3 yr old Bci is upset and mad need help!??

[Thor1]

I've raised boa's for 10+yrs or so, and I'm stumped. My pastel DH snow, the past 4-5 days has torn her cage to shreds. She has been raised as a breeder, does not like to be handeled, but has never hissed, or tried bite me. She is in a 4'2'12"h cage. Temps are perfect. I have always used news paper for a cage liner. She was eating every 10 days a x-large rat. She just wants out of the cage, she pushes the news paper every where, slides the jumbo water dish all over, even under the ceramic heater. I have lowered the temps to slow her down, as, I do not want her to hurt her self with nose rubs ( she has never had one ). I tried to feed her, and she refused, this was her 1st meal to refuse in 3yrs. She usually attacks the f/t rats. She has opened her mouth and hissed, at me for the 1st time. I've checked for mites, none nadda. Could this be that she is ready to breed, and some sort of response? She is 6'+ and 15lbs, and very stout. Actually she is one of my smaller boa's, but has that adult weight/ stout look. Any Idea's would be great.

PS My wife says she is smelling the roof of the cage, where a near 2 yr old dh male sunglow is housed. Could she be upset, or wanting him?
I have always thought, and noticed that it was the male that wants out, durning breeding season. Do females ever do this? Any help or ideads would be appreciated!

[Therese]

Sounds like you have a very stressed out boa. Do you have enough hiding places for her?

[beastie]

do you have any new pets, like a cat, dog or child that you haven't had around the boa lately?? that could be what's stressing her out, or it could just be an environmental or age factor... maybe someone else has some better ideas...


bc

[Sojourn]

If you plan on breeding these boas together someday anyways, I would definitely stick him in there just to see. We had a female doing the same stuff, without the mean attitude and lack of appetite. We stuck a male in there. He went to town, and she settled down instantly. We just had babies fromthat girl earlier this month.

Good luck!

Jesse

[Thor1]

Just an update.   Her cage is almost like a hide box, and she rarely used them.  She prefered being outside, any hide box ready to grab her next meal. I bought some bricks today, but she still managed to move a 6-7lb water dish, with bricks around it.  But she has now made a nest using the water bowl, two bricks, and news papers. She has not moved from this spot yeah!   Nothing new in the house, we have no cats or dogs. I'm allergic to them :( .  No kids either, the cages are in a nice shaded quite corner.  Nothing has changed since I aquired them as babies.  

As far as breeding she is 3+ yrs old, 6',  15lbs , and strong.  The male DH sunglow will be  2 years old in a month. He is only 50" to 52"'s long and around 4.5 to 5.5lbs.  I worry he may not be strong enough?   What do you all think, should I put them together, and just watch closely?  Breeding boas is not new to me, but in the past I have always had older, and bigger males? Any advice would be great  ;D


PS... It seems the male might breeding his favorite tree, this winter he used his spurs on my wife's arm. LOL

[dberes]

He should be fine. It didn't hit me until I read this post, but I had a female honduran boa going crazy for a few months moving all over the place in her cage. I couldn't figure what was the problem either. Well, to make a long story short. I put a boy in with her and now she's calm as can be. They did go through courtship, but I don't think she took. I truly believe some snakes like cagemates, whether it be a boy or a girl.

Later,
Drenton

[Thor1]

The good news is she ate  ;D.  It took a long time for her to decide to eat but she ate. Maybe she had a stomach ach or something. She is all quite now, acting like a normal bci ie.. not moving after a big meal  ;D

I did notice a few scales, or pieces of skin in her water bowl. Plus she is a little behind in shedding. Maybe she is going thru her 1st bad shed? Anyway I'm not about to bother her after a big meal, by sticking my head in the the cage. Since she is so calm right now :-/