[Anatomy] how good are boas vision

[billychallis]

whilst gazing into the eyes of my girl suki i was just wondering how good her eyes are, like can she distinguish between me and my mrs face, i imagine being a predator they must have reasonable good eyes i obviously know they use their scent mostly but surely you need relatively decent vision too?

[Noelle7206]

Re: how good are boas vision

It's been my experience with snakes in general that they do NOT rely on vision to identfiy things...they use vision to chase & catch prey, climb or find dark crevices to hide in, but depend more on scent for actual recognition...that

and also their sense of touch. Even though snakes are scaly, they know a great deal by the way they are touched...they know the difference between mates & predators, & I believe they have no difficulty remembering who we are

using both scent and touch cues. But I don't think they'll care if we're smiling or not...I don't think our facial features register that much, though some also seem to realize we are looking at them and may perceive that as a threat

from a possible predator...so if your face is within their reach do consider that, especially if you're handling a fairly new snake. Such bites (in the face) are happily rare but could have serious consequences.

[sharudd30]

Re: how good are boas vision

They've actually been found to have good vision. I'm not sure just how good, but they can see in color.

[Pandorasdad]

Re: how good are boas vision

Their distance vision is not good. They can see better close up, but still rely more on smell to find prey. But I have one that clearly knows when someone walks by her cage because she strikes at the cage door a lot.