Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Here they are. David

some more and Mom and Dad. Thanks David

that about says it

np

after doing a goggle search I found that they have been reclassified with the rubber Boas and the Rosy Boas. Huh.
Congrats Dave. Keep up te good work.

Jeff

Wikipedia: Some herpetologists place the Calabar in the genus Charina with the Rubber Boa (Charina bottae), and the Rosy Boa (Charina trivirgata). Others place it in its own genus, but still within the subfamily Erycinae along with Charina, Eryx, and Gongylophis. Yet, others would place the Calabar in its own subfamily Calabarinae, where it would be the only member.

Calabaria's complex classification history is the result of several factors. This snake could be classified in the subfamily Pythonidae (it is often still called the African Burrowing "Python" because like pythons, this species is oviparous, or lays eggs. However, it was originally described as a member of the subfamily Erycinae due to its structural similarities to the Erycine boas. The problem lies in the fact that many of the physiological traits it shares with other members of the subfamily Erycinae are plesiomorphic (or primitive) traits.

Due to the confusion, the Calabar Python is known by many names: the Calabar Boa, Calabar Burrowing Python, West African Burrowing Python, West African Ground Python and simply Calabria.

As for weather it Is a Boa or a Python It is a boa and if you wont take my word for it I will post a copy of a E-Male sent to my when I first got them . David {Chris Harrison) David, You should try posting this question on the Rosy, Rubber, and Sandboas forumas there are a number of people there who keep Calabaria. My experience is that they will eat if you give them a secluded cage with asubstrate they can burrow into and adequate humidity and warmth. They havea very small gape and prefer to eat crawler mice or even pinky rats or mice.They will not readily take adult or even hopper mice without some training. I have found that if you can get a calabaria to smell a fuzzy rat/mouse(they don't stick their tongues out very far), then press it up against theside of their body, they will often have a reflexive coiling response andthen swallow the rodent. Again, there are several people on the forum that have more experience withthem than I do. And for the record, they are definitely not pythons. That name stems fromthe old taxonomy where boas were believed to be live-bearers and pythons tolay eggs. Now we know that several boas, including Calabaria, lay eggs, sothat egg laying is not a good differentiating character anymore. WhetherCalabaria are in the boid subfamily Erycinae or not is still not resolved. Chris

Congrats Dave! Good luck and please post pics when they hatch out.

Thanks for believing in me . David

Congrats on the eggs. They are very different looking eggs.

Regardless, if they are pythons, which they are, or boas, why would it belong in the ball python forum?