Fun Rubber Boa Facts For Kids

The rubber boa, or popularly known as northern rubber boa, is a species of snake belonging to North America. They are some of the nonvenomous species of snakes found in the world. Also, they are the smallest one among the boa snakes family. The boa got the name rubber boa due to their skin which is loose and full of wrinkles, also consisting of small scales that are smooth and shiny, giving them a rubber-like look. The color of the rubber boa snake may vary from tan to dark brown, olive-green, yellow, or orange and sometimes with a lighter color on its ventral surface. The eyes of the rubber boa are slightly unique from the other boa species as they have small eyes with vertically elliptical pupils. They have a short blunt head with the same width as their body. Sometimes people mistake their tails with their heads as it is the most unique and clean identification of the boa snake which is very easily noticeable.

The distribution of the boa snakes species can be found in various parts of the world such as the western United States, on the Pacific Coast from different parts of east to western Utah and Montana, San Bernardino and San Jacinto Mountains from east of Los Angeles in California. In terms of the eating habits of boa snakes, they are known to feed on various kinds of small mammals like shrews, voles, mice, and other such creatures. Usually, they try to eat the leaf litter or young ones of these animals which are very easy to prey on. So let's read on to know more about the northern rubber boa and understand how these species stand different from all the other species of snakes.

If you like these facts on rubber boas, you might also like to read our facts on the emerald tree boa and corn snake.
 

What type of animal is a Rubber Boa?

Rubber boas, scientifically known as the rubber boa Charina bottae, is one of the non-venomous kinds of snake which is found mostly in North America which is why it is also known as northern rubber boa.

What class of animal does a Rubber Boa belong to?

This species of snakes falls under the classification of reptiles or scientifically known as Reptilia. Reptiles are one of the only cold-blooded egg-laying animals to be found in the world.

How many Rubber Boas are there in the world?

No data is presented which tells us exactly how many rubber boas are present currently in the world, though the snake comes under the Least Concern species which means there are still plenty of them available.

Where does a Rubber Boa live?

The climate zones where the northern rubber boa snake is available or seen are plenty. Boas can be found in the continent of Northern America and in some parts of southern America too which gives them the name of southern rubber boa.

What is a Rubber Boa's habitat?

The rubber boa is also known for being in a wide variety of habitats from grassland, meadows, deciduous to coniferous forest. During the time of winter, snakes undergo hibernation because of their habit of living in temperate regions. They choose dens for that period of time. The northern rubber boa is one the most docile snake species to be known and is often used to overcome the fear of snakes. Also, they are very slow-moving, usually found under logs and rocks in either moist or dry forest habitats.

Who do Rubber Boas live with?

The northern rubber boa snake species are mostly seen living alone or sometimes live with other snakes of the same species but it is very rare to see snakes living together, aside from during mating time, as they prefer to live alone in the open wild.

How long does a Rubber Boa live?

Talking about the lifespan of the northern rubber boa snakes, how much they can live varies from 10-30 years. Up till the age of 30 years, they become old and there are different kinds of diseases that affect them.  

How do they reproduce?

The reproduction process of these snakes isn't that complicated as they complete the process of mating right after coming out from hibernation in spring and the young ones are born from August to November later that year. These snakes also show the property of viviparity which means that they directly give birth to the young ones and the snake eggs in rubber boas are carried inside the female. A northern rubber boa can have nine young ones in a year, but females reproduce once in a four-year cycle. The maturity age for reproduction in boa snakes is different in both male and female snakes as the male gets active at the age of three or four years and the female at the age of four to five years old.

What is their conservation status?

The conservation status of rubber boas is under the Least Concern category as there's no threat to the species currently and they are present in abundance.

What do Rubber Boas look like?

The look of the northern rubber boa snakes is different from the other boa species. They have small eyes with vertically elliptical pupils and a short blunt head with the same width of their body. Sometimes people mistake their tails with their heads as they are often coiled up. The northern rubber boa has quite shiny scales making it look rubbery, The color of the northern rubber boa snake is fairly plain and may vary from tan to dark brown, olive-green, yellow, or orange. Sometimes the under ventral surface of the northern rubber boa may be of a lighter color. The newborn rubber boas are a bit different in colors and look, they are small often appearing pink and slightly transparent.

How cute are they?

Snakes are not really considered as cute or termed as cute animals as most of us are scared of reptiles from different species and boas are one of them. If we are scared of a certain animal then it is unlikely to be considered as cute in any possible way!

How do they communicate?

There is no concrete evidence of boa snakes communicating to each other in any way, although there are lots of studies going on to learn about the behavior and to understand these creatures more and more.

How big is a Rubber Boa?

Though the rubber boa (Charina bottae) is the smallest among the species of the boas, it might still be pretty long when if we try to measure its exact length. The main difference is to be seen in the adults and young boa snake. The adult snakes might be ranging from 15-33.1 in (38-84 cm) long and the newborn or the young ones are about 7.5-9.1 in (23 cm) long.

How fast can a Rubber Boa move?

The moving pattern of snakes is usually described as crawling. When it comes to the crawling of rubber boas, they can do that at a pretty good pace, though there's no exact speed on record with which they can travel. From visual experience and sightings, it has been observed that they can chase their food with a good speed.

How much does a Rubber Boa weigh?

The rubber boas don't weigh much. They can range from 80-100 g.

What are their male and female names of the species?

No such specific names given to the species of rubber boas, only they can be distinguished with physical traits such as length which is longer in males.

What would you call a baby Rubber Boa?

There is no specific name for the baby rubber boas, but we can call them a rubber boa baby if we want, or a snakelet or neonate like other snakes.

What do they eat?

Since rubber boas are slow at crawling, they prefer eating what is very easily available to them. Therefore, they prey on young nestling mammals like voles, shrews, young birds, and deer mice. They are nocturnal in nature when it comes to eating habits. Sometimes the diet of the Charina bottae rubber boa includes other snake eggs too. They are carnivores.

Are they poisonous?

No, they are not either poisonous or venomous. Instead, they are one of the rare reptiles or snake species that are not venomous or poisonous in any terms. Though they are known to leak a mucus substance on those who try to harm them or intimidate the rubber boas in any certain way, this is not at all poisonous or venomous.

Would they make a good pet?

We don't think that they would make a great pet as these animals are meant for living in the wild, so we wouldn't recommend you to have them as pets. It would be best to leave these snakes to their natural habitats.

Did you know...

Rubber boas are considered as one of the most docile of the boa species and are used by people to overcome their fear of snakes. If you have a fear of snakes, you might like to hold a rubber boa!

The tail and face resemblance in rubber boas is also pretty strong. This often makes the predators of rubber boas confused about where is what.

The rubber boa (Charina bottae) covers a very large range of different places where they can be found such as the western United States, British Columbia, and Canada. These are highest possibilities place to find rubber boas.

The existence of the southern rubber boa has been confirmed in the San Bernardino and San Jacinto mountains.

Do Rubber Boas have teeth?

Yes, rubber boas do have teeth, but they never bite. If they get in any kind of threat or attacked by any predators they try to roll up their body around the predators. The rubber boas become a ball-like object and wave their tail around to deter the predator.

Can you own Rubber Boas?

There's no such hard rule for not owning rubber boas but they have no such qualities in them of being a  good pet. There are some restrictive regulations that mean that finding captive-bred rubber boas is not possible. It is also illegal to sell rubber boas that have been taken from the wild in North America. More importantly, they are very fond of the wildness and of being in nature so you really must able to provide them with that if you are planning to own one.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly animal facts for everyone to discover! Learn more about some other reptiles including rattlesnake, or kingsnake.

You can even occupy yourself at home by drawing one on our rubber boas coloring pages.