At the petstore I work at we currently have Ball Pyhons, one (supposed to be two, somebody escaped) Redtail Boas, and Two Common Boas. The Balls and the Red tail are great. Today I was in playing with all the snakes to get an idea of each snakes temperment, and the two common boas are a bit bitey. Granted they are not my pets, not going home with me, and I could just leave it to whoever buys them to fix this, but I'd much rather do what I can to calm them down a bit in-store before they get sent home with someone.

One of the biggest problems was that someone decided to feed them in their cage. Thats a big no no. In fact, where I work, that will usualy get you fired. One of them is signifigantly more bitey then the other. Not only will it lunge when you bring him out, but when you open the tank, change the water, or do anything, he'll come right at you.

My manager gave me the okay to seperate them into two different tanks out on the floor, which makes it easier to get them in and out, and hopefully it'll make it easier to reduce this behavior. So as for now, I just plan on giving them a little bit more attention than the rest of the snakes, and ensuring they are always fed in the back room. Other than that, is there any good methods a petstore would approve of for reducing this behavior?

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Beyond handling them, there isn't much that can be done. A single feeding in the enclosure did not spark the bitey behavior. If they are stressed or fearful, they will strike. They will also strike if they are hungry.

What size prey are they feeding these snakes? I know that Petco dramatically underfeeds the larger snakes by offering them small fuzzies when they should be eating adult mice. (The Ball Pythons and Boas.)

**NOTE**

When I worked at Petco, (I recently quit, as in yesterday.) I was feeding the correct size prey. lol I just wrote some store use feeders off each Friday that I took out of the freezer.)

Underfeeding like that will leave the snakes hungry. After a couple weeks of eating inappropriate sized prey, it wouldn't surprise me if the snakes became nippy toward anything that smelled/tasted edible.

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wow, Rich quit Pectco???

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My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

I did'nt even know you worked at Petco, It was an employee feeding this way for awile, not just once, it was'nt there first time doing it they were caught. I'll have to look into the size, but it seemed about right, these are the small snakes brought in at Petco's juvinilles, im sure if you worked at one you know about what size im talking about. I just started, and won't be in till monday to work again, granted I could see it being that, maybe the'll let me weigh them all and calculate how much food they need, not sure if tey even have a scale or not. anyone know the food ratio for Boas and pythons? Just to make sure its enough. Im wondering if spraying water or vinegar works here, like what people do with larger lizards, i don't really like doing that, but if there a pain now, its asking for trouble sending them home somewhere where there only going to get bigger.

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"Nobody can do Everything, but Everybody can do Something."

Yes, Rich quit yesterday after some "issues" arose with management and their decision making. (Or lack there of. lol)

If you work at Petco, the snakes are being underfed if the CAS isn't using his own judgement on prey size.

Petco recieves store use pinkies and fuzzies for snake feedings. How they expect a small fuzzy to feed a Ball Python or Boa Constrictor is beyond me.

I was feeding our Ball Pythons and Boas adult mice. Since they are not forwarded as "store use" items, the CAS would need to write them off on the Unsellables chart.

The size of prey a snake requires is not done by weight Ryan. It goes by the girth of the snake. Look at the thickest part of the snake and that should be the smallest prey size thickness for the feeder. Once the snake has eaten, you should see a slight lump where the prey resides within the snake.

Ball pythons, from the day they are born, are capable of taking adult mice. The ones sent to Petco, which are typically between 1-3 months old, SHOULD be eating adult mice without question. The boas, which sometimes do come in small, are typically capable of taking adult mice.

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Rich, that's horrible. I had no idea that Petco did that. What an awful thing to do to a snake.

Oh, and sorry things didn't work out for you, there.

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"Let's eat, Grandpa!"
"Let's eat Grandpa!"

Punctuation. It saves lives.

At the Time the store i'm working at does not have a CAS specifically for reptiles (for people who have not worked at petco thats a Companion Animal Suprivisor), the store manager, and one other employee do all the feeding, there both more than happy to have me feed the snakes from here on out, I've made a good impression so far, and doubt it will be hard to convince the MOD or Store manager into letting me feed them more if they need it, especially if it may curb the biting a bit.
I still was going to go ahead and seperate the two, Its another project to undertake there, I'm redoing the cages one rack at a time, next will be the Green Anoles, i can tell there stressed just by looking at them, then The Chinese Water Dragons, and After that probaly the Iguanas. Do you all still think it's worth seperating them?

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"Nobody can do Everything, but Everybody can do Something."

CAS actually means Companion Animal Specialist. That person is the "go to" person for whatever department they are the CAS of. If other associates or customers need specific care information or have questions that a normal associate can't answer, they are supposed to find the CAS for that department and they SHOULD be able to answer everything correctly. Unfortunantly, that isn't how it actually works in most cases. The CAS first needs to pass a test on the computer which you can take umpteen times until you do pass it, and then its just a matter of getting the title from the manager. There is no "real" way to know who is and isn't knowledgeable in the department they work or are the CAS of. (That was one of the issues I bumped heads with management on.)

It won't hurt them, so there is no reason not to. I can't say it will help with the biting though if that is what you were hoping to read. I think with daily handling and regular feedings of appropriately sized prey the biting will subside over time. They need socialization and a good meal. lol

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lol Petco is funny...I've had alot of funny times buying from there. Once I bought a tokay there. They didnt have any reptile specialists, so the poor woman *cashier* had to take it out. I felt so bad for her so I told her I'll take the gecko out for you! lol You know what im talking about if you worked with tokays.
Another time there were 3 adult crested geckos, 2 males and one female. The so called *expert* didn't even know how to sex them, and I saw lettuce and meal worms in the tank with the cresteds! I'm like, ooooooooooOok, but not all Petco's are bad.

Oh yeah, specialist, not suprevisor, i zoned out through a few of those computer presentations I think... Thanks for clearing that up. If seperating them helps even a tiny bit im willing to try it. not to mention it will help make getting them in and out much easier, having to put a snake back into a side access tank when theres another who would love to take a bite on your finger at the opening is not the easiest thing to do. As far as sexing goes thats pretty common, most reptiles at petcos are sold as unsexed, no difference in price, or whathave you, While I don't call myself an expert, compared to my coworkers I almost look that way, Im not trained nor experienced in sexing a reptile, nor do I particulary care to, Many of the reptiles that come through petstores are young enough I think it would cause more harm than help to sex them with probes anyway. infact, I think id rather assosiates in a petstore not sex them, You really have to know exactly what your doing, or risk injury.

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"Nobody can do Everything, but Everybody can do Something."