Say hello to Shovel Face

Say hi to our newest family member, Shovel Face! She is a Kenyan Sand Boa. She is awesome! I got her at A Place For Pets in Burien. Kevin gave us a screaming deal on her and I couldn't say no.

Her new digs are a 20 long critter tank with a nice locking sliding screen top. she has a good 3" deep sand floor and a big deep water dish. She is a Sand Boa so she buries herself in the sand. She is VERY friendly and loves to be handled.

It's pretty funny, the tank looks empty, but then you see the sand shift and then a head pops out of the sand..lol. She is a cool critter, for sure.











And PPKat is intrigued by her..lol

a sand boa?! lol..... would never thought of you as a snake guy.... Ive had Ball pythons, red tail boas, Cali banded kings, milk snake, and corn snakes.... I really had problems with them all cause they love to spray there poop when they are scared, and it stunk soooo bad! the only one that didnt was the ball python, as you all know they just roll in a ball.... Ive never tried sand boas, do they do the spray thing, or whats the defense mech?

He looks cool, and is a great size.... I usually see them at the pet shops really small.

lol im diggin wa box in the backround

Sand, she is fully grown, about 26". She is very docile. she doesn't spray. Easy to clean up after because she lives in sand so you just scoop the poop like a litter box. She eats small rats.

Super friendly snake, LOVES to be held and shows no aggression towards us at all.

Good looking snake and a great size for fully grown. A 20 long doesn't take up much space at all.

Thanks Betty! I have his tank sitting on the riser in front of the fire place for now. I don't use the fire place so she will probably stay there.

niice addition! it looks real docile, a pet snake wouldnt be cool to have if it would attack the owner.
i bet your cat is like: WTF is that?!

is That screen on really tight???? I lost my milk snake and it was in a 29gallon tall tank.... it managed to slither up the side and push up the lid and get out.... I found him after winter in my garage! then he died.... so make sure to get clamps for the lid!

Sand, this is a critter cage. It has a locking sliding lid, it doesn't sit on, it slides in and locks with 2 strong clips built in.

When Julia and I were setting it up I didn't know how to unlock it and was able to pull on the sliding lid and literally lift and shake the tank by the screen and it still wouldn't slide open..then I found the clips..lol

oK, after much reading, I have come to the conclusion that Shovel Face is a female. Unless it is the largest male ever recorded..lol. Males tend to be in the 15 to 17 inch range, Shovel Face is 26 inches long and eats hopper rats, this most assuredly confirms Shovel Face is a female. I have ordered a set of probes to sex Shovel Face, but I can pretty much say after reading and researching these snakes for 10+ hours, Shovel Face is a girl.

Now, I intend on getting a male..and breeding them. These snakes are relatively easy to breed and can be coaxed into breeding with simple temperature, humidity and tank decor changes.

Either way, male or female, still an absolutely awesome snake.

cool! breedin snakes is something I really wanted to do.... but my wife didnt agree..

let me know when you get some babes, maybe I will take one from ya.

right now, Shovel Face is in her feeding box, eating her first meal in her new home!

wheres the video on that one?!! Like discovery channel! lol... post it in this thread next time you video her eating.....

I will record it next time.

caught her just after feeding..as she was burrowing into the sand. You don't want to aggravate a snake after they eat..they could regurgitate due to stress and that's never good for them.

Shovel Face!

Shovel face will hopefully have a bf come saturday! (:

lars on wrote:Shovel face will hopefully have a bf come saturday! (:

She will! Then we can breed them and sell baby snakes..lol

Well, we did it..lol. We got a male KSB to match up with our female.

Say hello to MAXX UNGARR! lol (name inspiration from Max Unger of the Seahawks)









And yes, males are, in fact, that much smaller than females. He will meet her tomorrow when we introduce them to each other. KSB's are communal snakes and live together in harmony in the same enclosure. I'll get some pictures of the happy couple tomorrow.

Heres Max crawling around the 46 bowfront when he escaped his tank at 1am.



And heres part of Shovelfaice and Max

lars on wrote:

It looks like they are trying to spell something!

Where you going to try and breed them? Or you just wanted to have a couple in the tank? Really neat Snakes no doubt.

We are going to breed them..we hope..lol