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Boas occur nearly world-wide in tropical and subtropical environments, but are absent from Australia. They are represented in Europe by a single species, the Javelin Sand Boa (Eryx jaculatus). Many, myself included, are surprised to learn that the Rubber Boa (Charina bottae) ranges as far north as southern Canada. Boas reach their greatest diversity in Latin America, where they are sometimes the largest terrestrial predators in their habitats. Madagascar and several Caribbean and South Pacific islands are home to numerous endemic, and often rare, species.
Boas and pythons occupy nearly every conceivable habitat, including deserts, rainforests, major cities, farms, arid woodlands, swamps, cloud forests, sand dunes, grasslands, large rivers, and many others. Some are highly specialized for life in the water, treetops, or below ground, while others, such as the Common Boa (Boa constrictor), are habitat generalists.
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All pythons produce eggs which in most if not all species are incubated by the female. By contracting their muscles, or “shivering”, females can raise the temperature of their clutch by as much as 40 F.
With a single exception (the African Ground “Python”, Calabaria reinhardtii, formerly classified as a python), all boas and anacondas give birth to live young.
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Many boas and pythons are generalists that consume a wide variety of mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. For example, field studies show that the Common Boa takes tamanduas, green iguanas, raccoons, bats, monkeys, birds and a huge array of other creatures with equal gusto.
Specialists are also common. Mexico’s Oaxacan Dwarf Boa, an inhabitant of cool cloud forests, feeds primarily upon frogs, salamanders and their eggs, while the reptile-partial Black Headed and Woma Pythons include frilled lizards, bearded dragons and blue-tongued skinks in their diets
Mammals weighing in excess of 100 pounds, large crocodilians, turtles and other seemingly “unlikely” meals are taken by the giants of each group. Please see the article linked below for more on large, odd snake meals.
Reticulated Python Attacks
Odd and Giant Snake Meals
Anaconda Care and Natural History