Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So, I'm looking to get a Surinam boa. I was just wondering if there are any interesting facts about this species that dffer from the other red-tails??? What is its latin name? Any facts/tips will be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

- Justin M.

As far as I know, the scientific name is "Boa Constrictor Constrictor...aka BCC, they come from the country of Surinam, in South American, they are considered "True Red Tailed Boas" I have heard its hard to tell the difference between Surinams and Guyanas, But other than that info, If you just keep looking at Boa locality pics you will start to see differences in Surinams and other localities such as Argentines, and Peruvians....Sorry I can't be of more help, but there are lots of BCC keepers and breeders on here, that I am sure will give a little more info. And I would venture to say that if it didn't come from Surinam or from wild imports that have been captive bred, there offspring would be surinams as well....that it wouldn't be called a surinam...
-----
www.executivereptiles.com

There is no Suriname "species." It isn't even a subspecies. More or less it's a locality, though a completely unreliable one in most cases, because ew breeders actually know where their breeding stock comes from. Usually it's rumor, combined with a set of largely baseless prejudices about what a Suriname boa should look like as compared to one from Guyana, for example. In any case, snakes don't know about national borderss, so its a pretty silly way to classify them to start out.

.. there's no line in the sand (or in the middle of the Essequibo river) where you can say 'all boas on this side look like Suriname boas' or something like that.

What there is are a lot of people's experiences over decades with Boas from that region.. Many experienced people claim to be able to tell a Suriname boa from other closely related populations by the way they look and even act and react in captivity. Other keepers and dealers who don't see a need to identify the differences say there are no differences or 'they're all the same'. As proof they will show animals or photos of animals from places adjacent to Suriname that don't stand out from known Boas of Suriname in any particular way.

Still, the desire to more closely identify the origins of these populations persists. Because of the long history of these in culture 'Suriname boa' is practically a by-word for top-look BCC redtail. People are going to be wanting boas that look like a 'Suriname redtail' for a long time yet. Regardless of people trying to explain away the reality (or myth) that these nice Boa are special.

I believe there are identifiable differences in the average set of visible traits (and perhaps covert as well) between the various groups or localities of Boa from that area. You can use the link below the thumbnail-image to consider my (imperfect) attempts to explain my point of view.

Have a nice day!
.

What is a Suriname Boa?

-----
Gus
A. Rentfro
RioBravoReptiles.com
www.riobravoreptiles.com

"Quality is not an accident. Perfectly healthy animals are a minimum requirement.. everything else is just salesmanship" gus