Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Dear R.F. Hoyer, Hi! just got on this forum in the last week. R.F. I have caught 4 so. rubber boas in the last 2 years in the sierra's all night driving. This year I caught 2 neonates in the middle of october, and saw 1 dor male 16" light tan. Last year I caught 2 on my first ever collecting trip! I kept the female 22", and gave the male 14" to a friend. All were caught at 59* degrees or above 10:30 pm - 2:30am. 5800' - 6300'elevation. When I was in Bosie, Idaho this year end of October. I found some awesome looking areas and a forestry ranger confirmed the area had boa's. Conditions were decent although temp was a little low 50 -56 degrees. Does the night driving farther north end earlier than here in california? I feel like I might of missed it by 4 weeks. Is there a optimum night drive temp.? I have looked in the spring here in Kern only breckenridge, but I never looked near the meadows only creeks thinking water was the key! I am looking forward to this spring thanks to your insights on proper terrain! I have yet to catch any day flipping... i did chat with Gary awhile back and told him if I can be of assistance here in Kern County feel free to contact me. jamesdean150@hotmail.com
This upcoming year I would like to complete the trio of collecting a pair of southern's and a pair of rocky mountain's.
Also my main topic question is where, what state, county, has the largest physical size rubber boas you have seen? p.s. I was at a reptile store in Long Beach, Ca and they had an Olive Boa from I believe Surinam that looked dimensionaly i.e. small head stubby tail like a rubber boa but it was 10' feet long!!!!!!!!
It absoulutely blew my mind! The owner said she was had a very sweet, non aggresive disposition! Could this be a similar species? Have you ever seen one? Thanks for your Response! Sincerely jamesdean

R.F. Hoyer - correction to my previous message...I've caught four pacific's, i incorrectly put southerns.jd

James,
Noted your correction. The S. Rubber Boa only occurs in the San Bernardino Mts. of San Bernardino county and San Jacinto Mts. of Riverside county. The state has the SRB in a 'Threatened' category and thus is cannot be legally collected. No harm in finding and observing them however as they are just as plentifull as the species is elsewhere. The SRB and other populations of the species in S. Calif. are so similar that they cannot be distinguished one from the other by morphological features with any degree of reliability. However, a recent study indicates that the SRB can be distinguished from all other boa populations by mtDNA analysis.

Concerning Idaho, the Rubber Boa has a very extensive distribution in that state. The species occurs in some not so awesome type habitat such as sagebrush-grassland habitat similar to where they have been found in E. Oregon and E. Washington.

Can't really answer any of your questions about night driving as I have rarely searched for the species by that method. Input from other individuals indicate the species can be found just about any time during the warm season under all conditions. However, it appears that cloud cover and rain enhance the changes of encountering the species at night during the warmer part of the year.

Since 2000, I have spent each spring making searches on Breckenridge Mt. My sample from Breckenridge now totals 28. The species commonly occurs a long way from free water and that holds true for Breckenridge Mt. as well.

Concerning assistance, unfortunately, your state only allows two specimens to be in possession at any given time with a valid fishing license. Larger samples are always desired and Breckenridge Mt. is sill in my sights. But where larger samples are really needed in that general region are in the Piutes Mts., Scodie Mts., southern Greenhorn Mts., and southern Kern Plateau.

I know a number of individuals by the name of Gary so am not certain to whom you are referring.

As far as maximum lengths, the largest reported boa was by a man and his son that lived in the foothills of Beaverton, Oregon just west of Portland. They found and measured a specimen at 33" and gave it to the Oregon Mus. of Science and Industry. That was in the 1970's. I spoke to the individual and then went up to OMSI (in Portland) the next day to verify the length and someone had already swiped the boa. Locally near Corvallis and Philomath, Oregon, I believe I have recorded 3 - 5 specimens at about 30 - 31 inches. I once reared a specimen (born in captivity) to 32" In the past couple of years I have measured two specimens from Plumas county that were 30" and 29 5/8" but both had been held in captivity for a few years. There was a specimen at Cal. Poly, Pomona (probably now transferred to U.C. Berkeley) that is 29" preserved. It came from Mono county, Calif. The fact that the preservation process shrinks large specimens from 10 - 15% or more suggests she was a real monster when alive.

I know nothing about the boas from other countries other than they are of an entirely different genus from the Rubber Boa.

Richard F. Hoyer

I was at a reptile store in Long Beach, Ca and they had an Olive Boa from I believe Surinam that looked dimensionaly i.e. small head stubby tail like a rubber boa but it was 10' feet long!!!!!!!!
>>It absoulutely blew my mind! The owner said she was had a very sweet, non aggresive disposition! Could this be a similar species?

There isn't any such thing as an Olive Boa, although it wouldn't be the first time a pet store just made up a name. It also wasn't any relative of the Rubber Boa as the largest Erycine snakes rarely reach 3-4 feet long.

There is an Australian Olive Python which gets over 10 feet, but they don't have a particularly stubby tail, and they aren't that common in captivity.

The only boas from Suriname are the Green Anaconda, Boa constrictor, Amazon Treeboa, Emerald Treeboa, and Rainbow Boa. So it could have been an aberrant Boa constrictor (unlikely) or some other species of non-boid snake.
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Chris Harrison

Thanks Chris, I tried to go by there today since I was in long beach. I'll check next week when I go back and make a post. Thanks again jd

>>I was at a reptile store in Long Beach, Ca and they had an Olive Boa from I believe Surinam that looked dimensionaly i.e. small head stubby tail like a rubber boa but it was 10' feet long!!!!!!!!
>>>>It absoulutely blew my mind! The owner said she was had a very sweet, non aggresive disposition! Could this be a similar species?
>>
>>There isn't any such thing as an Olive Boa, although it wouldn't be the first time a pet store just made up a name. It also wasn't any relative of the Rubber Boa as the largest Erycine snakes rarely reach 3-4 feet long.
>>
>>There is an Australian Olive Python which gets over 10 feet, but they don't have a particularly stubby tail, and they aren't that common in captivity.
>>
>>The only boas from Suriname are the Green Anaconda, Boa constrictor, Amazon Treeboa, Emerald Treeboa, and Rainbow Boa. So it could have been an aberrant Boa constrictor (unlikely) or some other species of non-boid snake.
>>-----
>>Chris Harrison
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Mark G

Assorted rosy boas, some annulata. That's it.

to chrish/mark, you guys are both right! i just checked it today when i was down there, it really looks more like a typical python w/ a blunter snout, tail is pretty long too!
anyways my bad! you can take it home for $999.00 !peace jd

I have caught 2 (both in the NT) one was about 8 feet, the other about 9. I personally have an 11 footer and a good mate has one a whisker over 15 feet!....best thing about them...once they are 5 feet in length they become really placid!!

Regards,
Scott Eipper