Boa constrictors are pinkish or tan in color, with dark crossbands. They range in length is from 20 inches (50 cm) as neonates to 13 feet (3.9 m) as adults. The longest recorded specimen was 18 feet (5.5 m) long. Larger members of the Boidae family have heat-sensitive pits on its head, but this snake has more simple heat-sensitive scales. These snakes are solitary and nocturnal.
This snake feeds on large lizards, small or moderate-sized birds, opossums, bats, mongooses, rats, and squirrels. It is a nocturnal hunter and uses its heat-sensitive scales to locate its prey. The boa constrictor’s preferred prey is bats, which they catch by hanging from the branches of trees or the mouths of caves, grabbing them out of the air as they fly by, and killing them by constriction.
The longest recorded boa constrictor was 18 feet (5.5 m) long.