Amazon Basin specimens generally have an uninterrupted white dorsal line, whereas the white markings in specimens from Guyana and Surinam (known as "Guyana Shield" or "Northern" emerald tree boas) are quite variable.

[8] The snout scales in Amazon Basin specimens are also much smaller than in their Northern, Southern and Western counterparts found, for example, in Suriname, Venezuela, Bolivia, and French Guiana.

Physical differences include the head scalation and the location of the heat pits around the mouth.

The diet consists primarily of small mammals, but they have been known to eat some smaller bird species as well as lizards and frogs.

However, studies of the stomach contents of this species indicate that the majority of its diet consists of small mammals such as rodents and marsupials.

The emerald tree boa is ovoviviparous, with females producing an average of between 6 and 14 young at a time, sometimes even more.