Boa constrictor
Boa constrictor
IUCN Status: least concern
Diet
Boas will eat almost anything they can catch, including birds, monkeys, and wild pigs. Their jaws can stretch wide to swallow large prey whole.
Breeding
Female boas incubate eggs inside their bodies and give birth up to 60 live babies. Boas are about 45cms long when they are born and grow continually throughout their 25 to 30-year lifespan. The largest boa constrictor ever found measured 5.4metres but on average they attain about 2.5metres! Male boas will travel tremendous distances to find a female when in breeding condition and often a breeeding ball of male boas sorround a female for the duration!
At The Zoo
We have bred our boas in the past but today we just have father and son on exhibit within the designed enclosures of the tropical house. They are fed seperately and both eat a regular weekly meal of rat.
Habitat
This a non-venomous snake of the central and southern Amazon rainforest. They are excellent swimmers but prefer arboreal areas around water unlike their counterpart the anaconda.
Fun Facts
Boa constrictors are one of the most beautifully maked snakes with a saddle pattern down their entire length. Their background colour can vary and usually matches the environment they are living in. Usually predominantly brown but they can be tan, cream, red or yellow.
Behaviour
A solitary, semi-arboreal and nocturnal hunter these snakes hide up during daylight in hollow trees or abandoned mammal tunnels. Boa constrictors are ambush predators waiting fortheir prey to come close by but if really hungry they will actively hunt.