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Public urged not to kill “indigenous snake”
A five-foot Caribbean Boa was found dead on the Carrot Bay Road on the western side of Tortola on Tuesday evening February 21, 2012. When the Conservation and Fisheries Department (CFD) was contacted about the finding, a spokesperson for the department said the public should not kill the snakes but rather try to protect them since they eat mice, rats and bats.
“They are very harmless. They are quite protected and rare, people should not kill them,” the CFD official told this news site, stating that the snake is not even poisonous.
While the population of the snake is not known in the Virgin Islands, it was revealed that it is rare and therefore all efforts should be made to protect it.
The Boa is the largest native species of snake and typically grows to a length of 6 or 7 feet, although 12 foot long specimens have been reported. The Boa's color varies from tan to dark brown with 70 to 80 crossbars or spots which are outlined in very dark brown.
The boa feeds on rats, mice and bats. When very young its feeding is limited to small lizards, insects and other invertebrates. Non-poisonous, they kill their prey by asphyxiating them with the powerful coils of their body. It is not known whether the Boa can kill the agile Mongoose, but allegedly, the Mongoose does not cause a serious threat to the Boa population.
The boa may be found on the ground or in trees. In some areas of the forest the Boa hangs from branches, vines and rock ledges at the mouths of caves and when bats brush by them or collide with them they capture and eat them.
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