Red-Tail Boa Snakes

Video Transcript

"What I've got here now is a red-tail boa. They are called red-tail boas because of their red tail. They are a large species of terrestrial boa, meaning they are not treed well, and they live on the ground. They get roughly eight to nine feet long, depending on sex and genetics. They are a, as of that, they are a large snake. They're relatively well-mannered. As you can see, this one is totally tame, very nice. This is definitely a female, in fact, she's been sexed. And how they do that with most snakes, is, snakes are not sexually dimorphic for the most part, is, there's the vent right here. And they take a small probe, a thin little piece of metal, and they slowly insert it into the vent. And judging by how far, how many scales up that goes, will determine whether it's a male or a female. You never want to probe a snake on your own. You always want to have an expert do it, as you can injure the snake and cause damage to it's sexual organs, and other organs as well. So you always want to make sure that, you know, you're having somebody who knows what they're doing do that. This is not an average coloration for a red-tail boa. Usually she would be a much darker brown instead of this more of a salmon color. And the reason that is, is because she's got a certain percentage of hypo in her, which is a type of color form. It's very much like a albino. It's basically the lacking of certain pigmentation. That's why she's not as brown as she would normally be, and it's also why her tail is not as deep of a red as it would normally be. Usually it would be a much darker, darker brownish-red than the kind of orange we're almost getting on her down around here. They're typically, if they're captive born, really well-mannered snakes, though they do get big. So, you know, always be aware of that. You don't ever want to get into something more than you can handle. And you can also see, see her flicking her little tongue around, smelling, checking everything out. They're very, very beautiful snakes, one of my personal favorites. They're just, they're just wonderful to hold and handle. They're just so well-behaved and well-mannered, and they're so beautiful."