Until 2017, no specimen of this snake had been seen alive since 1953 and only five dead specimens had been collected since then, but in late January, 2017, an adult female Cropan's tree boa measuring 1 meters was captured by locals in Ribeira who brought it to herpetologists from the Butantan Institute and the University of São Paulo Museum of Zoology, who radio-tagged and released the animal to learn more about the species' behavior.