Columbian Red-Tail Boa

ORDER: Squamata

FAMILY: Boidae

GENUS: Boa

SPECIES: constrictor imperator

DESCRIPTION:

This boa constrictor is typically tan with approximately 20 dark dorsal saddles running the length of the body. The tail blotches are usually red, orange or brown with black edging. Laterally there are tan, brown or black blotches (circular or diamond-shaped) spaced along the saddles. Undersides are yellowish, spotted with black. Females average 7’ to 9’ in length, males 6’ to 8’. Maximum size is around 12’ and 50 pounds, but any length over 10’ is unusual.

GEOGRAPHICAL RANGE AND HABITAT:

Sonoran desert in Mexico through Central America and outlying islands, to far northern Peru. Boa constrictors may forage in the trees but they are mainly terrestrial, especially the larger ones, and live in hollow logs, mammal burrows, etc.

DIET:

Consists chiefly of rodents, birds, iguanas, and monkeys. Kills prey by coiling around and suffocating.

LIFE CYCLE/SOCIAL STRUCTURE:

Females reach sexual maturity at three years of age, males at 18 months. Gestation is 120-150 days. The female boa constrictor bears her young alive (ovoviviparous) and has been known to give birth to as many as 64 at one time, but 30 is the average. The young are about 24 inches long and resemble their parents in coloring. Boas may live 40 years in captivity.

SPECIAL ADAPTATIONS:

Has a keen sense of smell used to detect the presence of other animals. Boa constrictors lack temperature-sensing labial (lip) pits, but their facial nerve endings are extremely sensitive to termperature variation. As with other snakes, the boa’s loosely hinged jaws can be stretched far apart, enabling it to swallow animals with bodies much larger in diameter than the boa’s head.

INTERPRETIVE INFORMATION::

Although a wild boa constrictor will hiss and strike when provoked, it is easily tamed and maintained in zoos. In South America it is kept as a house pet to kill rats.

OUR ANIMALS:

2 Females.

STATUS IN THE WILD:

All species of boids are endangered or restricted. Hunting for leather and meat and the live animal trade has reduced their numbers, as has reduction of forest habitat. Captive breeding of boa constrictors is on the increase at levels which should ensure survival of the species. On Appendix II of CITES.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

1. Greene, Harry. Snakes:The Evolution of Mystery in Nature. 1997. University of California Press.
2. Mehrtens, John 1987. Living Snakes of the World, Sterling Publishing Co, NY.
3. Obst, Richter, and Jacob. 1988. Atlas of Reptiles and Amphibians for the Terrarium. T.H. F. Publications, Neptune, NJ.
4. Internet: animal-world.com/encyclo; New England Reptile Distributors.