A few people that I have spoken to, think that they look more like New Guinea tree boas. They have triangular shaped heads, whereas the New Guinea tree boas have a longer more pointed snout. As with all Candoia, sexing can be foolproof just by examining spurs, which are like big claws on males, and absent on females. Unlike Solomon ground boas, Halmahera boas only come in 3 basic color phases. Most adult males seem to be a grayish black, while females tend to be gold or maroon.
All specimens have a broken zig-zag stripe down the back from head to tail.
This stripe always stands out against the background color. In late April 1998 my adult wild caught Halmahera boas bred for the first time. Neonate Halmahera boas look very similar to baby Solomon ground boas. However, there were a few differences. The neonates had very light gold background colors with a somewhat darker zig-zag stripe.