Pacific Northwest
Reptiles & Amphibians

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Northern Rubber Boa - Charina bottae

(Blainville, 1835)


Adult, 3,000 ft., Cascade Mountains, Okanogan County, Washington Older texts refer to this snake as the Rocky Mountain Rubber Boa, but that subspecies is no longer recognized.		Adult, Klamath County, Oregon

Adult, Benton County, Oregon	Juvenile, Kittitas County, Washington

Juvenile, Kittitas County, Washington		Adult, Columbia County, Oregon © Marcus Rehrman

Adult, Kittitas County, Washington, found under rock, then retreated into hole.

Habitat

Habitat, Kittitas County, Washington	Habitat, Kittitas County, Washington	Habitat, Benton County, Oregon

	Cascade Mountains, Okanogan County, Washington

Short Videos

It was 55 degrees F.around 8 PM at about 8,000 ft. elevation on a mountain pass in Alpine County when I saw this rubber boa crossing the road. It eventually dropped down a huge tree stump to get away from me and curled up under some tree bark.	As you can see in this video, when they feel threatened, Northern Rubber Boas often curl into a ball with their head hidden in the middle and the tail on the outside, elevated like a head, which it resembles. When a predator attacks what it thinks is a head, it will only injure the tail, which is much less life threatening to the snake. Many rubber boas have scars on their tails from such attacks	Natalie took Chad and myself to look under a board she found in Marin County that is used as a shelter by at least 8 rubber boas. When Chad lifts it, we see 7 boas and a Coast Gartersnake.