Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently posted the pictures of the deep red peruvian rainbow boa. I would like to make sure he is peruvian and i was wondering what does it mean to count the scales?? Please help!

Brock,
. Scale counts are done on the heads and also on the body of the snake. Many of these counts are very time consuming. There are a whole lot of scales on a snake. Thankfully we can make easier midbody scale row counts to find what you want to know. The Peruvian Rainbow can be differentiated from the Brazilian Rainbow by counting the number of scale rows going around the body at the point where the number of rows is largest. This point is at or near the midbody point. You do these counts by picking a point at or near midbody and counting the scale rows around the body. It is a good idea to count again several inches forward and then again several inches aft of the original count to make sure you get the largest number of scale rows. On Brazilian Rainbows this number will be from 45 to 52. On Peruvian Rainbows it will be from 41 to 44. Give it a try and you will see that it is not too difficult. I have counted scale rows on over 100 BRBs and found all of them between 45 and 51. The only Peruvian Rainbows I have counted all had 41 or 42 scale rows.
Jeff

>>I recently posted the pictures of the deep red peruvian rainbow boa. I would like to make sure he is peruvian and i was wondering what does it mean to count the scales?? Please help!
>>

Just a suggestion- it's easier sometimes to do a scale count on a shed skin versus trying to hold a wiggling boa and losing your spot!
Lora

I have counted the scales on him and everytime i do i get around 41 and 42, so i think this is a good sign!!!! Any more ideas or comments are appreciated!

brock