Owners of Boa constrictor (and other giant snakes) may find useful information in this book about how to handle, house and feed their pets and to better understand their behavior. Between 1991 and 2014, Prof. dr. Bert Verveen studied the behaviour of a pair of pet Boa constrictor and several of their neonates, all using his home as their territory. He analysed his findings and reported them in two Dutch journals,
Lacerta (Dutch) and Litteratura Serpentium (bilingual). This book contains the English translations
of these reports. The book contains four sections: the hunting stage (centered on feeding), digestion, and
ecdysis, while the behaviour cycle closes with general aspects of the hunting stage. So the book’s content corresponds with the long-term repetitive aspects of Boa behaviour. If you think about buying a giant
snake, this book is required reading.
It is also meant to be perused, using the list of contents and the subject index, when you need to understand some aspect of your pet snake’s behaviour.
■ Professor Bert Verveen’s Boas are his pets and much more! They are his very cooperative assistants when he subjects them to his scientific research. He weighs them before feeding them; he weighs their prey, he counts the number of prey they eat, he examines their excrements, he measures their growth and observes their shedding. And we are lucky because professor Verveen is not only a very skilled observer;
he is also an inspired writer. We are very proud to announce that this magnificent work has been published as part 6 in the series Herpetological Volumes, edited by the European Snake Society,
His The Behaviour Cycle of the Boa constrictor in Captivity counts 404 pages, is richly illustrated in full colour with unique photographs and counts many figures and tables. They all illustrate Bert Verveen’s scientific skills and show a rich treasure of data, important for all snake lovers, Boa lovers in particular.