Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Aghhhh! Hrm, how am I to tell the difference between these species of snakes going by physical characteristics, Im obviously not looking in the right places, pattern doesnt much help because they all have saddles, and they can change quite a bit...

Anyways, Im not being lazy, I have looked as much as possible at trying to differentiate between the species, but its so hard when people are talking about Boa constrictor constrictor, but they dont specify if it is the Surinam, or the Guyana!

What is the difference between those 2 subspecies? I have found no info on that. However I do see the difference between those 2 and the Boa constrictor imperator - they seem to be far more striking and have a more contrasting pattern but still they look quite similar to Columbians to me...

So, any hints to share to separate the 3 of those snakes? Its greatly appreciated.

Thank you
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~Lizards~
1.0 Savannah Monitor
1.0 Peach Throat Monitor
2.2 Green Water Dragons
0.1 Veiled Chameleon
1.0 Panther Chameleon
1.1 Brown Basilisks
~Snakes~
0.1 Sumatran Blood Python
1.1 Spotted Pythons
0.1 Hi-Yellow Ball Python
0.1 Amazon Tree Boa
0.1 Mexican Rosy Boa
1.1 Sinaloan Milksnakes
0.1 Pueblan Milksnake
0.1 Albino Sonoran Gopher Snake
1.1.1 Cornsnakes (Sunglow, Anerythistic, Hypomelanistic Okeetee)
Yea, I know I've gotta work on my spelling, thats my next goal.
~Josh

I dont know if its for all, or for some, you cant tell... the snakes dont respect the borders. If your at the border of Guyana and Surinam, the boa on the side of Guyana could looks just like the one on the Surinam side, but maybe as you go further into one country, they start looking a little different depending on the acclimations theyve made...sorry if you dont understand, ive always had a problem explaining things

>>I dont know if its for all, or for some, you cant tell... the snakes dont respect the borders. If your at the border of Guyana and Surinam, the boa on the side of Guyana could looks just like the one on the Surinam side, but maybe as you go further into one country, they start looking a little different depending on the acclimations theyve made...sorry if you dont understand, ive always had a problem explaining things

So basically... What you could be saying is that they are the same snake? That would make sence since they are classified as the same, Boa constrictor constrictor, however do come from different parts...

Now what about seeing them in captivity, how do you tell the difference? Why are the guyana's known to be a little more expensive as a wholesale cost?
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~Lizards~
1.0 Savannah Monitor
1.0 Peach Throat Monitor
2.2 Green Water Dragons
0.1 Veiled Chameleon
1.0 Panther Chameleon
1.1 Brown Basilisks
~Snakes~
0.1 Sumatran Blood Python
1.1 Spotted Pythons
0.1 Hi-Yellow Ball Python
0.1 Amazon Tree Boa
0.1 Mexican Rosy Boa
1.1 Sinaloan Milksnakes
0.1 Pueblan Milksnake
0.1 Albino Sonoran Gopher Snake
1.1.1 Cornsnakes (Sunglow, Anerythistic, Hypomelanistic Okeetee)
Yea, I know I've gotta work on my spelling, thats my next goal.
~Josh

I can closely identify most snake orrigins buy color, pattern, and just having the experience dealing with them all. you can never be 100% sure of the exact orrigin unless you hand picked them from the wild. I find in my experience there is a slight color and pattern differnce in Surinames and Guyanans, but it would take me for ever to explain how I identify them from each other without taking up all night to do so.

Just having expereince is the technique i geuss..

Nick Gancarz
Boa's Ark c.b.r.

Hi Mouzi,being a real fan of Guyana boa's you can usually tell by color.Guyana's are more purple or a little darker than suri's.Suri's tend to be lighter in over all color a and cleaner with thinner saddles.YOU CAN'T BE 100% SURE,UNTILL YOU ASK THE EXPORTER EXACTLY WHERE HE COLLECTED THAT PARTICULAR BOA.Hope I could help. GUYANA BOA BELOW

they are the same exact snake !!!! There is no difference between the two , different populations or micropopulations may have simular characteristics but they are still the same snake. The only difference is the country they are exported from , and that doesn't mean much! The indians or gatherers will travel to whatever compound or exporter that will pay them the most or are actually exporting at that time of the year. Same snake , the seperate names were created by the pet trade , the real herpetologist don't classify them as different animals so why should we ?

There are oriental people who are U.S. citizens. They are none the less oriental and we are all considered the same race.

I would say that if we can't be sure of the snakes real, original country of origin for all the reasons you stated, for precisely those reasons we should go by looks. (Breed based on looks etc..., to accentuate those characteristics)...

C.E,It's nice to see you in the forum again,you don't know me,but I have been a big fan of you and your animals that you used to have.Espesially that real clean looking(suri?)B.C.C. that you gave away?Undoubtedly THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SURI I'VE SEEN BAR NONE!!!Anyhow,scientifically your absolutely right,but as far as the trade goes how are we to label these boa's (guyana/suri)in order to talk about them?should we just call them all suri's?Since peruvians,bolivians,north brazilians all have their own look what is the proper label for guyana's/suri's?

if you know without a shadow of a doubt the origin of the animals and you want to label them that way tha's your perogative. My point is that the pet trade has convinced everybody that a guyanan is a purple snake with blocky saddles ? A suri is a pink snake with peaked saddles? and a north brazilian is a golden colored snake with more speckling and even more extreme peaks? It just isn't true , I'm sure you can get animals from either of the three countries that look just how we expect the other to look, you can NOT visually determine locality, the only way to tell is to go to the jungle and catch it yourself. I have seen animals from one shipment all originating from Surinam that fit the descriptions for all of these countries perfectly , a few could of even passed for Peruvians althought they all came from Surinam.

Yeah,I see what your saying.I have seen (suri's)that look like peruvians with the thin saddles and a darker overall ground color or the really bright yellow and spotty surinams that look north brazilians.I guess as a boa lover I count myself very lucky for the emence diversity of the species,also my curse, because the search for the perfect boa in reality can and will never end.

Here's another guyana,overall purple and dark saddles.

Lighter overall color,thinner saddles

A french guiana, and north brazilian cross to me....

nice snake, but anyone claiming that there is an inherent difference between the north eastern distribution of BCC is dillusional.
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recycle your pets

Unlike B.C.C., B.C.I. are smaller boa's and have a different body shape(a little stockier in build)and the tail maddalions are different looking along with scale counts etc...