The supraocular areas of this northern Colombian boa baby are barely darkened.
For many decades Colombian boas, Boa constrictor imperator, were a major component in the American pet trade. In fact, they were the dominant and least expensive subspecies available. I purchased my first baby Colombian boa back in the early 1950s from Quivira Specialties Company in Topeka, Kansas. It cost me $4.65 plus postage. Yep—that was 4 dollars and 65 cents. You could buy a “red-tailed” boa for a couple of bucks more but they were less readily available and why would one need a boa with a redder tail that that borne by the Colombian (actually imperator is found from northern Mexico to northwestern South America) subspecies anyway?

What is a B. c. imperator? The call is pretty much made by the shape of the dark head marking. On this subspecies the longitudinal central marking ostensibly had a lateral projection to each eye. In reality the lateral projections could vary from well-defined to nearly absent. They were often represented by the supraocular scales being darkened but not connected to the longitudinal central mark. These projections are lacking on the more southerly forms. The red of the tail of imperator may vary from blackish-red in northern Mexico to dusty red in northern Colombia.

Boas, escaped or deliberately released, were known to have been established in South Florida since the 1960s. They were and are largely restricted to a small area of Miami. Of variable appearance. Some have the head markings and pale red tails that define the northern Colombian boas while others lack even vestiges of the horizontal head projections and have rich red tails suggesting a more southerly origin.

And since I recently lost all pix of Miami boas when a hard drive crashed, I guess it’s time to try my luck once more.