Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I got him a while ago at the AAE in Wheaton, IL. I was told he is a Bolivian but I feel like his coloration is different. I was just wondering what other people's thoughts were on him?

Image

"Constrictor"

Well, it's tough to make out some of the specific characteristics with that particular photo. Although they can certainly vary quite a bit just like all other boa's, it doesn't seem to be a Bolivian "short-tailed" boa(B.c amarali)aka from what I can see there. A better, well-lit photo of an entire body shot from above would help more though.

It doesn't seem to be a common boa Colombian boa(B.c imperator) though, and might even possibly be a Brazilian boa(B.c.constrictor), etc...

You should post a better photo of it on the "Boa constrictor" forum and see what kind of responses you get there as well.

Here is a Brazilian red-tail that looks similar to yours.

~Doug

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Heres the link to the "Boa" forum here............

boa forum

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Thanks and I know the pic isn't that great. Here's more pics of him. I will have to take a pic of him in a well lit room!

http://m1216.photobucket.com/albums/kodacakes21/Oblivion/?pbauth=1_uLEBonVPfaLdh1h3YMYz2Tnq2OgQPAlSvqXqaQIxYxnsvlKGOOcFNCaRrS904SLAx3g6gV5XuZpcG7ChI4MM1eijhww1QsST%2FEGZ2DHfWw6u9ZcP%2BwV4E%2F%2FVsZzff%2FAtXskphySe929y%2BwXC8U%2BvmXzz7zv70vi0eHtBo8MyWgE%3D
Oblivion

Yeah, those tiny pics are also pretty poor for any kind of real subspecific/locale ID.

Even with really good pics it can often be real tough depending on many things, especially without good entire body pics from above showing the ENTIRE SNAKE, including the entire head and tail of the animal, side views, and belly shots. There are alot of characteristics to consider with identifying certain snakes, especially when the true origin and history isn't known with certainty.

~Doug
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

I posted some new pics of him when I got home. Some of his body, head, tail, and belly. Maybe it'll be useful?
Oblivion

hmm,......now that I see the tail and belly, it does actually seem to have strong Bolivian characteristics. The tail is VERY short, as well as the red portion of the pattern on it. Also, the belly seems to have the typical dark gray coloration that Bolivian's typically display too.

Even though the saddles on yours seem to look somewhat intermediate of a Bolivian x Colombian, it could very well be a true Bolivian that simply doesn't display the thinner cross saddles(bat wings) that many do.

The bottom line is,....it certainly could be a Bolivian from what I see in those last pics. The tail and belly are most indicative of a Bolivian...

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Haha well thanks again! I've never really looked into boa morphs. I'm more into pythons and monitors so thanks for your input I mainly wondered because they claimed to have the parents still but I felt they didn't really look the same. Regardless I love him and he's beautiful. Thanks again for looking!

When you say "they didn't look the same", are you referring to one parent looking more Bolivian than the other, or one of the parents seemed to be a Colombian?

If you could get pics of both parents, that would certainly add some light to it.

Do a google image search with key words like "Bolivian boa", or "Boa constrictor amarali", "short-tailed boa" and you will see many examples of what Bolivian's look like. Keep in mind though, not all the pics that ycome up on the search are the Bolivian Boas though. It just means somewhere on the site there is reference to Bolivian boas, and the photo's themselves can be of other subspecies of boas on the site too. I have known many people to goof up on thinking a particular animal was something else altogether because of them looking at a pic they thought to be what they were looking for..LOL!

Here is just one example of a Bolivian you might see in the wild, not necessarily what many selectively-bred specimens in the hobby look like, although some certainly do.

~Doug

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com