Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've had several people ask me at shows what "wild" Kenyans look like. I remember seeing a photo of one of the snakes imported very early on. It looked like a normal that had more brown coloration than orange. It appeared to be pretty large (as far as KSB standards go) and was probably a big female. The orange pattern was very "flecked out" with brown. Does anyone have photos of wild caught Kenyans that I can share with others? Thanks.

Steve

This is kind of funny - "What does a real Kenyan look like?"

I think you pretty much described it. Someone here posted some wild types once on this forum. Look for the Sand Boa Page here on ks, as Chris might have some pics there.

Head shape can be different as well. Look at the heads on those wild types. Jumbo.
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Antaresia maculosa
Antaresia childreni

Mark G

Hi Mark,

You're right. After I thought about it, its sort of like asking what a wild type Dachshund looks like :^)

I did find a KS post from Chris Harrison from Feb 01 2004 (colubrinus kenyan vs. egyptian) that had some nice photos. He compared wild caught sand boas from different geographical locations (Egypt and Tanzania) and also compares them to a selectively bred animal from the day. Good stuff.

Steve

Here's some of the same photos from that old post -

Wild-caught female from Tanzania -

Wild caught males from Tanzania -

Here they are mating -

These two "Egyptian" Sandboas were confiscated by US FWS and ended up at Dave and Tracy Barker's collection. They sold me a couple. (sorry - need to rescan these!)

That said, there were some very nice orange sandboas imported over the years. Dave and Tracy used to have some wild Dodoma boas on their website that were pretty striking.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

Hello Chris,

I didn't want to reproduce them without your permission. Thanks for yor post!

Steve

As of 3 years ago, Tracy Barker still had a male kenyan that was one of the first to be imported...perhaps from the first shipment. If I remember correctly she said he was at least 27, and that he wasn't a baby when imported. I'd love to see a picture of him, and to know if he was still alive.
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Travis Rose
13.33 Kenyan Sand Boas
X.X Nervous Rats
X.X Paranoid Mice
0.2 Dogs
0.2 Cats
X.X Fish
0.1 Very understanding wife
2.0 Future Snake Lovers

Wow, that's one for the record books! I'd love to see a photo.

Oh, and by the way: If your signature said 0.2 understanding wives, I'd be really suspect of your future posts :^)

Steve