My love affair with Rosy Boas began when I held one for the first time, which was in Clint’s Reptile Room in Springville, Utah. This was during the early fall of 2023, toward the end of September. I was taking an out-of-town hiking & climbing trip with my partner to Zion National Park (where we hiked The Narrows, a water hike in the middle of a river!). Being casual fans of Clint’s Reptiles on YouTube, my partner had the idea that we could stay one day in Salt Lake City, and visit Clint’s Reptile Room in person, in nearby Springville.
Neither of us had ever kept reptiles before. We both kept animals as family pets growing up (I grew up mostly with small parrots), and have been delighted by Clint’s videos on YouTube for several years now.
Clint – who is just as warm, friendly, and enthusiastically passionate about reptiles in person as he is in his videos – gave us a marvelous introduction and experience to seeing and interacting with so many reptiles. Every well-cared for animal was the most personable and acclimated reptile either of us had ever seen. Before seeing them in person, I had never seen reptiles so healthy and active in real life before. It filled me with wholesome happiness to see how well Clint cares for his reptiles. It also made me realize how the reptiles I saw in pet stores as a child, with their near-motionless postures and dull gazes, was not the standard to hold reptile behavior to.
Among the many delightful reptiles we interacted with, the reptile who stood out to me the most was one of Clint’s smaller snakes. One of Clint’s volunteers was very friendly, and helped me with the animal I was holding. I first held this animal because one of the parents visiting was holding it, and came up to me asking if I would like to hold it. I didn’t even know which species of snake it was at first, because when I asked the parent, she gave a small chuckle and said she wasn’t sure – one of the excited kids had handed it to her before she could find out what it was!
This was the first time I held a snake. At least to my memory, I had never held one before. Truthfully, I hadn’t intended on definitively interacting with the snakes – or any specific reptile – during our visit. I was open to it (and before we visited, my partner kept joking how he was sure I would end up holding them), but I found handling reptiles intimidating. I was especially intimidated by the snakes (ironic to type this now). I visited mainly with the idea to happily watch all the beautiful, curious critters – safely from a distance, as when we watch Clint’s videos at home.
Even if I did somehow handle the snakes, I had decided beforehand that I would definitely not handle Clint’s False Water Cobra. Being rear-fanged venomous, I thought this would be too dangerous for me, It is a testament to how well Clint acclimates his reptiles, and how well his staff interacts with each animal, that by the end of the night, both I and my partner enjoyed handling a False Water Cobra! (Though a different snake than Shelby – more on that later!)
But I’m getting ahead of myself – back to my first time handling a snake. I held my hand out, and the friendly lady gently scooped the small snake into my hands. The experience was nothing like I anticipated. I never knew how pleasantly soft snake scales felt – the snake in my hands felt like living satin or silk. The cool temperature of its ectothermic body, against my endothermic, warm, human skin, added to this perception. The snake was a beautiful blue color, which was also very unusual to me – I hadn’t seen blue snakes before.
As the snake coiled in my palms, it wasted no time climbing along the arms of my jacket. Before I knew it, I felt those curiously cool scales gently coiling around my neck, underneath the collar of my jacket. Because this snake was so much smaller than almost all the snakes I saw being handled in the room – from Athena (who I can’t quite remember which snake species she was, but she was very docile – if you know, please comment!) (Edit: I learned Athena is a super dwarf reticulated python! Thanks to Milo in the comments for the info 🙂 ) to Shelby’s huge, female False Water Cobra companion (whose name escapes me at the moment – also tell me if you know!). Because of this, I thought the snake I was holding was some type of baby snake. I stood very still as it climbed on me, not wanting to risk hurting it.
This was when one of Clint’s volunteers approached me, and started chatting about the snake coiling around my neck. I asked what type of snake it was, which is when I first heard the name “Rosy Boa.” I had never heard about this snake before, and asked if this was a baby snake.
He gave a small chuckle, and said this was an adult snake. He was full-size, or nearly full-size. I was taken by surprise, because the adorable snake couldn’t have been longer than 3 feet. Before he said this, I was sure I was handling some type of young, baby snake. I didn’t know there were adult, pet snakes that stayed this small.
I held many beautiful and friendly snakes afterward in Clint’s Reptile Room (and lizards, including a Legless Lizard – one of the animals I never thought I’d have the opportunity to see in person, let alone handle!), but the Rosy Boa was the standout for me. Not only because of its delightful size – which made it perfect for handling (for me) – but also because of how soothing it was to hold. It’s difficult to describe how unique the scales of a Rosy Boa feel, compared to all the snakes I held that day – something about the sublime silkiness of the Rosy’s scales cooling my skin was immediately soothing.
With this memorable impression formed as we happily left Clint’s Reptile Room, it was perhaps not too much of a surprise that, several months later, we ended up bringing home a juvenile Rosy Boa of our very own.
PS: If anyone reading happens to be familiar with Clint’s Reptile Room, and knows the name of Clint’s female False Water Cobra is (or the name of his Rosy Boa!) – please let me know! I would love to add their name to this post.
