what does a 9' cribo eat?.....

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Posted by dan felice on January 17, 2003 at 16:25:52:

In Reply to: Re: Big Yellow-tail...indeed... posted by regalringneck on January 17, 2003 at 15:05:16:

:So we will have to wait patiently & hope a slide scanner shows up near you.
:I cant imagine though that the boa was fleeing a cribo, theres obviously no point. I did read an account in Snakes of Belize (I think..) of a 7'+ cribo thrashing about & finally consuming a 4'+ boa!
:I have done a number of feeding trials w/ live boidae & have documented other defense strategies that work better than flight! Unfortunately...curious minds must await a future publication!
:One day, I too shall explore the herptilian promissed lands down south....
:C&B;jg

::I do have shots of the 9'1" Yellow-tail but they are Fuji 35mm transparencies. Bill Lamar and I were co-guiding a Greentracks expedition in Peru about four years ago. On a jungle trail at about 3:00 pm, a snake shot out at full speed behind me and in front of an older woman from Louisiana. As the snake crossed the trail between us, she screamed "copperhead!" As I turned I saw a three foot long boa constrictor that was moving like I've never seen a boa move. I grabbed it and sure enough, this woman knew what a copperhead looked like. It was fawn with dark hour-glass shaped crossbands...

::A second later there was a huge disturbance off to the side of the trail. Everybody joked later that the waving ferns and crashing about was reminescent of a scene from Jurassic Park! Bill took off in pursuit while I crashed around to head it off. Suddenly this fist-sized yellow head appeared right in front of my face. I grabbed but couldn't get a good hold because Bill was nine feet away on the ground, holding on to the tail.

::It was a killer and smelled the place up, but later was perfectly tame. We measured him three times with fishing line and seven pairs of hands. All three times the result was nine feet, one inch long. I still wonder if that little boa wasn't running for his life when we found him!

::This was the biggest colubrid snake I have ever been in on capturing. I have collected Spilotes and Chironius that were longer but never so overall massive. TV

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you guessed it.....anything it wants. john, cribos that size didn't get that way accidentally. in the jungle, they specialize at eating other snakes. it's the perfect shape to be swallowed easily. a 3' boa vs a 9' yt.....no contest! not even close.

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