Rainbow Boas
Epicrates cenchria. There are nearly a dozen subspecies
of rainbow boas, inhabiting much of Central and South America. The
Brazilian Rainbow boa (Epicrates cenchria cenchria) is the largest,
maxing out at a slender 7 feet or so. The smallest is found only in
the Jonestown area of Guyana in the wild, but the sub-species
(E.c. ssp.) is becoming common through captive breeding programs, at
least in the US.
Rainbow boas live in wet areas; by rivers, streams, lakes or
swamps. These areas tend to be somewhat inaccessible to humans and
these snakes are shy and nocturnal, so they have not been widely
studied in the wild.
Here is my Rainbow Boa Care
Sheet.
My Rainboa boas:
- Rain Boa - Male Colombian Rainbow boa (Epicrates cenchria
maurus). Purchased from a pet store in 1990. He was about 1
to 2 years old at the time. He was quite possibly wild caught, with
origins in Costa Rica. (Louis Porras, pers. comm.) Rain died in October
2011.
- Zephyr - Female Colombian Rainbow Boa (Epicrates cenchria
maurus). Zephyr came to ZooHerp in Sandy, Utah early in 1992.
She was probably around 2 years old at the time. She is also quite
possibly wild caught, with origins in Costa Rica. She is large,
over 6 feet, with a nice reddish brown coloration and distinct dark
brown markings. With a little help from Rain, Zephyr gave birth to
13 babies on July 7, 1994 and 23 babies on May 6, 1997. Rain and
Zephyr were seperated early in 1997. All of the offspring were
sold. Zephyr was also sold in August 2001.
- Cloud - Female Guyanan Rainbow Boa (Epicrates cenchria
ssp.). Cloud is captive bred and came to Colorado by way of
Virginia in April 1995. Dave Ruska (a former breeder of rainbow
boas) identified her as a member of a small subspecies originating
from Guyana. She was born in the summer of 1993. Cloud is a very
pretty little snake, only about 4 feet long and slender. Her
markings are in shades of caramel, chocolate and cream. Cloud was
sold in October 2001.
- Mist - Female Colombia Rainbow Boa (Epicrate cenchria
maurus). After a while I started to regret selling Zephyr and
Cloud, so when I ran into a 6-9 month old juvenile at a local reptile
show I bought her. That was late January 2006. Mist died in August
2018.
In captivity a neonate Rainbow boa will feed on pinky or fuzzy
mice. Some will only start on live fuzzies. As adults mine were happy
with frozen/thawed rats. Cloud ate mostly small rats. Rain ate small
or medium rats. Zephyr ate medium or large rats. Mist started on hopper
rats and eventually ate mostly medium and sometimes large rats.
All my rainbow boas have lived in this big
cage, at some point or another. The cage is for sale.
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