Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have been working on a theory, that boas with higher mid dorsal scale counts turn out to be big boas.... the theory is a snake needs a certain girth to achieve a certain length..

Boas are born with all the scales they will ever get, so this info would be benificial in the long run when buying or breeding boas for certain size. You could do a scale count on one of the first few sheds on a baby and determine the size potential of the boa as an adult.

If you have any mid dorsal (body) scale counts on full grown adults please post them. Here is how to do one

Take a fresh shed skin, unroll it. Count the saddles head to vent and find the center saddle. I usualy cut out an oversized peice and cut down the middle of the belly scales so I can open it up. Find the center scale (middle of the back, and count down the row untill you get to the belly scale. A felt tiped marker will help you keep your place. Now you can multiply that number by 2 or count the other side.

Here are a few pics to help you get the idea of how it's done.

this females count is 88 she is a big thing at 9.5 feet. another female I had was 10 ft and had a count of 95.. and my biggest Suriname girl is 10.5 ft and has a count of 102

This seems to work to find for dwarf boas too, smaller counts equal smaller boas. I think folks looking for a managable sized boa may benifit from this info also.
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Ed Lilley, www.constrictorsnw.com

Thats real cool Ed. What is the count on that monster girl you have??
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The big girl is the 10.5ft one count is 102..
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Ed Lilley, www.constrictorsnw.com

Wow, thats a great theory, it sounds very sound to me, I will do a little research with my kids and see what they count out at.
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0.0.1 Pastel
0.1 Het Albino
1.0 DH-Sunglow

I have done a lot of scale counts and they all seem to pan out. I have done everything from sonorans, and all kinds of CA localitys to colombians and BCC..
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Ed Lilley, www.constrictorsnw.com

How do males compare to females? Since males are always smaller than females. I'm just wondering if it would be possible to sex neonates or yearlings by this method.
Thanks,
Chuck

Yes males have lower counts alot of the time, but i don't think it would be acurate for sexing them. Some males get bigger than others.
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Ed Lilley, www.constrictorsnw.com

That is an awesome theory! I am surely going to count my next sheds. One question, have you ever taken the sheds of similiar sized snakes and measured the size of the individual scale against the other? If the size of the mature scale is consistant, your theory should be true.

Thats part of what lead me to this idea, having a suriname and a colombian the same lenght in hand and realizing how much smaller the surinams scales are than a colombian. One full grown adult boa vs another full grown adult boa regardless of their length usualy have about the same sized scales, so the number of the scales makes a difference.

I think it's part of the reason BCC have markings that are so well defined on the edges, scales are smaller and more of them. Untill they actualy reach a fully adult lenght and then the patterns have more of an average look. A 6ft suriname may be breedable but really is a subadult.

Some dwarf Mexican boas only have mid dorsal counts of 55, (less than 5ft) my 10 year old hogs count from 70-75 7.5 ft, I have 6-7 year old colombians that are 8-9.5ft and have counts between 80-88 and my biggest suriname counts 102 and is 10ft, 6inches at 7 years old.
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Ed Lilley, www.constrictorsnw.com