sczlogover.gif (3787 bytes)
Zoom

boacons.jpg (15662 bytes)

© Sedgwick County Zoo, credit: Unknown

Boa Constrictor

Boa constrictor

*This animal is only on exhibit in the Education Center.

Physical Characteristics

  • These snakes are cream to brownish on top with a series of saddle-like bands, the markings become wider toward the tail and color intensifies to deep red-brown edged with black and cream. The flanks show irregular rhombic patterns. The whole body, including the belly, is splashed with dark spots.
  • Size of average adult
    • length: 6.5 - 11.5 feet
    • weight: 30 - 40 pounds
  • Approximate life span is 30 years in captivity.

Diet

  • Wild: small mammals, birds and lizards

Behavior

  • Tree-dwellers
  • Catch prey by lying in wait or sneaking up on it
  • Kill prey by constriction - coils restrain prey, when prey exhales, coils tighten and prey eventually suffocates
  • Reproduction
    • live bearers, the eggs which develop within the body of the female are covered by a membrane rather than a shell, the young break through the eggs before or during birth
    • young number from 8 - 60, large females bear more young

Environmental/Global

  • Habitat: from fringes of deserts to dense, wet jungles
  • Distribution: Argentina to southern Mexico

 
Click here to visit the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA). Click here to visit Sedgwick County, Kansas. COPYRIGHT 2004 Sedgwick County Zoo all rights reserved. No part of this website may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any electrical, mechanical, photocopying, recording means or otherwise without prior written permission of the photographer or author. Unless marked otherwise, materials are from the Sedgwick County Zoo. Sedgwick County Zoo is accredited by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA).