Scientific Name: Boa Constrictor
Average Lifespan: 20-30 Years
Length: 7 – 9′
Weight: 20 – 30 Lbs
Habitat: Dense Humid Forests
Number of Offspring: 10-65 Live Young
Gestation Period: 120 – 150 Days
Boas are not venomous but have the ability to constrict prey so tightly that blood can no longer properly pump, and the prey succumbs.
The snake will swallow its prey whole, and later digest it with strong stomach acid that can even dissolve bone.
Boa constrictors have good vision and see best at night. They primarily hunt with sight and smell, using their forked tongue to detect scent particles in the environment. Unlike most pythons, pit vipers, and even other boa species, Boa Constrictors do not have heat-sensing pit organs to locate prey.
They are mostly solitary animals that only come together to mate. After mating, the female will nourish the fertilized embryos in her body via a placenta similar to mammals until they are ready to be born. She then gives birth to live young, rather than laying eggs like most snakes. This is called vivipary and is an adaptation that some snake species have that removes the precarious period in the snake’s lives where predation is most likely.