Boa\'s and children

Lisa · #1 (**permalink**) 04-27-2002, 02:01 AM

I know my boa shouldn't get any bigger than about 6 ft, but I am aware that they can be dangerous...like people who keep large dogs etc and want to be totaly prepaired with safety and security matters well before he reaches his full size.

At the moment all I've done is fit a small locking device on the sliding doors of his enclosure, but I'm planning on making sure his next tank is secured to the walls, is made very strong and I'm thinking of fitting a combination lock aswell. Ofcourse I have strictly instructed my kids that they must never get the snake's out...EVER....without me or my fella present, but you can't rely on kids, and people who say "my kid would never do that if I instructed him not to" are kidding themselves...anyway, ...........I know there are loads of people out there who do have kids and pet snakes and I just want to know any security tips you use .
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jimmyg · #2 (**permalink**) 04-27-2002, 02:47 AM

there are plenty of people on this site with much more experience and insight than i have but i'm gonna give my opinion anyway
i think locks are a good idea especially around small children, if your children are real young maybe even lock the room where you keep your snake
my son is 9 and i've chosen to let him interact with my boas, but only under my supervision
educate your kids - KNOWLEDGE IS POWER - read about your pets, study your pets, find out what they like and what they don't like and share all that information with your kids
let them know these animals demand respect and deserve it
let them know how dangerous snakes CAN BE IF NOT HANDLED PROPERLY
interact with your pets and keep them docile and tame
it may not be quite the same but we have a 120 lb. rottweiler that demands the same kind of respect. everyone said i was crazy getting a dog that big with a 4 year old child, 5 years later that dog and my son are inseperable and everyone that was afraid of our dog now loves her
it's probably gonna take a little more work to get my family to love my snakes but i'm gonna try
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GizmO · #3 (**permalink**) 04-27-2002, 02:47 AM

Hey Lisa,
I have snakes and a 6 yr old daughter. We have a lock on the big cage and some of the tanks are in our bedroom so she can't get to them wiht out us knowing it. We do have one she could probably get into if she wanted but we have just recently put a new snake in it but luckily she is good when it comes to things like this a doesn't mess with them. i know there is a chance and that is why we have the lock on the tanks with the bigger snakes in it. I would say teach them right and put the tanks out of reach and locks. the locks we have use keys and the keys and out of her reach. Hope I helped you some!

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ss26969 · #4 (**permalink**) 04-27-2002, 03:18 AM

hi i have a 5 yr old son and we have 3 snakes . i have them on racks in the front room. we keep the bigger ones up top and his on the bottom ( ball python ) i told him before we get her he can't open the tanks unless im there. and the bigger ones have locks on the tanks. once they know that there not toys they should be fine. but do tell them they can bite. so if you have them out ask them to help ya this way they feel involved with your hobby. and theres a less chance of them sneaking around trying to get into the tanks when your not around . this works for us hope this helps ya out [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]
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Shadrach · #5 (**permalink**) 04-27-2002, 03:34 AM

Jimmy said it right "Knowledge Is Power". I don't see any problem's with kid's being around snake's!!! The main thing is teach respect and proper hygene after handling them!!! I have no problem letting a child hold one of my snake's, I'd be more scared of my dog biting them than the snake!!! That's one thing my child will be raised to do is respect all living thing's and not to fear them!!
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XzyluM · #6 (**permalink**) 04-27-2002, 06:59 AM

Well, I think these guys have cleared everything I had it mind up. But you could also use a spare room if you had it. That way you could lock the cages and/or the door so there could be no access from others. Then your children could interact with the snakes while you are attending them and checking on them. This would be a good way to get your children started with reptiles.
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Constrictor_BO · #7 (**permalink**) 04-28-2002, 03:51 AM

The only question I have is What kind of boa do you have? You said it shouldnt get any bigger than 6ft. If so that will be less to worry about with your kid. Just teach your kid to respect it and not to ever hold it when you are not around and everything should be good. And keeping the cage locked good enough to prevent it from escaping is a key factor also. Like the others said..Knowledge is power.
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Constrictor_BO · #8 (**permalink**) 04-28-2002, 03:57 AM

Lisa... I just ran across a post you made when you got a new RedTail Boa. Is this the same snake this post is about?? If so the snake will get a tad bigger than 6ft. More like 8 to 9ft.

This does not change any of the responses you got though.
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#9 (**permalink**) 04-28-2002, 04:33 AM

We have 7 kids here and over 50 reptiles.. hehe The kids range in age from 4 1/2 through 14. The reptiles are from tiny up to 15' burms here. Best thing you can do is EDUCATE your kids in the area of reptiles. From day 1 with it in your home ! I have reptiles all over the house here in every room but the bathroom. ALL cages that house larger snakes have locks on them with keys. No children are allowed in the room when a 9' or more is being handled for safety. Once the animal is outside and we have secured the animal in the handling dept..depending on which one it is then they are allowed to come near it. Another thing that has helped us with the reptiles and the kids growing to respect them and know how to handle them is to let each child have the responsibility of one of the reptiles...on their own so to say. They take care of all aspects of the animals care [ we over see them but they are the ones responsible for it all]. Usually this is something like a ball python, childrens python, SMALL redtail boa , kingsnake, or any of the baby snakes we have here. it could also be one of the lizards also that are not aggressive at all. Let the child decide what they would like to take care of and help out with also. The more input they have, the less likely they are to violate any of the rules related to the herps you keep.
Mind just went blank and there was more i was gonna say... oh well....I'll add to it when i rememebr is all lol
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Constrictor_BO · #10 (**permalink**) 04-28-2002, 04:40 AM

Oh no.. dont tell me Lori ran outta words..... Whats the world coming to???LOL
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Dr.Oviparous · #11 (**permalink**) 04-29-2002, 03:18 AM

along with educating your kids, Lori can also tell you about educating everybody that tries to take away her herps too! [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_lol.gif[/img] -Juggalo

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#12 (**permalink**) 04-29-2002, 03:21 AM

LMAO Barry..I got sidetracked..was multi-tasking haha.
Hehe Jug.. And I'm going at it again for another herp keeper in MAss currently also...arghh. I'll post on that too in a few in just talk.

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Lisa · #13 (**permalink**) 04-29-2002, 03:11 PM

I think I'm doing everything the best I can really. I've got 3 children and the 2 eldest (the boys) think the snakes belong to them (the boa for the eldest and the corn for the youngest). Really its my little girl that I'm most worried about because she's only 2, so she's too young to know the danger really.....but I'm keeping a very close eye on her. I'm teaching the boys all about the snakes and how to look after them etc, I let them feed them while they are babies if they really want to but usualy they don't mind me feeding them because I told them that its better to feed them at night really when its dark and quiet after the kids have gone to bed and they seem fine with that.
Constrictor bo, I don't know why you think my snake is going to reach 9 feet long, all the info I've got plus advise I've had has lead me to believe that 6 to 7 ft is the norm for a male common rti and the females more likely reach 9 to 10ft. I don't mind at the end of the day, I'll look after him, I've got the room, the time and I don't mind sharing my freezer with frozen rodents, or even frozen rabbits if it ever comes to that. If he does grow bigger than 7 ft though.........I'll be really p***** off with the guy who I bought him from for saying that they never get bigger than 7ft when I had my children with me when I bought him and everything.
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#14 (**permalink**) 04-29-2002, 04:11 PM

Lisa ..unless you have something like a hogg isle boa..Then your male snake's potential adult growth is going to nOT be the 6' range. Here's some of my male RTB/BCI/BOA..however you want to term their name...

This is the norm for males btw.
<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font class="pn-sub">Quote:</font><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT class="pn-sub"><BLOCKQUOTE> I'll be really p***** off with the guy who I bought him from for saying that they never get bigger than 7ft when I had my children with me when I bought him and everything.
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Go give him a piece of your mind....

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mirabelasunshine · #15 (**permalink**) 04-29-2002, 04:16 PM

Lisa -- it is neither guaranteed that your male bci will reach 9', nor guaranteed that he will not. I, for instance, have an 8 year old male who is only a short 6'. Lori, on the other, just lost a 45 pound, 9' male. That's big for a male, but it definitely happens. Feeding regimen will have some bearing on how big your snake gets, as will genetics, but the guy who promised you that yours will never surpass 7' sounds a little bit irresponsible. Put it this way -- I have a bunch of babies I'll soon be selling; they are children of smallish parents (the male mentioned above, and a 7 1/2' female). I don't actually expect them to get huge, especially not the males -- but I think it is my duty to inform prospective buyers that the potential is there.

Re safety -- I think as long as the cages are sturdy & have key locks and you educate & supervise the kids, you should be fine.

Good luck --

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#16 (**permalink**) 04-29-2002, 04:32 PM

Mirabella..have you had that 6' male it's whole life ? Do you know if it was fed properly and had no health problems ? The shortest male I have ever had in the bci has been like a 7'er at full grown, most of them were 8'ers, and on occasion the 9'ers also.
As far as the difference in any potential problems with a 7'er and a 9'er.. they are the same. The only difference you are going to really find is the snake's size in length and weight between them. All other acpects such as handling, safety, feeding etc will be the same.
AND YES, with a full grown BOA , whether it reaches 7, 8 or 9' and you have kids in the home...There should be key locks on the cages.

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Lisa · #17 (**permalink**) 05-01-2002, 12:59 PM

Right, so there is potential for my boa to grow to 10 ft......fair enough, wait till I tell my fella, I think we'll have a few words to say to that pet shop owner. The snake we bought was labeled `common red tailed boa x...........the smallest of the giants` , We were looking at them plus the childrens pythons which were not babies. The pet shop owner said that the pythons were more or less fully grown...I don't know how long they were but by looking at them I could see they were not too big, but I had read some stuff about snakes and thought that the python would more likely be problem eater, plus more likely to have a tame pet if reared from a baby than to buy a fully grown animal which you know nothing about the temperament of etc.

Any way at the end of the day I would prefer a snake thats tame and will grow to about 6 to 7 ft but if it gets bigger than that , say 10 ft does it make them much more difficult to handle......I'm trying to imagine what its like trying to get a big snake in and out of its tank. Whats the biggest problems with bigger boa's, do they get awkward and try to not let you put them back in their tanks or are they usualy just happy to go back in.

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#18 (**permalink**) 05-02-2002, 04:19 AM

Right Lisa..There is a great potential that your snake could grow to 10'...there is a slight chance that it would stay smaller in the 7' range also..just hope it does hehe.
So much for pet store labeling..UGH.

The Children's Pythons actually grow to the 5' range basically. They are very docile snakes to keep, I had one till recently here which we obtained as an adult even. Keep in mind when you go to get your next snake hehe[ You will..it's an addiction lmao [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_eek.gif[/img] [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img] ] that you should be able to tell the disposition of the snake when checking it out in person. If for some reason you are not able to check it out in person, just ask the seller, most people will not lie to you in regards to such. There are also places such as the BOI to check out/up on a person who regularly sells/trades in the reptile world also. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_eek.gif[/img]
The reference in regards to a Python and non-feeding is from the Royal Python aka Ball python. This is the Python that most likely exhibits non-feeding behavior and such takes place especially amongst the wc's. Which is why we always say to go with cb all the time..among other reasons also.
Now as for the handling area of a large boid like a 10' boa. It's not a major thing over dealing with a 7-8'er. The thing is that you should never handle the snake alone. You will need at least 2 people to get the snake out of it's enclosure and also to get it back into it's enclosure too. A lot will depend on the individual snake's personality when you are delaing with it. I have 4'ers that are more of a PITA to get back into their cages than my 8-10'ers even lol. Most of my big uns do not give me a hard time goping back into their cages at all. Sometimes we have a hard time getting them out cuz they don't want to come out and go to the opposite side of the cage than we're working from, BUT you do learn how to deal with them as time goes on. IF you wind up with a HUGE one...there are times when you want to go left..and you will be going right cuz that's the way they want to go..lmao.
Remeber that as your snake grows, you also will grow with it and learn as time goes on and the snake matures in all avenues of your keeping. Always make sure that you handle your snake often to insure that it remains "tame". If you don't that is where you would run into a problem most likely. 8-10'ers also make for large advancements in the back breaking dept too. So once your snake is that large..if it does get that large, you wouldn't be dealing with handling it for as long as a period of time which you would now when it is still small.
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Constrictor_BO · #19 (**permalink**) 05-02-2002, 04:21 AM

The bigger boas dont really like going back into their enclosures(just like the small ones) but I get my 8'er back in easier than my 3'er. But there again the cage is bigger, more room for the snake to go in.
I dont have that much problems with mine but who knows what that will be like in a couple more years. Only time will tell. Oh yeah, the 8'er is around 45 lbs right now. As far as the size, I like holding the 8'er better than the smaller one. I let her crawl around for awhile and then put her over my shoulder swhere she'll stay for a decent amount of time. My smaller ones wont stay like she will.
You have to concider also... The bigger they get, the heavier they will be.
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txgirl266 · #20 (**permalink**) 05-02-2002, 04:31 AM

hey lisa I have a 7ft red tail and she is still growing, I have her in a enclosure with 4 pad locks plus all my herps are in a seperate room with lock on that door as well. I have a 14 month old and she would play with the reptiles all day long if I let her.... SHe loves my red tegu and automatically thinks that every one she sees is ours! You just have to be on your toes when it comes to the little ones and educate the older ones! My 7ft usually goes into her enclosure with no problems and she is very tame! Course my husband doesn't want me to handle her unless there is another adult in the house for safety. It makes sense cuz if she wanted to act up she could...
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