Boa, Emerald Tree
The Emerald Tree Boa is a brilliant green in color on top, patterned with white or yellow triangular blotches. The under side is yellow. Neonates are terracotta, or occasionally bluish-green in color, patterned with white. As they grow, green flecks appear over the body increasing in size and number until the emerald green of the adult appears. Adults can reach nearly 8 feet in length. Huge, fang-like teeth assure rapid penetration and a secure grip through the feathers and/or fur of their prey.
Class: Reptile (Reptilia)
Order: Squamata Serpentes
Range: Amazon Basin: Peru, Ecuador, Brazil and Bolivia to the Guianas
Habitat: Trees and bushes adjacent to water courses, swamps and marshes in rain forests
Wild Diet: Small mammals and birds
Zoo Diet: Mice, rats
Arboreal and nocturnal, they spend the day draped in symmetrical coils over branches, the prehensile tail assuring a firm grip. Prey is constricted and often ingested while the boa is suspended from a branch, which is gripped by the tail and posterior body. All species of Corallus have well developed labial thermoreceptors. Sensitive to minute temperature gradients, these thermoreceptors aid the snake in locating its prey and aiming its strike. This boa is said to be mean-tempered in captivity.
Emerald Tree Boas give birth to living young, the size of the litter and neonates varying with the size of the female.
Gestation: Unknown. Eggs are hatched within the female, and the young born live.