Boa Constrictor
Boa Constrictors are snakes that can grow between 3 to 14 feet long and can weigh over 100 pounds. The boa constrictor comes from the family Boidae, which has five genera of common boas, three genera of sand boas, and eight genera of pythons.
Their bodies can have different patterns, such as oval, diamond, or bat-shaped, in colors of reddish-brown outlined in black, on a background of cream, pale tan or gray. Boas have short tails, which are used to grab things, such as branches.
Boas' sharp teeth help them to get a good grip on their prey, but unlike some snakes, they do not have fangs or venom. They are constrictors. The boa constrictor kills its prey by suffocating it. The boa will tighten its coils when a captured animal exhales, and then because the prey cannot open its lungs, it cannot inhale.
Boa constrictors have spurs near their cloaca (the opening that allows them to discharge urine and feces). These spurs are what is left of the legs their ancestors are believed to have had. On female boas the spurs are usually hard to see, and sometimes are barely there at all. Boa constrictors live in many different environments, up to elevations of 3,300 feet, and can adapt to a wide variety of habitats. They prey on many types of animals, such as lizards, birds, rodents, monkeys and wild pigs.
The female common boa keeps her eggs inside her until they hatch, so her young are born live. Most clutches have anywhere from 20-50 eggs. Females can keep the males sperm for quite a while before the fertilization actually happens, so over all gestation can take around 10 months. Also, the female will usually eat little or nothing while she is pregnant.
The boa constrictor living at the EcoTarium is the offspring of two large boas that no longer live at the museum. Boa constrictors can live about 20 years or more while in captivity.
This Animal of the Month was written by Naturalist Sarie Manoogian.