Diet
Prey includes a wide variety of mammals and birds. The bulk of their diet consists of rodents, but larger lizards and mammals as big as ocelots are also reported to have been consumed. Young Boa constrictors will eat small mice, birds, bats, lizards and amphibians. The size of the prey item will increase as they get older and larger. Boa constrictors are ambush predators and as such will often lie in wait for an appropriate prey to come along at which point they will attack. However, they have also been known to actively hunt, particularly in regions with a low concentration of suitable prey, and this behaviour generally occurs at night. The boa will first strike at the prey, grabbing it with its teeth, it then proceeds to constrict the prey until death before consuming it whole. Their teeth also help force the animal down the throat whilst muscles then move it towards the stomach. It will take the snake approximately 4–6 days to fully digest the food, depending on the size of the prey and the local temperature. After this the snake may not eat for anywhere from a week to several months, due to its slow metabolism.
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