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The Boa Constrictor Facts

The Boa Constrictor is a large snake found in rainforests from Belize to Argentina. It grows up to 12 feet long and eats small mammals, birds, and other animals that it suffocates by coiling its body around them. Female Boa Constrictors give live birth to litters of up to 50 young. There are two subfamilies - Boinae includes the Boa Constrictor and other tree boas and anacondas, while Erycinae contains smaller sand boas.

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188 views3 pages

The Boa Constrictor Facts

The Boa Constrictor is a large snake found in rainforests from Belize to Argentina. It grows up to 12 feet long and eats small mammals, birds, and other animals that it suffocates by coiling its body around them. Female Boa Constrictors give live birth to litters of up to 50 young. There are two subfamilies - Boinae includes the Boa Constrictor and other tree boas and anacondas, while Erycinae contains smaller sand boas.

Uploaded by

Mihai-Cosmin Tiru
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Boa Constrictor Snake

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BOA CONSTRICTOR
The Boa Constrictor (Boa constrictor) resides in the Rainforests of Belize,
Northern Mexico and Argentina in South America. There, it is known as
‘Wowla’ to the natives of Belize. Boa Constrictors can been seen throughout
the forest and sometimes in off shore caves. Boa Constrictors have two
subfamilies: ‘Boinae’ or true boas and ‘Erycinae’ or sand boas.
Pythons are sometimes classified as a subfamily of Boidae, but are frequently
listed under their own family, ‘Pythonidae’. Sand boas are also frequently
listed under their own family, ‘Erycidae’.

BOA CONSTRICTOR DESCRIPTION


Boa Constrictors vary in color from a pinkish brown to grey with distinguished
markings called ‘crossbands’ along their body. The Boa Constrictor is the
largest snake in the Belize Rianforest, reaching an amazing length of 12 feet
from head to tail tip. Boa Constrictors have large curved teeth which are used
to grasp prey in.
The longest ever recorded Boa Constrictor is said to have been 18 feet long,
thats over 3 times as long as you or me if you are about 5 feet tall.
Female Boa Constrictors are usually larger than males. Boa Constrictors
contain many subspecies based on locality. The Boa Constrictors from the
Amazon Basin are the most colorful, possessing bright cherry red tails. It used
to be said that boas were New World Snakes and pythons were Old World
Snakes, but, with boas found on Madagascar, Fiji and Solomon Islands, this is
not quite true. Instead, it is possible that boas have survived in evolutionarily
isolated areas.

BOA CONSTRICTOR DIET


Boa Constrictors easily populate areas where there is food such as rodents
and songbirds. Boa Constrictors will also feed on lizards, small mongoose,
bats, rats, squirrels, iguanas and other small mammals.

BOA CONSTRICTOR BEHAVIOUR


The Boa Constrictor has no venom unlike many other snakes, but when
threatened they will hiss and strike their opponent, their bite can be very, very
painful. Boa Constrictors use constriction to suffercate their prey. When the
prey has been suffocated the Boa eats it whole. It can take several weeks for
a Boa to digest its food completely.
Boa Constrictors use ‘heat sensitive pits’ on their heads to sense their
surroundings because they have bad eyesight.

BOA CONSTRICTOR REPRODUCTION


Boa Constrictors are seasonal breeders. The female of the species can give
birth to as many as 50 young at any one time. Unlike many other reptiles and
snakes, they give birth to live young instead of laying eggs.

BOA CONSTRICTOR SUB SPECIES


SUB FAMILY BOINAE
Snakes of the subfamily ‘Boinae’ are found in Madagascar, Papua, Pacific
Islands and the Neotropics. It has been suggested that genera within each of
these particular areas do not form monophyletic groups (groups consisting of
an inferred common ancestor and all its descendants).
The sub species are:
 Boa (one species: Boa constrictor, also called the Red-tailed Boa)
 Acrantophis (Dumeril’s Boa and Madagascar Ground Boa; sometimes
equated with Boa)
 Sanzinia (Madagascar Tree Boa; sometimes equated with Boa)
 Eunectes (Anacondas)
 Corallus (Tree boas)
 Epicrates (Rainbow boas)
 Candoia (Pacific boas)
SUB FAMILY ERYCINAE
Compared to true boas, erycines are quite small, with most members
remaining well under a metre in length. Fossil erycines have been found in
rock strata over 50 million years old and were once widespread in North
America. Now, only two species remain in North America, as well as the sand
boas in Africa, Asia and southeastern Europe.
At least three erycine species lay eggs: the Calabar Boa, (Calabaria
reinhardtii) (once classified as a python for this reason), the Arabian Sand
Boa, (Eryx jayakari) and the West African Sand Boa, (Eryx muelleri).
The sub species are:
 Eryx (Sand boas)
 Gongylophis (Rough-tailed Sand Boa)

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