Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm looking into buying a boa constrictor, but i would like to know the differences in species from different locales! The Big thing im curious about is the size differences! Also any other info would be great! Thanks!

Cuttingedgeherp and Riobravoreptiles both have decent write ups on several locales of boa.(add your own DOTcom at the end)
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TnK

OK. I'll try to answer this one. From largest to smallest.

FIRST GROUP LARGEST
Suriname
Venezuelan
Guyanan
Peruvian

SECOND GROUP MEDIUM
Colombian
Argentine
Long-tailed - Peruvian
Short-tailed - Bolivian
Mexican
Panamanian
Hog Island
Honduran

THIRD GROUP SMALLEST
Costa Rican
Nicaraguan
El Salvador
Corn Island
Sonoran
Crawl Cay
Caulker's Cay

While it's impossible to get precise ranking. I'm just guessing off the top of my head. Opinions vary. I'm no authority.
Most boas on the market are captive bred hybrids and variant morphs that may grow larger than their wild counterpart, so it's all up for debate. I'd say most boas on the market fit somewhere in the middle group, as Colombian Bci is usually the base cornerstone lineage. In that, overall length would be about seven or eight feet total.

I did not list everything. Just what came to mind.

I suggest you read Russo's book "The Complete Boa Constrictor".
He gives the latest and most comprehensive treatise on the subject.

jsc

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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

Personally I would view the third group like this,
Not in any particular order,just listed per size order of three group references.

THIRD GROUP SMALLEST
Costa Rican
Nicaraguan
El Salvador
Corn Island
Sonoran
Crawl Cay
Caulker's Cay
Mexican
Panamanian
Hog Island
Honduran

>>OK. I'll try to answer this one. From largest to smallest.
>>
>>FIRST GROUP LARGEST
>>Suriname
>>Venezuelan
>>Guyanan
>>Peruvian
>>
>>SECOND GROUP MEDIUM
>>Colombian
>>Argentine
>>Long-tailed - Peruvian
>>Short-tailed - Bolivian

>>THIRD GROUP SMALLEST
>>Costa Rican
>>Nicaraguan
>>El Salvador
>>Corn Island
>>Sonoran
>>Crawl Cay
>>Caulker's Cay
>>
>>While it's impossible to get precise ranking. I'm just guessing off the top of my head. Opinions vary. I'm no authority.
>>Most boas on the market are captive bred hybrids and variant morphs that may grow larger than their wild counterpart, so it's all up for debate. I'd say most boas on the market fit somewhere in the middle group, as Colombian Bci is usually the base cornerstone lineage. In that, overall length would be about seven or eight feet total.
>>
>>I did not list everything. Just what came to mind.
>>
>>I suggest you read Russo's book "The Complete Boa Constrictor".
>>He gives the latest and most comprehensive treatise on the subject.
>>
>>jsc
>>
>>
>>
>>-----
>>"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
>>John Crickmer
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TnK

Yes, I agree. The thing is, I read about all these 7 foot + Hog Isle Boas on here. In the case of the true wild form, of course they are small. There's just so many of those Hoggs out there as you put it. Captive creations.
I'm pretty sure there are boas in Mexico over 7 feet long, not insular or isolated sky island forms, just big normal mainland boas.
jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

>>Yes, I agree. The thing is, I read about all these 7 foot Hog Isle Boas on here. In the case of the true wild form, of course they are small. >>>

Any Boa, even the small ones, CAN obtain larger sizes if fed items that are a bit large for the Boas size. It's a genetic response to the size of the available prey. A prime "WILD" example would be the Anaconda. The ones that live in the same range of the Capibara obtain enormous sizes, while the rest of them outside the range get large, but nothing like the ones who feed on the larger prey.

Try giving one a good head stretch some time, and see if it don't go into a shed cycle almost immediately. I don't recommend feeding this way, but I have on occasion done it.

BTW...You both forgot to include Sabogae in the small list. Unless you're lumping them into the Panama category.
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Richard Carew
Sunset BCI
You laugh at me cuz I'm different! I laugh at you cuz you're all the same.
Stop Inhumane and Illegal Practices

Hi

I'm new, and in addition to a lot of lovely information and pictures from all the nice folks here, I also found a lot of info and picts on "The Boa Constrictor Page" http://www.boa-constrictors.com/com/com.html with lots of tabs to all sorts of locales.

Antigone