By Ed Ferrer Reprinted from The Monitor , the newsletter of the Hoosier Herpetological Society, Vol.11, No.6, June, 2000.
Most people think of a large and powerful serpent such as a python or boa.
To many people the word constrictor simply refers to the common boa or boa constrictor. The most common explanation of constriction is that a snake strikes its prey and holds on while it wraps one or two coils around the chest area of the victim. As the victim exhales, the coils are tightened until its lungs collapse and it can no longer breathe at all, therefore dying by suffocation. Constriction tends to be more effective on mammals and birds, which need to breathe more frequently due to their higher metabolism, than on lizards or snakes, whose coldblooded nature allow them to survive longer periods without breathing. Careful observations indicate that the prey item often has not been constricted long enough to cause its death by suffocation.