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Dumeril's Boa

All about the Dumeril's boas...

Dumeril’s Boas are broad non-venomous snakes that are black in color with dark brown blotches on their backs and cream-colored underbellies. Their coloring helps camouflage them in the leaf litter of the forest floor.

Females are occasionally longer than males reaching to seven feet in length and weighing around 20 pounds.

Dumeril's Boa Range Map showing coverage of the Southwest portion of Madagascar

Diet

They are obligate carnivores feeding predominantly on small mammals, small birds, small reptiles, and amphibians, insects, and arachnids.

Habitat

Dumeril’s Boas live in dry forest, thorn bush, and Savannah type habitat and are only found in Madagascar, on the east coast of Africa. 

Reproduction

Dumeril’s Boas are considered cathemeral - showing irregular periods of activity during both the night and day. Unlike mammals, they cannot thermoregulate and are often seen basking in the sun to warm up. They are solitary by nature pairing only during breeding season. Dumeril’s Boas are ambush predators and capture and incapacitate their prey before feeding them on them.

Female Dumeril’s Boas lay their eggs in winter and spring. They are ovoviviparous which means that although the young develop inside an egg within the female, they are delivered live. Females are known to deliver six to eight young which are usually eight to 12 to 18 inches in length

Conservation

Since the Dumeril's Boa populations in the wild are considered to be stable, they are categorized as Least Concern by the International Union for World Conservation. 

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