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Two weeks ago we bought two Venezuelan Rainbow Boa's both are three years old; there isn't alot of pictures or information on the net but I have found some... anymore would always be welcomed.

"They arrived colder than planned" from their flight; we had already had their setups with wood/moss and high humidity but after one day it was made apparent that the female was wheezing & puffing. Suspecting the worst we cleaned out their bins and turned up the heat & removed the humidity; this helped..wheezing and puffing stopped around the 4 day mark. The male never showed any signs but better safe than sorry!

I really just wanted to confirm with everyone here that in fact they are Venezuelan Rainbow Boas.

Also the male has a "dot/spot" on him and I wanted to know if that is just a freak spot, or something that is just part of the breed or if it means I should be seeing a vet.

Comments or suggestions are welcomed.

Thanks,

Denise
VRB - Pictures for Review

Denise,
...Welcome to the forum. Your snakes are more commmonly and correctly called Guayana Rainbow Boas. I had a look at the CITES databases and it shows no Rainbow Boas coming out of Venezuela from 1995 to 2002 and 3 specimens coming out in 2003 and 6 specimens coming out in 2004. When the export numbers are that low it usually is because commercial trade and export is prohibited and those few specimens were exported from one zoo to another rather than going to commercial dealers. During the same timeframe there have been several thousand Rainbow Boas exported out of Guyana and so they they have become known both commercially and in the hobby as Guyanan Rainbows rather than Venezuelan Rainbows. So it is highly more likely that your snakes came out of Guyana than Venezuela. Perhaps Venezuelan sounds more exotic than Guyanan and so the dealers use that name. These snakes are actually an uncataloged subspecies of the Rainbow Boa, Epicrates cenchria. The range of the Brazilian Rainbow Boa E.c.cenchria extends into southern and eastern Venezuela. The range of the Colombian Rainbow Boa E.c.maurus extends into western Venezuela. The Rainbow Boas from Guyana and Venezuela that are not cenchria cenchria or cenchria maurus are variable but most of them look like your snakes. These snakes are sometimes incorrectly identified as Epicrates cenchria crassus however this is incorrect because crassus is from Paraguay several thousand miles south of the range of these snakes.
Jeff

>>Two weeks ago we bought two Venezuelan Rainbow Boa's both are three years old; there isn't alot of pictures or information on the net but I have found some... anymore would always be welcomed.
>>
>>"They arrived colder than planned" from their flight; we had already had their setups with wood/moss and high humidity but after one day it was made apparent that the female was wheezing & puffing. Suspecting the worst we cleaned out their bins and turned up the heat & removed the humidity; this helped..wheezing and puffing stopped around the 4 day mark. The male never showed any signs but better safe than sorry!
>>
>>I really just wanted to confirm with everyone here that in fact they are Venezuelan Rainbow Boas.
>>
>>Also the male has a "dot/spot" on him and I wanted to know if that is just a freak spot, or something that is just part of the breed or if it means I should be seeing a vet.
>>
>>Comments or suggestions are welcomed.
>>
>>Thanks,
>>
>>Denise
>>VRB - Pictures for Review