RANGE | Widely found across northern and central South America east of the Andes Mountains. The most colorful specimens generally come from the northwestern part of the range.

FUN FACTS | These snakes are NOT vipers, so do not possess any venom. They are, instead, constrictors. Like all snakes, they sense their environment by sticking out their forked tongue to collect molecules and chemical trails with scent. They bring their tongue into their mouth and into a Jacobson’s organ at the roof of their mouth. They can determine the size of an animal by using heat-sensitve receptor pits under their eyes. Once they grab their prey, they use their powerful muscles to cut off the blood supply—or occasionally oxygen—by squeezing tightly. Unlike human jaws, where only the bottom jaw moves, both the upper and lower jaw move in snakes. Their jaw bones and skull are connected by muscles, tendons and ligaments to allow significant mobility so snakes can swallow large prey whole, despite having multiple sets and kinds of teeth.

Female boa constrictors are ovoviviparous which means they do not lay eggs but actually give live birth, ranging from 20–60 babies. When boas feel threatened or are fighting, they will ball their tail up tightly to resemble another head. This distracts the predator and then the snake will bite down with their real head. They also hiss loudly enough that it can be heard 100 feet away. These boas are native to the Amazon rainforests where they use their coloration to camouflage among the branches and leaves as they wait to ambush their prey, typically rodents.

Udon was originally purchased in a pet store. The person seemed to lose interest in her after a few years, leaving her water dry and forgetting to feed her, so his roommate started caring for the snake. When the person moved out of state, he assured his roommate he would come back for the snake and take care of her but he never returned. The roommate was moving to an apartment that did not allow pets. While we cannot take in everyone’s unwanted pets, when the roommate reached out to us, we really appreciated the care he put into an animal that wasn’t even his responsibility and wanted to help. We were able to create an enclosure for Udon.

While she really likes her pool, she LOVES to hang out in her tub of hay. While it might seem like it would feel scratchy to her, she burrows down and enjoys her warm bed. We also often find her stretched across the ladder we made of branches that fell during winter storms a few years ago.

For reptiles, it is all about texture. Udon loves to crawl over—and through—tubes and toys. We use plastic chains to hang items for her to explore. Items that enable and encourage her to move up and down are also very appealing for this arboreal snake, such as heavy duty hula-hoops and plastic ladders.