REPTILES: SNAKES

Rubber Boa, Charina bottae

Family Boidae (Boas)

Size: Up to 30"

Range: Northwestern Colorado

Habitat: A wide variety of habitats including woodlands, meadows, and streamsides

In addition to the rosy boa, the rubber boa is the only other member of this family native to the United States, preferring the cool, moist conditions it finds here. It has a stout, muscular body, tiny eyes with vertical pupils, a small, blunt head, and a thick, blunt tail tip that resembles another head. The scales are small, sleek, and smooth, giving the appearance of rubber. The color is unmarked brown, reddish, or greenish-gray above, and yellow along the underside. Secretive and docile, the rubber boa will burrow or hide under leaves, rocks, or rotten wood if threatened. It will curl into a ball with its head buried and tail exposed when provoked, almost never biting as a defense. Active during night or twilight, the boa moves on the ground or in trees, or it swims. It uses constriction to subdue its prey of shrews, other small mammals, and birds; it also eats eggs.