General Features

Marli is a Jamaican boa, which is an endangered species. She will hopefully give birth to several babies, which will be born in a clear membrane and will be caught on snake cam!

Pregnancy

To get a snake pregnant, they are reintroduced to their partners and humidity and temperature levels are varied to increase the chances of mating.

Marli

Believe it or not, snakes mate just like any other animal, but the reproductive areas are just difficult to see.

The snake's behaviour changes when fertilisation takes place. She becomes agitated and territorially protective. Her shape changes, she goes off her food and basks more. 

Basking

Snakes will bask in order to keep a constant body temperature so that the babies will develop.

Marli will hopefully give birth soon

In the tank that you can see on the webcam, there is a thermal spot which keeps a temperature of 32 degrees centigrade. Here the snake will bask, slowly rotating it's body so that it all becomes the same temperature.

Just along the middle of Marli's body are lumps, where babies are developing. However, it is difficult to determine how many she will have, as some babies may not fully grow. They are born as infertile slugs and the mother usually eats them.

Each baby weighs about ten grams, 12-14 days before giving birth the mother usually sheds her skin. 

Captured on snake cam

Once a snake has given birth she will immediately leave the young and it takes a long time before she can get pregnant again. As a snake tends not to eat during pregnancy, she has to re-gain her body weight, which, in the wild can take up to 3 years.

Webcam

Be sure to check out the latest pictures of Marli, the Pregnant Jamaican Boa on our webcam. Les, the Nature Centre manager reckons that she'll give birth any time soon.