I take my girl out, who is just over 6' and loves to climb as well. But when it's time to go back into her cage she's such a sweety, in she goes. But that may have to do with the fact that I've got a "double-decker" type cage and the top half is a little taller than I am. So, she gets to "climb" back in.

chrispaine · #7 (**permalink**) 06-29-2005, 02:03 PM

my 3-4 foot 3 year old boa likes to climb but like the ground also, she will go back in the cage, but only when she has just chomped down a big rat, if she didn’t eat, she will just try to get back out, and when she wants out she just stares at the to of the cage till I open it and she will climb out.

hisba · #8 (**permalink**) 06-29-2005, 04:15 PM

Wow, an old post!

For a front opening cage (like a boaphile) I hold the snake lower than the cage that way they are climbing up into it. For a top opening cage it can be harder to get the boa to go down, I try to get the boa's head against the ground, either at the entrance of a hide or under a branch and then they will usually crawl down themselves (hard to explain without pics I guess). Basically I try to trick the boa into thinking it wants to go into the cage instead of it thinking I'm trying to force it to go somewhere.

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