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Boa is the common name for
about 50 species of snakes that make up the family Boidae. Closely
related to Pythons, the family includes the largest of all snakes,
the water-dwelling Anaconda of South America. The species best known
as "boa" is the boa constrictor, Constrictor constrictor. |
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Boas vary in color from brown
to gray with irregular saddles down the entire dorsal body. The
snakes are usually handsomely marked and often iridescent. The Boa
constrictor is a large snake growing to a length of up to twelve
feet. |
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Boas can be found
from Mexico to Southern America including the Central American Islands.
Their habitat includes Rainforests, savannas, and mangrove swamps. |
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Ranging from the high cloud
forests to the dry lands, Boa constrictors are only moderately arboreal.
Although they can easily climb trees in the understory and canopy
of the rainforests, and do so to search for food, they spend most
of their time on the forest floor where they're very well camouflaged.
Frequently found near human habitation (due to the quantity of rodents
found near human habitats), Boas are primarily nocturnal or crepuscular
(active at dawn and dusk). |
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In the extreme
northern and southern portions of their range, the Boas will often
go through several weeks of inactivity to get through the periods
of cold or drought. Those snakes living in the consistently high,
humid temperatures of the rainforest areas remain active throughout
the year. |
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Boas eat a variety
of prey in the wild - amphibians, lizards, other snakes, birds and
mammals. Boas are memnbers of the constrictors. They have large
curved teeth used to grasp their prey, while they wrap several coils
around it. The Boa constrictor tightens its coils, preventing the
animal from breathing. It then swallows its meal whole. |
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Notice the blue color of the
eye and the loosening of the skin around the mouth on this
Boa that is ready to shed its skin. |
The molting process,
is accomplished by the snake loosening the skin around the
lips, pushing this back, and crawling out of the old skin,
turning it inside out. Frequency of molting, or shedding,
varies according to the growth rate of the snake. |
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When threatened,
a boa will hiss and strike. All boas are nonpoisonous and kill by
constriction. However, a bite can be painful. |
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| In the wild. boas reach
sexual maturity at two or three years and breed during the
rainy season. Boas usually remain pregnant for 4 to 10 months
and then give birth to live young called neonates. They hold
approximately 20 to 60 eggs internally until they hatch and
then the hatchlings and the leathery shells are expelled from
the mother snake. Neonates weigh approximately 2 to three
ounces, are 14-22 inches in length, and will eat soon after
their first shed--about one week after birth. |
Boa neonate |
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Boas are among
the longest lived of all snake species. Reports of boas living in
excess of twenty years are not uncommon. There is a record of a
Boa constrictor at the Philadelphia Zoological Gardens which lived
for 40 years, 3 months and 14 days! |
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All pythons and
boas are considered as threatened by CITES (the Convention on the
International Trade in Endangered Species). Population numbers are
dropping due to habitat destruction, and although protected over
much of their range, many boa and python skins are sold to the leather
trade every year. |
