Green tree python vs Emerald tree boa: Know about their habitat, size and key differences

Both the Green tree python and the Emerald tree boa are huge green snakes, and though they belong to entirely distinct genera of snakes in opposite hemispheres, they are most typically confused with each other. They are a tale of convergent evolution as their similarities and dissimilarities. Both of the snakes are most frequently confused by the public and also by the professionals of the reptile industry. Although they appear amazingly similar, they are actually two different and separate species. Both the Green tree python and the Emerald tree boa are one of the finest examples of convergent evolution to date, in which unrelated species meet to share similar characteristics because of similar environmental pressures.



The Emerald tree boa is six feet in length, while the Green tree python is around five feet. Emerald tree boas are heavier and more muscular than Green tree pythons, but snake length does vary with diet, husbandry, feeding regimes, and health. It is thus important to seek out something else other than size when attempting to distinguish between these species.
You will be able to distinguish one from the other when encountering them in nature because they inhabit quite distinct geographical regions. Emerald tree boas inhabit the rainforests of South America, specifically Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, and the immediate surrounding areas. Green tree pythons inhabit the rainforests of New Guinea, Australia's Cape York Peninsula, and the areas of Indonesia, even though their terrains are likewise fertile and tropical.
Physical differences between the species are readily apparent, one of the easier ones being snout shape. The Emerald tree boa 's snout, tip to bridge of the nose, is also broader than the Green tree python's. Nostrils are subtly different as well: the Emerald tree boa 's nostrils are weakly forward and outward, and the Green tree pythons are upward. They are small differences, but they will come in handy when trying to tell them apart.
The most apparent difference in colouration between the two as juveniles is that juvenile Green tree pythons will tend to be yellow, red, or dark brown and lighter green as adults, though some remain yellow or blue. Juvenile Emerald tree boas never have a yellow morph but tend to be more orange by dark red before becoming green when they are more than one year of age. Alder Green tree pythons will also be lighter-coloured than Emerald tree boas, but at times not necessarily.
Green tree python will also be the less aggressive snake to handle since it is less confrontational. Emerald tree boa is stubborn and ill-natured. Its bite will also be stinging the way it has larger protruding teeth.

They possess minor but distinguishable differences in the two species scales. The facial scales of the Emerald tree boa are flat and wide, but those of the Green tree python are narrow and pointed, overlapping as in the typical snake structure. The body scales of the Green tree python are narrow, particularly at the base, and thus it looks smoother than that of the Emerald tree boa .