Reptile & Amphibian Forums

im new to keeping red-tails, and i was wondering if anyone ccould tell me the differences between adult females and adult males in regards to size. someone told me once that female get longer and beefier, is there any truth to this?

thanks

In general it is excepted that the males of the red tail species will remain smaller and less "beefy" then the females of the species of coarse all animals have the ability to grow throughout their entire lifetimes and the females will need to carry more wieght if they are going to give you a clutch of babies, but i can't say that i know of any scientific studies about the dimorphism of female snake verses males... But in my view this does hold water to an extent. If that isnt the vaguest answer i dont know what is... Anyways hope i helped..

Sincerely,
Rose Hipskind
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www.srsnakes.com

If you have a moderate amount of experience with Boa Constrictors then yes you can see the difference between the sexes. I can look at most BCI Locality boas and tell you male/female by looking at the tail of the snake. Giant BCI Boas will always be females but if you are looking at a six foot Colombian Boa that has never been around the opposite sex then I doubt you will see much difference between the size of a male and a female. In general Females will get heavier, longer, have shorter tails that narrow quicker and smaller tail spurs then males.
Males will be shorter, and thinner (males will normally refuse food all season long while hoping for a little action from a female) have longer broader tails that are thicker at the base, and their spurs are much bigger.
Now things start to get confused once you go to the other Sub-Species of Boa Constrictor. If you were to show me a male and female short tail Brazilian Boa then I would be at a loss to tell them apart, but a breeder that works with them probably not have a problem.
I hope this helps some
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Jim Hopkins "Hoppy"
Hopkins Holesale Herps
Hopfam1@aol.com

thanks guys, helped alot