This absolutely beautiful snake is a male BOA CONSTRICTOR named Boaz.  In the wild, Boa constrictors are found in Central and South America and some of the southern islands of the Caribbean, although like all of my animals Boaz was bred in captivity in the UK. 

I obtained Boaz in August 2008 when he measured just a little over 7 feet in length, or 2 metres 20cm!  He currently weighs close to 6kg, making him easily the largest snake I have ever kept to date.  Although this may sound large, Boa constrictors regularly exceed 10 feet or 3 metres in length, and the largest one ever found in the wild measured a huge 18.5 feet, or nearly 6 metres!!  Boaz was approximately five years old when I received him, so there is a chance that he still has quite a bit of growing to do yet! 

I have found it hard to take a good photograph of his whole body as it is difficult to get him all in the frame of the camera, but I took this one whilst standing on my sofa as Boaz explored my lounge floor for the first time!!

Boa constrictors have beautiful skin as shown by the pictures above and in more detail by this one below, and they can be very variable in their colour and pattern.  Whilst Boaz isn't the very brightest coloured example of the species I have seen, he certainly is still a beautiful one and his skin really needs to be seen up close to fully appreciate its beauty.

It is hard to visualise just how big Boaz is from the pictures above, so hopefully these ones of him with his proud owner will help to give you some idea!  As well as being the biggest snake I have ever had in my collection he is also definitely one of the calmest and most tolerant of being handled.  He was regularly handled by his previous owners and their young children so he is quite used to being in contact with people, making him ideal for me to introduce to children and adults as part of my Jungle Roadshow.  As well as his large size you can also hopefully see from my expression just how pleased I am to have Boaz as part of my animal collection!

Like all snakes Boaz has a forked tongue which he often flicks in and out to smell or taste the air, and I was lucky enough to catch him doing this on camera on the day I collected him! 

As well as having a forked tongue, like all snakes Boaz also has to shed his skin regularly.  The picture below, when compared to those above, clearly shows the difference in his skin colour before shedding.  Before shedding his colours are really dull, and his eyes have a bluish or cloudy appearance.  This is caused by a build-up of fluid between the old outer skin and the new inner skin.  This fluid helps Boaz to shed his skin when the time is right, by allowing it to slide off more easily. 

The picture below, of Boaz' complete shed skin from November 2008, gives some idea of how large he is!  To give the picture some sense of scale, I am about 5' 9" or 175 cm tall!