The humorously scientifically inaccurate 1997 American horror film, Anaconda didn’t help with the boa’s public relations campaign, either. The frightening stigma carried by the boa is due to its size-it’s pretty large compared to many common house pets, growing anywhere from 6.5 to 9.6 feet long. Though there are records of injury from a particularly tight squeeze from a boa, these incidents do not represent most interactions with domesticated boas.

But most animals with teeth or fangs - even’s man’s best friend - will strike in self-defense. Harmless might be a stretch, but boas are not generally aggressive creatures. The boa’s lethal reputation is not exactly well-deserved. Image Credit: Piqsels Are Boa Constrictors Dangerous to Humans? Though the scientists did not utilize any means to track brain activity, Boback notes that the lack of blood supply to the brain would likely hasten the rats’ departures.īoas do not need venom to kill their prey they’re armed and dangerous without it. Their potassium levels went through the roof, likely from burst cells, suggesting that they’d gone into cardiac arrest. Within seconds, the rats’ arterial blood pressure dropped, and their venous pressure rose, meaning their hearts could move blood in neither direction. The study was conducted on rats implanted with electrocardiogram electrodes in the arteries, which carry the blood away from the heart, and the veins, which carry the blood back. True to their name, they wrap their bodies around their prey and squeeze the life out of them! A common misconception is that boas kill their prey by suffocation however, scientists have recently discovered that the demise of their prey is quicker and more painless than suffocation.Īs Researcher Scott Boback at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania confirmed, when a boa squeezes down on the body of its target, the force is so great that the body’s blood flow is stopped completely. Image Credit: Piqselsīoas have no such fangs or venom to speak of. The snake’s venom, on the other hand, is poisonous. The snake itself is not poisonous it’s venomous. If it bites you and you get sick, it’s venomous. In layman’s terms, if you bite something and get sick, it’s poisonous.

The word ‘poisonous’ means “causing or capable of death when taken into the body” while ‘venomous’ means “(of an animal) secreting a poisonous substance, usually injected into the body by stinging or biting”. What’s the Difference Between Poisonous and Venomous? However, boas do have teeth and their bite - should you experience it - is painful, but the bite itself is not particularly dangerous. Boa constrictors don’t have fangs and they’re most certainly not venomous. Such is the case of the boa constrictor, who’s primary offensive (and defensive) weapon is right there in its name-constrictor. However, this general stereotype fails to consider some significant variation between species. When most people think of snakes, we think of deadly fangs, lethal venom, and the shaking of a rattlesnake’s tail.

Boa constrictor pet info