Hybrid?

I don't know what the general feeling on hybrids on this forum are...I know I've been on other forums where people would freak out and start preaching at the very mention of them. I kinda think anyone preaching that has a dog is a bit of a hypocrite. It was after all human selective breeding that led to all the breeds of dogs we have today, so for those saying people are playing god by breeding hybrids...well, I guess they have wolves as pets.

Anyway, I'm kinda biased, since I own a hybrid, but all this rambling is leading up to a question that me and the hubs thought of this morning.

Has anyone ever bred or tried to breed and ETB and a red tail? They are both boas...considering all the python hybrids out there, I haven't really heard much about boas crossbreeding. Is it done at all? If not, why? Are they just harder to breed?

I'm just curious. I find all the hybrids fascinating, I love seeing how they turn out and am interested to see how many of them will prove to be fertile. So, it's just a question, I'm not knowledgeable enough to even attempt it, not to mention my BCI is a baby and I don't even own a ETB.

Any opinions/thoughts/info on this?

hey man i say go for it .. i havent seen many if yet any boa hybrids. as long as you can care for the animals if noone wants them i say give it a shot but thats my opinion lol

Well, as far as boas go, emmys and red tails are about as far apart as you can get. They belong to different genera (Boa for the red tail, and Corallus for the emmy.)

I suppose it's possible that they could produce viable offspring (I would have never thought woma and ball pythons could reproduce together, but then I saw the beautiful wall python with my own eyes) but it's a bit of a stretch. Especially since one is arboreal, and the other terrestrial.. but no harm in trying.. I have no issue with hybrids.

I think its fine as long as people don't continue to breed them. This is exactly how bloodlines get messed up. Keep hybrids as one-time novelty animals.

Dogs have organizations to make sure that if someone wants to buy a purebred Siberian husky or what have you, you can be sure you are getting exactly that. The reptile industry doesn't have anything in place that someone who wants to buy a pure amelanistic corn snake will get a pure corn snake. That's the main difference here. It's not so much making or owning a hybrid snake, it's irresponsible people who misrepresent them or are too ignorant about what they actually have, and muddy up pure lines to the point where you don't know what you're buying. Just look at a lot of the carpet pythons, cornsnakes, etc. And for the record, I'm not a huge dog person, but once I have enough land and free time I plan to get a dingo. :)

Depending on who you talk to, crossing subspecies could be considered hybridization. For instance, breeding a Boa constrictor occidentalis to a Boa constrictor imperator... an Argentine/Columbian. Or a sabogae to a constrictor.

Just depends on how you look at it, I guess.

I think there have been hybridizations between Corallus hortulanus and Corallus caninus... Amazon Tree Boa and an Emerald Tree Boa. In fact, pretty sure there has been... let me see if I can dredge up a picture.

Another interesting mix would be between the Candoia species and subspecies... I believe there have been some breedings between the arboreal and ground boas in this genera, but don't quote me on that one.

There has been a hybridization between Amazon Tree Boas and Emerald Tree Boas. It was featured in the March 2008 issue of Reptiles Magazine, I believe... sorry, can't pull up a pic :(

Also, another hybrid I thought of: Green Anacondas and Yellow Anacondas have been successfully bred together.

And I read on another forum that Columbian Rainbow Boas and Brazilian Rainbow Boas have been bred together to create viable offspring, as well.

All the above mentioned examples are between quite closely related species.. it'd be much harder to hybridize an emmy and a red tail.

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Originally Posted by Shelby

All the above mentioned examples are between quite closely related species.. it'd be much harder to hybridize an emmy and a red tail.

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Definitely agreed April! I was just throwing out examples of boa hybrids that have been created...

Of course, I was just clarifying for the OP. :)