Brazilian or Columbian rainbow boa?

[AmandaRussell]

I have to do a report for school on rainforest animals and I chose a rainbow boa . Are both types of snakes in the rainforest?How are they different.

[Rust316]

Amanda,

Neat Stars Wars stuff.

I cannot give you an answer from personal knowledge, or a direct answer, but this comes from our book The Living Boas, A Complete Guide to the Boas of the World by Jerry G. Walls:

"Rainbow boas have a gigantic range extending from Costa Rica and Panama south over much of northern South America to Northern Argentina. The range has many discontinuities, and there are many gaps where Rainbows are not found. Though some nince subspecies are recognized, some are doubtfully distinct and others probably are full species as they seem to be isolated and not sharing genes with other forms."

"Rainbows are very adaptable terrestrial boas that also climb well. They are found from relatively dry savannas to within the edges of the rainforest and also along the coast."

[Rust316]

Found some more stuff for you.

This time from another book of ours. Rainbow Boas and Neotropical Tree Boas, R.D. Bartlett.

Brazilian Rainbow boa- "has a variable coloration, but is always pretty...it is attractively colored and strongly patterned throughout life. It is one of the five brightly colored races. The ground color of the back and upper sides is brownish orange to a quite bright orange red.....This subspecies occurs pretty much across the Amazon basin from the Guinaas and eastern Brazil to easternmost Peru."

Columbian Rainbow boa- "a savanna boa that ranges southward from Costa Rica to central Columbia and western Venezuela. Juveniles ...are marked much like any typical Brazilian rainbow boa, and some are nearly as richly colored. However, as they grow, the pattern dulls, becoming increasingly suffused by the ground color of light to dark brown. By the time the snake is two years old, the pattern is usually all but gone, and it fades even more as the snake continues to age. Fully adult Columbian rainbow boas are usually close to unicolored." They also have a heavy build.

[NicoleRussell]

thanks Rust! We are trying to decide which is more common in the rain forest...I'm thinking it's a tie?