Some flipped boas from this morning 10/11/2010

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Zach_Lim
Posts: 1607
Joined: June 10th, 2010, 8:37 pm

Some flipped boas from this morning 10/11/2010

Post by Zach_Lim »

Here are some boas I found this morning. Just copied by post from a different forum:
Well, decided to see if I can lay some boards down at this one area before class and decided to swing by the San Mateo boardline that was in disarray last time I checked. Well, it seems things got much better (probably after some sprucing up by a member or two) as was quite productive today. Only saw two snakes today, and both were some GORGEOUS Charina! A small male and a HUGE female under boards right next to each other! Here are some pics and a pic of the boards.
Question: Are boas year around animals if the weather is right? It was HOT there today (well, hot for boas?) at 75F airtemp and almost 80F on the surface of the boards.
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Buzztail1
Posts: 14
Joined: October 8th, 2010, 2:07 am
Location: Southeast Georgia, USA

Re: Some flipped boas from this morning 10/11/2010

Post by Buzztail1 »

Wow!
Nice looking boas.
R/
Karl
Richard F. Hoyer
Posts: 639
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 1:14 pm

Re: Some flipped boas from this morning 10/11/2010

Post by Richard F. Hoyer »

Zach:
The species can be found every month of the year given suitable conditions of temperature / sunshine and sometime even without the sunshine. That includes here in northwestern Oregon which on the average, has much cooler weather conditions than what occurs in the Santa Cruz Mts. (San Mateo County).

In late April of this year, I visited a number of localities in the Santa Cruz Mts. with three experienced herpers from the Bay Area. The next time you are at that site and find boas, look for a slit-type scar just below the vent on the right dorsal side of the tail of any boas you find. Tissue samples were taken from a number of boas at a couple of sites so if you find a boa with such a scar, you will know it had been previously captured and released.

By the way, the female you found clearly is in reproductive condition for producing a litter next year.

Richard F. Hoyer (Corvallis, Oregon)
Zach_Lim
Posts: 1607
Joined: June 10th, 2010, 8:37 pm

Re: Some flipped boas from this morning 10/11/2010

Post by Zach_Lim »

Richard,
Thanks for the information. It was just puzzling to see two boas, especially a large, robust female, when it was really hot and dry. Funny enough, speaking of the tissue sample scar, in one of my pics, you may notice a black scar on the ventral-underside of the female...I wonder if that one was one that was sampled?
Also, a quick question-How old do you think that female is? I didn't weigh it or anything, but it was huge!
Zach
Richard F. Hoyer
Posts: 639
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 1:14 pm

Re: Some flipped boas from this morning 10/11/2010

Post by Richard F. Hoyer »

Zach:
Tissue is always taken on the right dorsal side of the tail an inch so below the snake's vent. The scar on the female boa shown in your photo appears to be somewhere along mid body. Scars that large indicate the original wound was fairly large which in turn suggests an attack by a large rodent such as a gopher or ground squirrel.

In order to produce a reasoned estimate as to the age of the large female in your photo, I would need to have background data on the population that occurs in the Santa Cruz Mts. similar to the type of information at my disposal for the local boa population here in the vicinity of Corvallis, Oregon. That is, information would be needed on the mean (average) adult length of males and females, mean length of neonates (newborn boas), and some information on growth rates for the various age glasses of boas in that region. And then I would need to know the stretched length of the female boa you found.

If one makes the assumption that the life history of the boa population in the Santa Cruz Mts. is similar to the boas here in northwestern Oregon, and if the female was in the neighborhood of 26 inches, then her age likely would be around 20 - 30 years, possibly greater. If she was 27 inches, then she likely could have been 30 to 45 or more years old.

Richard F. Hoyer
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