{"id":791892,"date":"2026-07-10T02:49:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T02:49:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/791892\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T02:49:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T02:49:17","slug":"rubber-boas-on-vancouver-island-researchers-ask-locals-to-keep-an-eye-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/791892\/","title":{"rendered":"Rubber boas on Vancouver Island? Researchers ask locals to keep an eye out"},"content":{"rendered":"

A research team from Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops is asking British Columbians to be on the lookout for rubber boas, including on Vancouver Island.<\/p>\n

Masters student Maria Collins says there have been unconfirmed reports of rubber boas being on Vancouver Island, but there have been no verified sightings in the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s far-fetched at all. It\u2019s a burrowing snake and the Island has a lot of vegetation so it wouldn\u2019t surprise me if they\u2019re here and they\u2019re just super hard to see,\u201d said Collins.<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s broader project is looking at the rubber boas\u2019 behaviour in its northern region of British Columbia. Its overall habitat spans from B.C. to California, and Collins says little research has been done locally about the species, particularly over the past two decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince they\u2019re a snake living at their northern range it\u2019s very likely that they\u2019re doing something different than what they\u2019re doing at their core range,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo a lot of studies have been done in Oregon and Idaho, so their core range, and that\u2019s kind of where we\u2019re basing our information.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collins says without information on how rubber boas behave here in B.C., the province could be basing conservation methods on data designed for environments down south.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we don\u2019t know, we can\u2019t protect them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Citizen scientists important<\/p>\n

Collins says that since the team started its public call out for rubber boa sightings last year, thousands of people have made reports.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people making a difference are the landowners who have been watching the snakes in their yards for the past 10 years, the dog walker who says, \u2018Hey this snake is moving and it\u2019s the end of October.\u2019 We didn\u2019t know they were moving in November until then,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She adds that potential confirmed sightings of rubber boas in places like Vancouver Island will help scientists understand the true distance of the snake\u2019s home range in B.C.<\/p>\n

Anyone who spots a rubber boa can report the sighting online here<\/a>. Reports should include the time, date, location and Collins says it\u2019s important for Islanders to include a photo so researchers can verify it is indeed a rubber boa and not something like a sharp-tailed snake or garter snake.<\/p>\n

Rubber boas can be difficult to find as they are a burrowing species. Collins says they live in a variety of environments and it may just come down to luck if someone spots one or not.<\/p>\n

Locals are asked to keep an eye out when hiking or on walking trails.<\/p>\n

\"\"A rubber boa is seen crossing a hiking trail. (Maria Collins)<\/p>\n

\"\"A rubber boa is shown burrowing.<\/p>\n

Rubber boas are sometimes referred to as a \u201cdouble-headed snake\u201d as they have blunt tails and are a solid colour, often ranging from pale brown to dark brown \u2013 though they can be olive green, or even a pale pink\/orange colour.<\/p>\n

They tend to be small, less than 70 centimetres long, and prey on things like small mammals and young rodents.<\/p>\n

Collins says that rubber boas are considered an \u201cancient snake,\u201d meaning they have remnants of hind legs, or vestigial limbs, and they are unlike any other snake species in the province.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty special that we have them here in B.C., we don\u2019t have them anywhere else in Canada,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Collins is a Masters student working under supervisor Karl Larsen. She also credits her outreach assistant Tirzah Robinson with communicating and reviewing the thousands of submissions they\u2019ve received so far.<\/p>\n

SEE ALSO: Rare endangered snake discovered on Lasqueti Island for first time<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A research team from Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops is asking British Columbians to be on the lookout…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":791893,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[49,48,66],"class_list":["post-791892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=791892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/791893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=791892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=791892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=791892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}