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Amazon Tree Boa
Range: Amazon Basin Habitat: Strictly arboreal in nature, found in dense forest. Natural Diet: Small mammals & birds, occasional lizard. Diet at RainForest: Pre-killed rodents of various size based on the size of the snake. Size: 4-6 feet, a very thinly built Boa, this animal rarely exceeds 5 feet. Coloration of this snake is highly variable. RainForest Facts: This boa spends the vast majority of its time living in the mid level canopy of the rain forest. Hunting primarily at night, this nocturnal predator is an efficient hunter of both birds and small mammals. Live babies are born each year to the female boa. An average size litter is 5-8 young. The babies are aggressive feeders. All Pythons are constrictors. Snakes that hunt using constriction as a means of subduing prey will very quickly grab their prey with their teeth using a very fast strike. The constrictor will quickly wrap coils of their bodies around the prey and squeeze or constrict the prey item. This process does not actually crush the prey and break its bones as is widely reported in the media. Instead, they squeeze tightly so that the prey animal can’t breath and it suffocates, this process usually requires about 3-4 minutes for the prey animal to be killed.
Once the snake has the animal past it's jaws a series
rhythmic muscular contractions then pull the prey down the snake’s throat and
into its stomach. A very large prey item can be observed in the
snakes stomach as a large bulge. Contrary to popular belief the large prey
item is not digested by slowing moving down the length of the snake. Once
the prey animal reaches the stomach, usually about 20 minutes for a very large
item, the food item is stationary in the snakes stomach as it is gradually
digested. The size of the meal can have an impact on the
duration of the digestion, but external factors such as ambient air temperature
play a larger roll. The snake must be careful not to eat when temperatures
are too cool, the meal will quite literally decompose faster than the snake can
digest it, causing a gaseous bloating in the snake that can result in death.
Ideal air temperatures allow the snake to digest the meal prior to the food item
decomposing! Snakes often will
regurgitate a meal when the conditions do not
allow it to properly digest the meal, this can include both temperatures that
are too high and too low!
Status in Wild: Stable in majority of undisturbed forest, habitat loss is putting pressure on certain populations.
This species is not currently on exhibit at RainForest
RainForest Adventures zoo, Smoky Mountains, Tennessee near Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge TN |
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Once the snake is certain the prey item is dead they then
begin to search for the animals head, virtually all prey animals are consumed
head first. This process allows the snake to literally "fold" the arms and
legs of the prey animal back as the creature is swallowed. Contrary to
popular belief, a snake does not "unhinge" it's jaws, the jaws in fact are not
actually attached in a mechanical way. Long tendons and muscles connect
the upper and lower jaws. The lower jaw is actually made up of two
separate bones to further enhance the animals ability to manipulate large prey
items. 