Reptile & Amphibian Forums

For Rainer, Jerry, and others in the know:

Now that this is the off season for collecting / observing, I have a couple of questions. Does anyone know what might be considered the longevity record or age of the Rosy Boa either in the wild or for specimens maintained in captivty?

Secondly, how much research has been published on the species? If my memory serves me correctly, I was contacted 2 - 4 years ago by a grad student at San Diego St. U. that was about to do a mtDNA or some other such study on the species and I believe he asked if I could provide him with a a Rubber Boa shed skin for an outgroup. Does anyone know if that study has been completed and published?

Richard F. Hoyer

Howdy Rich,
Been a long time but I do read your post, and enjoy, if not every day every other day!
Re: to your rosey question, my 2 cents is: I traded w/a herp breeder, Joe Pierce, an albino Everglades ratsnake for an adult desert rosey back in August of '94.Over 10 years later I still have this snake which has done excellent over the years w/np's
other than, due to my fault I have done less handling w/other than cage cleaning, feeding etc = cage opens = food = attack response and lol, he is fast!
I have long wondered if there isn't a corralation in longevity w/ the rubber boa..perhaps other herpers w/more experience have input.
All the best to you and Ryan,
Bill

P.S. I forgot to mention that the rosey, male, is a cb. I forget if Joe told told me or if I asked how old it was then or if he cb'd it, but it was, at the very least, a young adult (and I'm still look'n for a nice lady friend for him).
Bill

Richard,

A very close friend of mine collected an adult male Coastal Rosy Boa in February 1974. The snake is still alive today. He doesn't move a whole lot these days. The snake was found near the town of San Jacinto. Talking with the owner of the snake, we figured it had to be at least 5 years old when found. Born sometime around 1969-1970. The snake is older than I am (31)!!!

Paul Lynum

Thank Paul.
That information along with Jerry's would suggest that the species is probably quite long lived in the wild as well. Longevity records under captive conditions provide some indication of the potential may occur in the wild.as well.

Richard F. Hoyer

Mr. Hoyer,

I know that Randy Limburg has a captive born male Cabo San Lucas animal that was born in 1971, and a female Cabo San Lucas that was born in 1972. The female gave birth to 7 healthy babies this 2004 breeding season. Like Paul said, they are older than him, and they are older then my wife. She is 31 too. She was blown away when she met a snake that was older than her, and still producing babies. My oldest is a female from Riverside County. I collected her in 1988 and she was a big bomber adult when I collected her. I'm not sure of her age, but I'm sure she is in her late 20's. She had 8 babies this 2004 season. The 2 previous years she has gave birth to 11 babies each year. Can't wait to see what kind of data you put together.

Jerry Hartley

JH,
Sorry if I gave the impression I was perhaps conducting a study. In reality, I am curious if, as I suspect, that the Rosy Boa has a live history not too dissimilar to the Rubber Boa which is also a relatively long lived species.

I will probably have to do a library search for Rosy studies some of which may eventually be worth citing if I again get the notion to prepare and publish more information on Charina bottae.

Richard F. Hoyer

Jer

I recaptured two adult females for 20 straight years at one of my study sites called Chapman. One of the adult females of about 22 3/4' was young when first captured and could have been anywhere from about 7 to 12 years of age, possibly more.

However, the second female appeared much older and was around 24 1/2 inches when captured in 1971. (too lazy to look up the data)
In 1991 I had 20 years of growth records for both specimens when the site was trashed. But I expect that the younger female was anywhere from about 27 to 39 years old when last seen. Only have some idea of how a life table is constructed but by applying what I know about estimated mean growth rates for various size classes, I believe the larger females was in her 50's and perphaps much older when last seen.

Then there is another female I call Raab female #1 which I also captured at a different site in 1971 when she was 27 1/2". Now one has to use known data on growth from mean size at birth (about 10" locally) to approx. minimum length at sexual maturity of about 22", then from that length to mean length of the adult sample which locally is about 25 5/8", then again based on growth data of larger adults, the mean time it might take to grow from 25 5/" to 27 1/2".

I released and recaptured that specimen a fair number of times.
In 1983 the boas started to dissapear from the Raab site so I translocated the few remaining boas I could find, including Raab female #1, to a wildlife area 12 mile north. I did not see Raab female in 1984 but then recaptured her at least once each year from 1985 to 1989. She had established a new home territory but was always thin so I picked her up to retain her that year. I transferred her to my son Ryan who is maintaining her. At that time she was about 29 1/4 or 29 1/2" as I recall.

I estimate at a minimum she was was in her 40's when first captured in 1971 but more likely in her 50's, perhaps older. She is still alive here in late 2004. She produced a brood about 4 years ago or so.

Richard F. Hoyer

that Raab Female #1 is at the very least 71 years of age? My father will be 71 this coming June. I would love to have a picture of this animal. I'm sure anybody else that has read this post would like to see her as well. That is mind blowing.

Mr. Hoyer,

In your opinion, because of the type of life style rb's live, is it possible that they are the longest lived snake?

Again, I'm blown away by this. I thought 40 year old rosys were something, but this is unreal.

Jerry Hartley