JUNGLE JEWELS

Meet the expert UK breeders working with some of the most sought-after reptiles in the hobby.

The emerald tree boa shares many similarities with the precious stones that helped coin their name. Both are vibrant green, found in South America and fetch an impressive price for their encapsulating beauty.

Emerald Tree Boas

The emerald tree boa (Corallus caninus) was first discovered in 1758 by Carlos Linnaeus. Since then, the Amazon basin emerald tree boa (Corallus batesii) has been described as an entirely new species by Henderson et al. This discovery in 2009 lead C. caninus to now be referred to as the northern emerald tree boa, due to its range of northern South American countries such as Guyana and Suriname.

Both species share many traits in the wild. They are ovoviviparous, meaning they birth live young. These youngsters go through an ontogenic colour change, displaying tones of deep red or bright orange before developing their signature green colouration after 12 months. Like most boas, they also have a very prominent heat-seeking pit organ across their jawline. This organ allows the snake to sense thermal radiation and gives these nocturnal reptiles an impeccable hunting ability.

Life In The Trees

Like many arboreal snake species, the emerald tree boa has developed a reputation for being somewhat ‘cranky’ within the hobby. As they spend almost all of their time in the trees, they are typically more defensive than terrestrial snakes of the same family.

Opting to coil themselves into an iconic pose on canopy branches through the day, this species will uncoil itself to hunt rodents and other reptiles through the night. This is where the emerald tree boa achieves its infamy as a species not to get tagged by. The original name caninus translates from Latin to ‘dog’. This is because C. caninus has the largest teeth, proportionate to body size, of any species of non-venomous snake. These huge curved teeth are designed to grip the boa’s prey, allowing the snake to constrict and swallow the unfortunate victim, without the need to leave the canopy.

Seeing Double

Within the exotic pet trade, both northern emerald tree boas (C. caninus) and Amazon basin emerald tree boas (C. batesii) have established themselves as popular animals. The former species is by far the most readily available, but as studies grow, the latter is proving to be a much more desirable species for hobbyists to keep.

As the name suggests, the Amazon basin emerald

SPECIES PROFILE

COMMON NAME: AMAZON BASIN EMERALD TREE BOA

SCIENTIFIC NAME: CORALLUS BATESII

ORIGIN: AMAZON BASIN, SOUTH AMERICA (BRAZIL, PERU, COLOMBIA, ECUADOR, SOUTHERN VENEZUELA AND SOUTHERN SURINAME)

HABITAT: LOWLAND TROPICAL RAINFOREST

SIZE: 7 – 9 FEET

DIET: SMALL MAMMALS (YOUNG FEED ON REPTILES AND INVERTEBRATES)

CAPTIVITY

LONGEVITY: LIMITED DATA (EXPECTED 20+ YEARS)

TEMPERATURE: 80-82°F (95°F SPOT)

DIFFICULTY: EXPERIENCED - EXPERT tree boa has a vast range stretching across Brazil into Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. The northern emerald tree boa has a distribution much further North including Guyana and Venezuela. This has lead the species to often be referred to as the Guyana shield emerald tree boa.

Visually, there are a handful of differences between the northern and the Amazon basin emerald tree boas. Firstly, the Amazon basins are much larger than their northern cousins. A northern emerald tree boa will typically reach between four and six feet in length. An Amazon basin, on the other hand, can reach up to nine feet in length, dwarfing the other species. C. batesii is also a lot thicker in size and has a long white dorsal stripe that usually extends the full length of the snake’s body. Within the hobby, a thick white stripe is often preferable for its visually striking appearance. The northern emerald tree boa has white lateral markings that often take the form of lightning bolt shapes, against a lighter green tone.

THE GEM OF ANY COLLECTION…

Sean Collinson, founder of Black Country Boas (@black_country_boas) has been breeding emerald tree boas for several years. As one of the very few breeders in the UK to establish healthy breeding collections, Exotics Keeper Magazine interviewed him on his expertise with the species.

Sean said: “The emerald tree boa is considered the gem of any collection. The Amazon basins have been really popular abroad for a number of years but they’re just so difficult to get hold of in the UK. The Amazon basins are so much hardier than the northerns. They typically do quite well in captivity. They have better temperaments, often feed better and they’re much easier to breed, but they just haven’t established themselves in the UK yet.”

“With many restrictions on sourcing specimens from Brazil, it took a long time for anyone to get a successful breeding project established. This means we still have limited bloodlines within the hobby. At one point, there only seemed to be one breeder in the UK for the Amazon basins. He really pioneered the thicker stripes and bolder patterns that people want today.”

Amazon basin emerald tree boas can reach in excess of £3,000 for an adult female. Individuals that exhibit strikingly prominent white in their colouration are typically in the highest demand. However, the species is notoriously difficult to breed in captivity.

Sean continued: “Amazon basins are a challenging species to breed. They aren’t like other, more popular boa and python species, they’re extremely picky with their partners. This requires swapping bloodlines with other experts to ensure a healthy diverse population of captive bred specimens.”

“When a juvenile is born, they weigh between 30 and 50 grams. They won’t reach breeding age until they weigh between 1.8 and two kilograms, which is a good five to six years of growth. This is also a reason many breeders are discouraged from working with the Amazon basins.”

A Precious Pet For The Experienced Enthusiast

Neither species of emerald tree boa is suitable for the novice keeper. However, those hobbyists that have experience with boas can find the Amazon basin emerald tree boa to be an extremely rewarding and visually stunning species to keep.

Sean at Black Country Boas said “there’s a lot of misconceptions about keeping emerald tree boas.

I think this comes from the horror stories and bad husbandry that went on` when the species first gained popularity in America. People would keep their animals wet, saying things like ‘if they aren’t misted enough they’ll drop off their perch and die’ and this just isn’t true. They do require some misting a couple of times a week, but I think those mistakes in the early days have given them a reputation.”

“The best tip for keeping this species is to keep things simple. Static perches of 10-12mm for adults and 6mm for juveniles is perfect. As long as the surface

Brian Stevens, of B n R Reptiles (@b_n_r_reptiles_insta), is an expert breeder who has been working with green tree pythons and emerald tree boas for decades. He said: “Green tree pythons are typically much harder to work with than the emerald tree boas, especially raising them from hatchlings. Emerald tree boas will usually feed more readily. Green tree pythons are also not great with travelling, taking much longer to settle into their new environment. Occasionally you will see some that cope really well and settle in okay, but the is rough and static, to prevent the animal from spinning around when feeding, it’ll be great. If you observe these snakes in the wild, you’ll often see them on branches that look far too small, that’s because they prefer this. Fresh water is key, also. Make sure that water is always clean and changed regularly”

Breeders across the world are starting to establish defined morphs of the emerald tree boas in captivity. The most popular of the five morphs recognised within the hobby is the almost patternless ‘anaconda’ phase of C caninus. Despite a reputation for both species being aggressive, the emerald tree boas in Sean’s collection seem to exhibit a clear spectrum of aggression.

Sean said: “When talking about emerald tree boa temperaments there’s a pretty clear scale. The Amazon basins are by far the easiest to work with - think ‘new-born puppy’. They’re still challenging but have an alright temperament. The Northerns are more like aggressive dogs – leave them alone because they will bite. The anaconda phases, well, they’re straight savages. I can’t speak for all of them, but the ones in my collection really are hard work! The anaconda phase was first bred in captivity in 2007 in the Netherlands. We’ve still got a lot to learn about these.”

As husbandry for the emerald tree boa improves across the hobby, experts are learning more about how to keep these animals effectively. As their emeralds are much better at this.”

“In my opinion, the emerald tree boa is the pinnacle of snakes. For the experienced keeper who has kept lots of snakes and looking to branch out into arboreals, they’re a great snake. I would definitely recommend researching the breeder first though. In this respect, the emerald tree boa is usually the better option as breeders of this species usually have decades of experience whereas there are a lot more people working with green tree pythons.” popularity grows, bloodlines will naturally stray further and further from the wild caught specimens in the generations before. Because of this, experts predict that the species will become much more manageable in future years.

Shine Bright Like A Python

Regardless of geographical locations, unrelated animals that have adapted to similar environments often share a wealth of characteristics and aesthetic parallels. This process is called convergent evolution and few species exhibit this more explicitly than the emerald tree boa and its Oceanic doppelganger; the green tree python (Morelia viridis).

The Boidae family (boas and anacondas) and the Pythonidae family (pythons) share many similarities. The key difference between boas and pythons lies in their reproductive habits. Boas give birth to live young, whereas pythons will lay eggs. Boas are also typically found in North, Central and South America as well as one species in Madagascar, whereas pythons are found across Asia, Africa and Australia.

The green tree python is an arboreal species found in the tropical rainforest canopies of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the Cape York Peninsula in Australia. Feeding on similar prey to the emerald tree boa, both hav1e large teeth and an aggressive temperament. Visually, both go through an ontogenic colour change as they grow older. Green tree pythons can exhibit a wider array of colours and markings but essentially share the same green tone, with a yellow underbelly and broken white patterns down the spine.

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD?

The Amazon basin emerald tree boa is present across a huge range. Because of this, it is considered ‘least concern’ by the IUCN, meaning there is little immediate threat to the wild populations. In this respect, the future of the species seems extremely bright. However, with mass deforestation happening across the Amazon Basin on a daily basis, this increases the need to create a healthy captive bred population.

Brian Stevens added: “I think the restrictions on removing these snakes from the wild are great. Although it’s made the species harder to come by, it stops them going directly to people without experience. I think 80% of the individuals that were first imported from the wild could have done much better if they only went to expert breeders.”

Although wild caught specimens are often necessary to keep bloodlines pure, the emerald tree boa is now breeding readily within captivity. However, it appears this desirable snake will hold its title of ‘sought after’ within the pet trade.

Sean Collinson concluded: “I really can’t see this species gaining popularity with breeders in the field any time soon. Yes, the demand is there but it’ll take decades, if that before anyone can truly meet this demand.”

With so many species of snakes much better suited to up and coming hobbyists, the emerald tree boa will remain a shining gemstone, only for the most experienced. However, the rise in popularity of the Amazon basins will certainly make this an exciting field to observe over the coming years.

Jungle jewels

For more information on Sean Collinson’s work at Black Country Boas visit www.corallusbatesii.co.uk

For information on Brian Stevens work at B n R `Reptiles, please visit the following socials: www.facebook.com/bnrreptile @b_n_r_reptiles_insta