Species Fact Profile: Jamaican Boa (Epicrates subflavus)

                                                                  Jamaican Boa

                                                       Epicrates subflavus (Stejneger, 1901)

Range: Jamaica, Goat Island (off the southwest coast) 

Habitat:  Forest (including mangroves, wetlands, montane forest, dry limestone scrub forest)

Diet: Rodents, Bats, Birds, Lizards, Frogs

Social Grouping:  Solitary

Reproduction:  Breeding takes place between February and April, stimulated by changes in temperature, rainfall, and photoperiod.  Females select the males with the most attractive pheromones, but may mate with several males in a breeding season.  Some evidence for sperm storage.  Eggs are retained within the body until hatching 6-7 months later.  The female gives live-birth to 5-44 young,  with litter size corresponding to the size of the female.  Breeding usually first occurs at about 7 years old, but may take place as late as 10 years old if the snake is a slow grower.  

Lifespan: 20-30 Years

      Conservation Status: IUCN Vulnerable, CITES Appendix I.

• Body length 1.5 -2.3 meters, weight up to 5 kilograms.  It is the largest native snake and largest terrestrial predator on Jamaica.  Females are generally longer and heftier than males.  Males have longer tails and longer cloacal spurs
• The upper part of the head is usually grey or dark green, transitioning into a golden-yellow or red-brown further down the body.  From the neck down, an increasing number of black markings appear until the animal is almost black by the tail.  Scales are iridescent, reflecting a rainbow sheen when exposed to light, especially towards the tail.  Neonates are pale orange on the back with dark brown crossbars and pink-orange on the belly, typically obtaining their adult coloration at about 1.5 years old
• Primarily active at night, spending the day refuging in crevices, tree hollows, or in dense vegetation, sometimes underground.  May be observed basking in the early morning
•  Forages for prey in the trees (sometimes on the ground) using chemical cues and then remaining motionless until prey comes within striking range.  Prey is seized, constricted, and swallowed.  Adults will sometimes hang on branches or rocks near the entrances of caves, snatching up bats as they fly out to forage for the evening.  
• Major nest predator of the also-endangered black-billed parrot (Amazona agilis)    
• Once abundant across range, has been in decline since the colonization of Jamaica in the 1500s·         European colonizers introduced predators in the form of dogs, cats, and pigs, which also competed with the boas for food.  They also introduced rats, which later resulted in the introduction of mongooses as a rodent-control agent, which in turn became another predator of the boas (the rats also became a new food source for the boas).  The boas were also persecuted due to fear, mistakenly considered venomous, especially by agricultural workers unexpectedly encountering the snakes in their fields.   Population decline furthered by the loss of habitat (over 90% of its range) for agriculture, mining