The rainbow boa is one of the most fascinating snakes you could ever find in nature. This snake species lives in South America and it is known by many different names such as “rainbow boa”, “rainbow tree boa”, and “rainbow snake”. These are some of the things about this amazing animal that make it so special.
First of all, this snake species is very colorful. They come in blue, green, red, yellow, orange, pink, purple, brown, black, white, gray, and even silver. All of those colors are present in the skin of the rainbow boas. In addition, there are stripes on their body. Some of them have three stripes while others have four. There are also spots and patterns on the head, neck, belly, tail, legs and feet. Their eyes are usually dark, although sometimes they have light colored eyes.
This snake species is found in rainforests where they live in trees. They eat insects and spiders. They are also able to jump up to 30 meters high. This makes them perfect predators because they can easily catch their prey without having to move around too much.
Distribution and habitat
Epicrates cenchria is widely distributed throughout lowland tropical forests and subtropical dry forests of Central and South America. In Mexico, it is known to occur in Chiapas, Tabasco, Veracruz, Oaxaca, Guerrero, Puebla, Hidalgo, Michoacan, Jalisco, Nayarit, Sinaloa, Colima, Sonora, Baja California Sur, Tamaulipas, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, Durango, Coahuila, Zacatecas, Aguascalientes, Guanajuato, Querétaro, Quintana Roo, Campeche, Yucatán, Belice, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil, and French Guiana.
The species can be commonly found in secondary growth areas such as clearings, edges of woods, and along roadsides near water sources. It also inhabits disturbed habitats and agricultural land. However, it does not seem to prefer urban environments. Its distribution ranges are expanding due to deforestation and forest fragmentation.
Behavior
Rainbow boas are nocturnally active and most active during the middle of the night. This species is semi-arboreal, spending time both above and below ground. They are also known to pass their days in bodies of water. These boas are considered capable swimmers.
Captivity
The Brazilian rainbow boa, commonly known as the “rainbow boa,” is one of the most popular species kept as a pet. In recent decades, it has become increasingly rare due to overhunting and habitat loss. Captive breeding programs have been established in several countries, including Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
In the 1970s, many thousands were captured annually in Surinam and sent to Europe and North America for sale as pets. At least 10,000 Brazilian rainbows were imported into the US during the 1980s alone, and some estimates put the number of wild animals caught each year around 80,000. By 1992, there were about 300,000 captive Brazilian rainbows in the world. However, since the late 1990s, exports of Brazilian rainbows have declined sharply because of increasing regulations and the growing popularity of captive-bred specimens.
Today, the majority of captive Brazilian rainbows are raised in South Korea. An estimate published in 2013 put the total number of captive Brazilian rainbows in Asia at approximately 12,000.
Subspecies
The term subspecies refers to one species within another species. For example, humans are part of the animal kingdom, but we are a separate species. Humans are called Homo sapiens while chimpanzees are called Pan troglodytes. Within the human species there are different races, such as Caucasian, Asian, African, etc. These races are considered subspecies.
Etymology
The name “Barbuda” was coined by English naturalist William Henry Sykes in 1844. He named it after Barbuda Island in the Lesser Antilles, where he had collected specimens while serving as surgeon aboard HMS Rattlesnake during the First Opium War. In his book A Natural History of Birds, published in 1848, Sykes wrote that the island was “uninhabited excepting by some Carib Indians.” This was later corrected to read “uninhabited save by some Carib Indians”.
Gaige, meanwhile, used the word “barbudas” in his 1854 work Catalogue of the Reptiles of British Guiana. His use of the term was inspired by the fact that many species of snakes found there were similar to those known from Barbados. However, he did not give the specific name Barbuda, nor did he mention the island itself.
In 1888, American zoologist Edward Drinker Cope proposed the combination Barbuda + Gaigea, making reference to both islands. The name was accepted by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature in 1895.
Gallery
– “The Brazilian rainbow boa is one of the most beautiful snakes in the world. This species of snake grows to about 4 feet long and has a very colorful pattern on its body.”
– “This snake is found in Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Panama, Trinidad & Tobago, Suriname, Guyana, French Guiana, Saint Lucia, Antigua, Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, Saint Vincent, Saint Christopher, Anguilla, Saba, Sint Eustatius, Saint Martin, Puerto Rico, Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire, Saint Helena, Ascension Island, Tristan da Cunha, Gough Island, South Georgia Island, Falkland Islands, Macquarie Island, Lord Howe Island, Norfolk Island, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Cook Islands, Niue, Tokelau, Easter Island, Pitcairn Islands, Wallis Island, Gambier Islands, Mauritius, Réunion, Madagascar, Seychelles, Mayotte, Comoros, Reunion, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Chad, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan, China, Mongolia, North Korea, Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Belize, United States, Canada, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Turks & Caicos Islands, Jamaica, Bahamas, Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago and Venezuela.
