Sand Boas are related to the well-known boa constrictor of South America. They are also closely related to the python. All these non-venomous snakes kill their prey by squeezing them in their muscular coils. There are two species of sand boas in India. Both are stocky, thick-bodied snakes, especially suited for underground activities but the common sand boa has a blotched pattern of spots and wavy bands and a very rough, keeled, dull body while the red sand boa is very different: it is reddish brown, smooth and glossy. However, the greatest dissimilarity is in the tail. The red sand boa (which is black in north-west India) has a tail so blunt that it looks as though it has been chopped off. In temperament too they do not resemble each other. The common sand boa is easily irritated and is quick to strike and bite, while the red sand boa has great patience and will never bite. This makes it an ideal snake for a child to be introduced to. Sand boas mostly eat rodents, which makes them another friend of the farmer. We have watched a tiny new-born sand boa catch and kill a little mouse with as much confidence and skill as a giant python might display in catching a wild boar for dinner. Sand boas have live young, usually 6 to 8, and newly hatched boas eat small mice, lizards, birds and insects. Recently, our son heard some birds squawking in alarm and ran out to find a babbler tightly held in the coils of a sand boa which had obviously been lying in wait for an unwary bird to hop by.
