Boa Story

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stanleo

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Saw this story on here about a snake escaping so I thought I would share some stories about the red-tailed boa that I had.
 
She was beautiful and her name was Sabrina. I got her when she was 7 feet long and by the time I had to give her to a reptile farm she got to 11 feet. I built her a cage but when I built it, the lid wasn't all that secure and she got out a lot. I didn't have any small animals like a cat or a small dog that she could kill and she didn't scare me one bit so I really never worried about her getting out of her cage. (In hindsight I should have) Well you haven't lived until you have woken up at 4am to an eight foot snake in your bed. That's the only time she has ever scared me.
 
Once I did have a roommate for a time while I had this snake. My roommate was not a lover of snakes but it didn't bother her to live with one. Except the morning she got out of bed and there was an eight foot snake in the middle of her room when she turned on the lights. I was awakened to the most horrifying scream I had ever heard! Seriously, I thought the house was on fire. She really got mad at me when I came running full speed into the room and she was stark naked. (I am a guy) She got even madder at me when I couldn't stop laughing about it.
 
And there was the time when I had my boyfriend at the time sleep over and he left the bedroom window open in a ground floor apartment. In the morning she was gone out the window. I looked in every bush for a square mile for 2 days and couldn't find her anywhere. It was a pretty well developed neighborhood and this was a 9 foot boa constrictor! I was seriously worried that she was going to be found by someone who knew nothing about snakes and was scared enough to kill her. She was as sweet tempered as any kitten you could ever have. Seriously friends of mine would let their small children play with her. After over a week I was totally upset and resigned to the fact that my Sabrina was gone forever. I came home from work one day and the computer monitor that sat in front of the living room window was knocked to the floor. I thought "what the heck happened to the computer?" I looked around for a minute and noticed a red tail sticking out from behind the entertainment center. Out of twenty ground floor apartments in my building, Sabrina had picked my apartment to come home to and in a different window than the one she crawled out of! She was absolutely filthy but wasn't injured. I had her happily for 4 more years. I cleaned her up and put her back in her cage. I knew in the wild naturalists have relocated boas miles away from their territories only to have them come back to the place from which they were captured but to pick THAT window out of the 40 that she could have chosen amazed me! And it was the other window a week after she escaped! That was when I fixed the lid on the cage and Sabrina's adventures were over.
 
Moral of these stories; Don't actually let your pets escape, fix the darn lid!
 
I miss her a lot!
bye2.gif

 
 
 

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That's crazy!
I never would have thought a snake could get that big without doing some serious damage to the owner!
 
How long did you have Sabrina for?
 
Six years. the only time she ever bit me was when I put my hand in front of a rat and she struck at that exact moment! Its amazing how fast they are when they eat. Didn't hurt that bad when she bit but about an hour later it felt like kicked shin.
 
Your Boa story brought back memories of one I used to own...'Sylvia'
 
Here's one of them, I still lived in the family home at the time and shared a bedroom with my brother. He never liked snakes but was happy to share a room with us as long as the viv was secure, but he always got nervous when I handled her and would rather I didn't if he was present. She was always very docile and never tried to snag anyone when handled. All was good until I went away on a two week holiday.
 
She had a meal the day before I left and I cleaned the viv so all would be fine until I returned. I asked my brother to change her water bowl every couple of days or if she pooped in it. He'd done this before for her when ever I was away from home. 
 
One evening he was sitting in front of the mirror wearing just a towel and preening after a shower, getting ready for a night out. He could see the viv in the mirror over his shoulder, it was empty ! He  just froze, eyes darting around the room and too terrified to move or turn around and with both feet up on the bed. When he got over initial shock he slowly turned around with eyes darting around the room looking to see where she could be... under the beds... on top of the wardrobe !... Then he spotted her, coiled up on top of the Hi Fi Turntable, no way would he handle her and had to think pretty quick. He went downstairs and found a broom handle and trembling and sweating buckets he enticed her to climb on to the end of it. She slowly obliged but was getting too close to the other end and his hands, (she would have been about 5ft long) at this point his towel fell off making him feel even more vulnerable !!! 
 
Eventually after what seemed like forever to him and her almost reaching his hands, there was enough of her coils on the handle for him to lift her up and unceremoniously dump her and the broom handle back into the Viv. The poor sod was left standing in a pool of sweat and after smoking several cigarettes to calm down had to shower again.
 
He never forgot to secure the lock on her viv after that !....On my return I p*****d myself when he told me.
 
Fantastic stories!

Stanleo, can you see your snake in the reptile farm? How much longer would he have grown? How old is/was she and what age would you expect them to get to?
Wow you were lucky with her return :)

>Pete< hilarious! XD
 
Shelster said:
Fantastic stories!

Stanleo, can you see your snake in the reptile farm? How much longer would he have grown? How old is/was she and what age would you expect them to get to?
Wow you were lucky with her return
smile.png


>Pete< hilarious! XD
Glad it gave you a laugh too Shelster. This happened about 30yrs ago !!! 
 
When my brothers kids were little they would often say "tell us about daddy and the snake again uncle Pete ".
 
We still laugh about it now if it comes up at family 'get togethers'.
 
Shelster said:
Fantastic stories!

Stanleo, can you see your snake in the reptile farm? How much longer would he have grown? How old is/was she and what age would you expect them to get to?
Wow you were lucky with her return
smile.png


>Pete< hilarious! XD
Shelster I haven't seen her in a long time. The reptile farm is quite a distance away. I did visit once about a year later and learned that they were trying to breed her. since this was 2 years ago would love to know if they succeeded! Females grow to 14 feet and males are a little smaller. I would estimate she was about 10 years old when I got her. Snakes are like fish in that they have indeterminate growth so they grow their entire lifespan. They live for about 20 years in captivity. When you get a snake, its a commitment. I had to give her away cause the apartment I was moving to was too small to keep her cage in and my husband isn't the biggest snake fan in the world.
Pete that is awesome! Was Sylvia a redtail boa as well?
 
stanleo said:
 
Fantastic stories!

Stanleo, can you see your snake in the reptile farm? How much longer would he have grown? How old is/was she and what age would you expect them to get to?
Wow you were lucky with her return
smile.png


>Pete< hilarious! XD
Shelster I haven't seen her in a long time. The reptile farm is quite a distance away. I did visit once about a year later and learned that they were trying to breed her. since this was 2 years ago would love to know if they succeeded! Females grow to 14 feet and males are a little smaller. I would estimate she was about 10 years old when I got her. Snakes are like fish in that they have indeterminate growth so they grow their entire lifespan. They live for about 20 years in captivity. When you get a snake, its a commitment. I had to give her away cause the apartment I was moving to was too small to keep her cage in and my husband isn't the biggest snake fan in the world.

Pete that is awesome! Was Sylvia a redtail boa as well?
 
Yes Stanleo, she was a Red tailed. I had her for about 4-5yrs until I left home and went to live in shared accommodation. I rehomed her to a family friend who owned a pet shop, and had a customer looking for a female Boa for a breeding project too !!! But I never did see her again.
 
There are a couple more tales of woe about Sylvia, like the time the breeding cage of rats I kept in the integral garage of my parents house escaped and got into the floorboards and everywhere.... and the time my much younger little sister who thought they were 'pets' walked into my room just at feeding time and... well I won't say anymore !!!!
 
Blondielovesfish said:
That's crazy!
I never would have thought a snake could get that big without doing some serious damage to the owner!
 
How long did you have Sabrina for?
My uncle has a 13 foot carpet who's a sweetheart. I'm happy with my four foot BP.
 
Brilliant stories guys!

Its amazing just how many owners have had escapes! This ought to no longer be a problem for me, Three is now in the Fort Knox of homes, literally. Bolted shut every 5cm so if any one bit failed its still secure.
 

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