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LoginMadagascar is a truly amazing place that is vanishing right before our very eyes. It has the distinction of being the world’s fourth largest island and earning the name of microcontinent due to its size and unique biodiversity. It is home to a group of well-known flora and fauna including all of the lemurs in the world as well as three of my favorite boa. This includes the Dumeril’s Boa, the Madagascan Ground Boa and the two color phases of the Sanzinia Tree Boa all of which are protected and endangered.
The Dumeril’s Boa in the wild is becoming harder and harder to find
What’s interesting about the snakes of Madagascar is that even though the country is located between Africa, India, Malaysia and Australia it has no Pythons and no Venomous snakes . What it does have is Colubrids and Boas which is strange since the closest Boas in the wild to Madagascar are thousands of miles away in South America and the South Pacific. It also has a diverse and growing human population which is turning the trees into coal and the forests into farmlands and by doing so threatening every species on the Island including the Dumeril’s Boa.
Years ago before the Ball Python fever gripped the reptile industry to the core, the three Madagascan Boas were some of the most sought after animals around. The Madagascan Ground Boa (Acrantophis madagascariensis), the Dumeril’s Boa (Acrantophis dumerili) and the arboreal Sanzinia Boa (Sanzinia madagascariensis) were all prized possessions and many breeders looked for the opportunity to work with these endangered species. As the market started changing and the much easier to breed Ball Python Morphs displaced the harder to breed and harder to sell across borders Madagascan Boas, these animals became as rare in captivity as they are in the wild. The very laws designed to protect them started to make sure that they are gone from collections as well.
Finding a Dumeril’s Boa for sale today
The argument that certain protective laws have hampered the captive production of endangered species is not unique to these three Boas. This scenario has affected the North American Indigo Snake, the Indian Python, the San Francisco Blue Sided Garter Snake and many other reptile species that would otherwise thrive in the countless captive facilities around the world. At xyzReptiles we appreciate the fragile balance between the loss of a species in the wild and the reproduction and maintenance of that same animal in the careful and considerate hands of the public. We carry a select number of the Dumeril’s Boa for sale and will work to make the other two harder to find Madagascan Boas available to the public as well.