The Pearl Islands Boa was originally described by Thomas Barbour in 1906 in the “Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology”. This paper was titled, “Vertebrata from the Savana of Panama”. The original description name he used was Epicrates sabogae.
In 1946 Doris M. Cochran renamed this subspecies as Constrictor constrictor sabogae in a paper titled “Notes on the Herpetology of the Pearl Islands, Panama “. She examined six young & half grown specimens from San Jose (the second largest Island in the Pearl Island archipelago). Her scale counts were as Follows: Mid Body Scale rows 73-75, Ventral Scales 240-250, Subcaudals Scales 54-68, Dorsal Saddles snout to vent 20-23 and caudal blotches as 5-6.
And Finally in 1951, Lothar Forcart changed the name to Boa constrictor sabogae. The change was made in the Scientific Journal “Herpetologica “in an article titled “Nomenclature Remarks on Some Generic Names of the Snake Family Boidae”. In this paper Forcart simply designated all the Boa subspecies to Boa constrictor from their past designation of Constrictor constrictor.
This small Island race ( adults are less than 5 feet ) is quite rare in captivity due to the fact that only a small number of shipments of boas from Panama have been imported to the U.S. under CITES. I have been fortunate enough to obtain a small group of these boas. My boas are pure Pearl Island boas & entered the US under CITES in 2005 as Boa c. sabogae. I am one of only a handfull of breeders in the U.S. with these Pure blooded Boas with provenance to Saboga Island. A copy of their original CITES comes with the purchase of any offspring from my adults.
An interesting & small boa that ironically produces small litters of large babies. Sabogae newborns are large for Island race boas & can eat medium sized mice at birth. My adults average 8 babies per litter.
Update 2010: I expect a few litters to birth in July.
Image of Boa c. sabogae in the wild by Mario Urriola
Image of Boa c. sabogae in Captivity by Vin Russo
Image of Boa c. sabogae in Captivity by Vin Russo
Image of Boa c. sabogae in the wild by Bob Sears
Image of Boa c. sabogae in Captivity by Vin Russo
Image of Boa c. sabogae Breeding by Vin Russo
Image of Map of Panama & Pearl Islands
Image of Boa c. sabogae minutes after birth by Vin Russo
Image of Boa c. sabogae after first shed by Vin Russo
Image of 09 Boa c. sabogae keeper by Vin Russo
Image of Boa c. sabogae litter born here
