What morph (if any) of boa am i dealing with?

Hello all,

I had a litter of boas last year and held 1.1 of them back.

The female I held back starting turning a purple coloration with each
Shed was wondering if anyone can pinpoint which morph if anyshe is?

I've been told Nicaraguan a couple times but would like to get a couple more opinions?
I recently had another litter from the same sire and dam and held back a couple more females
who have a slight purple to them in case I am on to something new..

I can post photos of her parents later but don’t have them as I'm at work.

Thanks,




http://i1049.photobucket.com/albums/...ps52b8665f.jpg

no one...:confusd:

Nicaraguan isn't a morph, it's a locale that boa constrictors have been imported from.

Without knowing more about the parentage of the boa, it's impossible to say what's going on. My first thought on seeing it is that it's a BCI x BCO hybrid, but I'm not a boa expert by any stretch of the word.

I know nothing about boas to helo identify but just want to say I love the look of that girl.

I'd like to see the parents, but my first reaction was some sort of Central American. I'll admit I've never seen a boa who has such a dramatic color/pattern change that starts abruptly at the neck.

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Originally Posted by JLC

Nicaraguan isn't a morph, it's a locale that boa constrictors have been imported from.

Without knowing more about the parentage of the boa, it's impossible to say what's going on. My first thought on seeing it is that it's a BCI x BCO hybrid, but I'm not a boa expert by any stretch of the word.

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Totally agree. We can't make any kind of a guess based on one picture. Do you still have the parents? Can you post pictures of them? What is the parents' lineage?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Daybreaker

I'd like to see the parents, but my first reaction was some sort of Central American. I'll admit I've never seen a boa who has such a dramatic color/pattern change that starts abruptly at the neck.

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She does have some very interesting color changes going on. I'll agree with Judy that it appears there may be some BCO (Argentine) influence going on. But there's no way to say for sure until we can get a little more information.....


If you're going to be working with boas, you need to understand that there are "localities" and "morphs". In ball pythons, there are no various localities - every different animal you see is an example of a morph - a specific inheritable trait or combination of traits that express themselves as dominant, recessive, incomplete dominant, or co-dominant - but all the animals themselves come from one specific geographical area.

Boas, however, have a much wider range and can be found in several various geographical areas. Boas that come from one specific area, or "locality", tend to be slightly different from boas coming from another locality. While their traits which distinguish them to their locality, may be inheritable, they are not delivered in the same way. These traits will blend with those of another locality to create something in between. A boa cannot be "het" for Nicaraguan, for example. If one parent was Nicaraguan and the other was Colombian, then the resulting babies would be a 50-50 Nicaraguan x Colombian cross and not a morph.

Hope that is helpful to you! ;)

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Originally Posted by Evenstar

Totally agree. We can't make any kind of a guess based on one picture. Do you still have the parents? Can you post pictures of them? What is the parents' lineage?



She does have some very interesting color changes going on. I'll agree with Judy that it appears there may be some BCO (Argentine) influence going on. But there's no way to say for sure until we can get a little more information.....


If you're going to be working with boas, you need to understand that there are "localities" and "morphs". In ball pythons, there are no various localities - every different animal you see is an example of a morph - a specific inheritable trait or combination of traits that express themselves as dominant, recessive, incomplete dominant, or co-dominant - but all the animals themselves come from one specific geographical area.

Boas, however, have a much wider range and can be found in several various geographical areas. Boas that come from one specific area, or "locality", tend to be slightly different from boas coming from another locality. While their traits which distinguish them to their locality, may be inheritable, they are not delivered in the same way. These traits will blend with those of another locality to create something in between. A boa cannot be "het" for Nicaraguan, for example. If one parent was Nicaraguan and the other was Colombian, then the resulting babies would be a 50-50 Nicaraguan x Colombian cross and not a morph.

Hope that is helpful to you! ;)

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Thank you for making that clear to me, i mostly work with ball pythons. to be honest i purchased the parents about 3 years ago from a pet store. I did my research on the husbandry, and on breeding but i never did look into localities of them. Just wanted to make sure they and there offspring were healthy which i did accomplish:). I can defiantly post some pics of the parents however my brother in law have the parents but i can probably find some photos of them. Ive asked other breeders and seems like no one can pinpoint the mix. Anyways thanks for the info and all the kind words!!:D

Picture of the parents would be helpful. Really that female just looks like a baby Nicaraguan boa to me.

Sent from my LGL45C using Tapatalk 2

BigJayPiercer I get Nicaraguan a lot but usually I hear it looks like it’s a mixbetween Nicaraguan and Central American. If that’s what she is any explanationas to why she’s so purple in coloration or is that a normal occurrence? Like I said I deal mostly with ball pythons and there genetics but I am now becoming quite curious into the genetics of Boas.

Any help is much appreciated guys!!

Here’s a photo of the parents there not the best because they are when I firstpurchased them. They are quite a bit bigger now.

First photo is the sire



http://i1049.photobucket.com/albums/...ps428ae456.jpg

Second is of the dam




http://i1049.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6e99dd9f.jpg




Third is of a male holdback from last year






http://i1049.photobucket.com/albums/...psac5859ea.jpg

Any more opinions ??:confusd:??

I'm by no mean an expert on boas but Imo you may be onto a line bred trait for color or pattern. Everyone has said they see nic or CA influence and I completely agree but selective breeding gets selective offspring. They are very nice looking and I would keep selectively breeding to try and get more and more extreme examples of the purple. Who knows maybe you will be able to name your own line of boa morph sorta like all the pastel lines out there. He's a link that may help you in the future. It won't help this situation but if you want to get more into the genetics of boas and breeding it will be a huge help. Just keep in mind morphs and localities are completely two different things.

Boa calculator:

http://www.owalreptiles.com/boagenetics.php

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Originally Posted by H.o.F.R

I'm by no mean an expert on boas but Imo you may be onto a line bred trait for color or pattern. Everyone has said they see nic or CA influence and I completely agree but selective breeding gets selective offspring. They are very nice looking and I would keep selectively breeding to try and get more and more extreme examples of the purple. Who knows maybe you will be able to name your own line of boa morph sorta like all the pastel lines out there. He's a link that may help you in the future. It won't help this situation but if you want to get more into the genetics of boas and breeding it will be a huge help. Just keep in mind morphs and localities are completely two different things.

Boa calculator:

http://www.owalreptiles.com/boagenetics.php

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Yeah after looking at some photos of some nics and CA's i see what everyones talking about now.
After i saw how much purple she had it made me very curious as to why she has so much. I have not been able to find
any that have that tone of purple so im defiantly going to breed the sire back to her when shes ready. I would love so much
one day to be able to make some more of her. She has lost some of the purple tone and has now alot of black but still quite a bit
of purple!

While on the topic do Nics usually have smaller litters ? because both years she has produced 10 babies all perfectly healthy :)

Ok, after seeing the parents, I would tend to agree that there is more Nicaraguan influence rather than Argentine. Not seeing much Argie in the mom at all and the dad looks pure Nic to me. Could be some CA influence in the mom, so it sounds like most people are seeing the same things - mostly Nicaraguan with some Central American influence.

I also agree with H.o.F.R. in that the babies may be showing some selectively bred traits. Both the female and the male are very nice. The male seems to display some anerythristic traits as well, although that may have to be proven by breeding him later on.

I am not aware of Nics generally having smaller litters, although it is possible since they are considered one of the smaller localities. As such, they may not have the larger litter sizes that Colombians or BCCs are known for. On the other hand, this litter could have been a bit smaller if it was the dam's first. Usually a first time mom will only have 10-20 babies in her first litter. :gj:

Wow learning a lot here thanks Evenstar. This is her second time around both years yielded 10 babies. They all come out pretty small compared to CAs from what I've seen but like you said prob the Nics influence.

So if I bred the daughter back to the father would that be the best for selectively breeding for the purple tone? Or would it be best to breed her back to her brother?

Thanks again!

Not a boa breeder, so I'm no help. But those are a couple gorgeous offspring you've held back. :gj:


:D

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Originally Posted by lightpied

Wow learning a lot here thanks Evenstar. This is her second time around both years yielded 10 babies. They all come out pretty small compared to CAs from what I've seen but like you said prob the Nics influence.

So if I bred the daughter back to the father would that be the best for selectively breeding for the purple tone? Or would it be best to breed her back to her brother?

Thanks again!

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I would breed the son back to mom and see what happens. If you don't get something cool, then try the daughter to the father. The only reason I suggest the son to mom first is because he'll be ready to breeed sooner than his sister and you might get some answers, or at least an idea, sooner rather than later. But the ideal pairing, imo in this case, would be the daughter to father. So if you don't mind waiting for her to grow up (3-4 years), then just wait and put the father to his daughter for, hopefully, some real results.

BTW, if you DO do that daughter x father pairing and get some more amazing purple animals, I would like to be on the list to get one..... :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Evenstar

I would breed the son back to mom and see what happens. If you don't get something cool, then try the daughter to the father. The only reason I suggest the son to mom first is because he'll be ready to breeed sooner than his sister and you might get some answers, or at least an idea, sooner rather than later. But the ideal pairing, imo in this case, would be the daughter to father. So if you don't mind waiting for her to grow up (3-4 years), then just wait and put the father to his daughter for, hopefully, some real results.

BTW, if you DO do that daughter x father pairing and get some more amazing purple animals, I would like to be on the list to get one..... :D

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Yeah I will probably do the order you have suggested. It'll be worth the wait when I can breed daughter back to the father though :D. Either way as long as the babies come out healthy im all good. HAHA Ill keep you on the list!! I will defiantly post some results from the daughter x father pairing. The daughter was from last year clutch they had more this year and I already can see pink and purple tones in this years clutch!!

Here’s a baby from this year’s litter
this is what the purple one somewhat resembled when she was first born lastyear.





http://i1049.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1366329346

Intriguing. I'm certainly interested to see how this one turns out. Is this a holdback?

Yes this one and funky looking male as well, I also still have 8 others available but I'm in Canada.

Shame you're in Canada, those are some gorgeous boas. :(

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Originally Posted by meowmeowkazoo

Shame you're in Canada, those are some gorgeous boas. :(

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I know, I was just thinking I'd love to pick up one like that.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/04/27/zuhepu6a.jpg

Here are my two holdbacks from the clutch.

(Hope the photos ok first time from my phone)

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/04/27/va8upynu.jpgHere's a photo of the sire since the last one was so crappy.

the very first pic you posted too me looks like a dirty t pos....the rest definitely look nic to me...

Little update on that purple girl I held back. The purples unfortunately changed to black but I think she is still quite the looker!!http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/06/24/4azysury.jpg

Another updated photo

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/07/15/etabadyh.jpg

She's looking pretty! I like the gravely pattern. :gj:


..... Now that she's more mature, I am seeing an Argentine cross here. Not a morph, but a cross between subspecies - in her case BCO x BCI. But that is all just speculation. But Argentines can have a subtle purple hue as babies too so its possible. ;)

Nicaragua IS in Central America just an FYI. There are localities from Central American and some of the islands off the coasts of those countries. But when somebody says "Central American" boa, it means it could be from anywhere there.

There is no way to tell what that boa is without papers and locality data. More than likely you have a mixture, which is what a lot of people have. Even the "common" Colombian boa could be a mixture of different types.

It's a good looking boa, but that's about all you'll know for certain.

I like what it's got going on whatever it is!

Thanks!! It is more then a puzzle to me! All I know is she is looking gorgeous and really looking more and more like her dad. I guess I will see when she's ready to breed hopefully I can zone in on t least what the dad could be.

If not it's not a big deal as she's is just stunning I will try an get some better photos especially from the side her sides have that sand like color but the top portion as you can see is very dark which visually looks amazing to me!!

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Originally Posted by lightpied

Thanks!! It is more then a puzzle to me! All I know is she is looking gorgeous and really looking more and more like her dad. I guess I will see when she's ready to breed hopefully I can zone in on t least what the dad could be.

If not it's not a big deal as she's is just stunning I will try an get some better photos especially from the side her sides have that sand like color but the top portion as you can see is very dark which visually looks amazing to me!!

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I'm sure just based on looks alone there will be plenty of interest.

Lot's of cool things going on there and I think everybody here agrees that that is a pretty animal.