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Tuesday, Nov 9, 2010 6:50PM / Standard Entry / Members only

Boa c. occidentalis

Boa c. occidentalis (Argentine Boa)

Incidentally, in our experience the Argentine boa is fundamentally more active than the other subspecies of Boa constrictor.
The Argentine boa is the only one subspecies of Boa constrictor that is registered in the appendix I of the CITES. That means, that it is threatened by extinction. Therefore, a special permit is needed for commercialization.

Boa c. occidentalis (Argentine Boa)

Argentine boa babies are often agressive,
but normally lose their bad temper when they grow up

Almost 80 per cent of the Argentine rainforest has been cut down during the past 90 years. In 2002 only 330.000 Square kilometers (127.414 Square miles) of initial 1.060.000 Square kilometers (409.268 Square miles) in 1914 still exist, according to a study that was recently published by the Argentine Authority of Environment in Buenos Aires.
The loss equals more than the

Boa c. sabogae

Boa c. sabogae
- proven bloodline- is a naturally hypomelanistic
(=lacking black pigment) form. There is a theory that breeders in the U.S. unknowingly (?) produced their first
"hypos" (boas with few black pigments)
from crossbreeding with
Pearl Island boas.

Boa c. sabogae (Pearl Island boa) occurs (occurred?) on islands of only a few acres in size off the coast of Panama.
Back in 1999 a reptile zoo in Costa Rica got the permission to catch 6 specimens of this rare Boa constrictor subspecies. Despite several trips to the islands, the runner of the zoo was able to find only 5 subadult specimens.

Boa c. sabogae
- proven bloodline-The wonderful orange color in the eyes of these
almost extinct boas .....

.....increases in the course of the maturing

... more and more

He reported that the natives kill on sight any snake that they encounter, which results in most specimens being unable to reach sexual maturity. Due to the small size of these islands, the sabogae boas barely have a chance to avoid detection by the natives.

Boa c. sabogae
- proven bloodline-

In addition, one of the Pearl Islands was recently devastated by a wild fire and another fell victim to a fish processing plant, which destroyed much of the natural habitat of the Pearl Island boas.
It is therefore rather dubious whether there are currently any healthy populations of this rare boa subspecies in existance.
To our knowledge, there is only this wildcaught bloodline whose origin from the distribution area is proven and can be documented.

Boa c. sabogae
- proven bloodline-

Boa c. ortonii
From far south of the province Tumbes, Peru, to the mountainous regions of La Libertad. The eastern boundary is Cajamarca.

Adult male, with a total length
of 1.35m (4.5 ft) from the
Cascas district (at
1850m altitude).

Typical for Ortons boa is the dark-brown
pattern and the gray shade.

The largest female that was caught so far was about 9 ft. in length. Natives (who name the Boa c. ortonii "macanche") presented the skin of a dead specimen that was almost 11 ft. in length.

Male, with a total length of 80cm (almost 3 ft)

This specimen came from the Santa Cruz District (western Andes) province of Cajamarca, Peru (1200m above sea level).
The specimen was captured in a small valley of the region. The habitat is dry Forest. It belongs to the Province of Cajamarca

Normally, Boa c. ortonii lives in dry woodlands, but due to the excessive clearing of the woodlands, it was forced to evade into mountainous regions like La Libertad and Cajamarca. Meanwhile this subspecies has become endangered of extinction. In some areas, Boa c. ortonii has to compete for prey with Epicrates cenchria ssp.

male, with 55cm (almost 2 ft) in total length, from the San Benito district, Province of Cajamarca.

San Benito is at 1900m altitude above sea level. The area
shows some integration between dry forest
and Serrania Esteparia.

The Ortons boa has to bare very low temperatures of about 17°C - 8°C (63° - 47° F) in the winter. The boas are very inactive during this period. In the summertime they deal with a relatively low humidity of about 65 percent (that is less compared to the need of other boa subspecies).
Boa c. ortonii feed on rodents, poultry, lizards, frogs and iguanas, as well as squirrels.

Female, 32cm (1 ft).
Like the animal on top of the page, this specimen was
captured in the Cascas district on the slope
of a mountain.

We don′t want to withhold this e-mail that received from our friend Bernardo Roca-Rey (Joemac). He lives in Lima/Peru:
"Today I met with Omar Pesantes and he showed 3 snakes to me of Boa C. Ortonii. The truth is that it is a Boa Constrictor but that never it had seen before (a think). In addition he explain me a little the problem that has this snake:
The Boa C. Ortonii lives in the dry forests of the North of Peru. I know the region well and is very different from the other habitats of other Boas C.. The humidity and the temperature is not so high (65% and 18oC-24oC) like in the other habitats of the rest of the Constrictor Boas. This does that is a little difficult to have them in Lima because of the high humidity and the temperatures in summer. In winter, the Ortoniis is not much active since the temperatures fall between 8oC and 17oC.
In addition, the Boa C. Ortonii lives in the middle of the habitats of the Boa C. Longicauda (East) and the Boa C. Constrictor (West). The problem is that the explotation of the habitat of the Boa C. Ortonii, causes that these tend to migrate towards the East or the West. This causes that competition between the other Boas C. which can exist or the existence of crossbreeds between Ortonii and Longicauda or Ortonii and Constrictor. (...)"