Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hello everyone, i am new to this forum (and tree boas/pythons). i have been reading a little bit about these fascinating snakes, and i am a little confused about the biological differences between the two, aside from the normal differences between boas and pythons. i was wondering if anyone could post a response about some of the biological, tempermemnt, housing/husbandry differences between these two types of snakes.
thanks for any info,
mike

One of the main differences of boas and pythons is that boas have live young and pythons lay eggs. Thats about all I know, sorry. lol

pythons have a heat pit and boas dont. emerald tree boas have larger scales between the eye and the nose where the gtp has small ones. boas have live young, pythons dont.

Better check your referances again as the upper and lower jaws are loaded with heat sensors on tree boas.
CraigC

Tree Boas and Tree Pythons share pretty much the same habitat but are distributed in different parts of the world. Tree Pythons live in Indonesia and some parts of Australia. Most Tree Boas are found in South America and Central America and some in Madagascar. I'm not too sure of any tree boas in Indonesia. As far as temperament, both tree pythons and tree boas are not the greatest. Emerald Tree Boas and Green Tree Pythons I know are 2 of the most popular and are not well tempered, more of a display animal. In terms of habitat, they live in tropical rainforests mostly with lots of climbing height and plenty of branches.

This is a Green Tree Python please after seeing these pictures do not attempt this at home...You have been warned!!!!!

This is a Northern Emerald Tree Boa please do not hold one of these either if you like you body parts. We are nasty animals too.

Ok all joking aside they both can be tame. Not all Arboreals are nasty animals they do share one thing that has always held true about them though. People that have never owned either will give you all the wrong information that you will listen to and they will know more than us that have been keeping them for years.
Tim Rash
www.nocturnal-creations.com

can be very snappy at night.
all of mine have been puppy dog tame when lights are on...BUT
once lights are out they are in hunting mode and anything warm is a potential meal....

Yep I forgot to put that I wont mess with either at night they are always looking for a hot meal or a body part will do.

Tim Rash

OMG TIM YOU CRAZY KID! DID THOSE NASTY ARBOREALS EAT YOU ALIVE!?

This young lady was quickly killed by this deadly tree death python!

Nicely put, Tim.

Arboreals are a PLEASURE to care for. Don't let any anyone tell you differnt.

Oh yeah, Tree Boas and Tree Pythons. They look alot different, require similar care. True most dont like to be touched at night, given its feeding time... Though, I've found as long as they know they are not eating, they are fine.

Chondros and ATB's are among the most colorful of the bunch as far as varity. Amazon Basins are the largest of the bunch. Chondros, Emeralds and Basins are the most arboreal 98% arboreal the rest i would say are 50/50...

.

After reading the posts, i see that some have touched on the biological differences b/w boas and pythons, however besides discussing reproductive strategies and old vs. new world habitats, some major differences were left out. First taxonomy; Boas and pythons although are in the same family BOIDAE, they are in different sub-families, boas are in the subfamily BOINAE and pythons are in the sub-family PYTHONINAE. These groupings are not only based on the fact that generally pythons are old-world contrictors, and boas are generally considered new-world constrictors, but there are some key biological differences that are behind such classifications. First of all is reproductive strategies, vivipary vs ovipary in boas and pythons respectively. Secondly most taxonomists believe pythons to be more primative of the contrictors because of the retention of the pelvic girdle most easily illustrated in your larger species such as the reticulated or the burmese python. The difficulty in classifications is that both boas and pythons are generally following a convergent evolution and progressively becoming more similiar. They are indeed differect animals taxonomically that have evolved to fill the same niches in different parts of the world.

Thanks for reading,

-Matt