Beginner boa morph?

[jade.gray]

So I currently breed ball pythons and I want to get a boa as a pet. I may eventually breed but I’m still not sure on the market and exact morphs yet. What would you recommend as a relatively inexpensive beginning morh?

[richardhind1972]

So I currently breed ball pythons and I want to get a boa as a pet. I may eventually breed but I’m still not sure on the market and exact morphs yet. What would you recommend as a relatively inexpensive beginning morh?

Jungle or motley are are pretty nice and easy to get hold of , leopards are pretty cool too and are smaller , some amazing patterns in All of these morphs too, the first two are co dominant, so what ever other boa you breed with you will produce a visual motley or jungle, the two can also be combined to make a pretty cool boa too. the leopard is a recessive gene so will need both male and female to carry the leopard gene to produce a visual leopard same as an albino,
There's plenty of other morphs available
Hope this helps a bit

Sent from my CLT-L09 using Tapatalk

[AbsoluteApril]

also don't forget hypos, a very pretty and very affordable co-dom morph
albino and anery are common recessive morphs and also not very expensive any more
good luck!

[WrongPython]

Boas are awesome! I think you'll definitely enjoy having one as a pet. Don't feel pressured to breed if you don't like the market or just don't want to -- there's nothing wrong with that! If you do decide to breed, be mindful that boa breeding is a whole different game from ball python breeding. The actual process of breeding takes longer and requires more effort and space, and after all that the boa market's smaller than the BP one. So, do continue to carefully consider breeding like you are. I don't think you'll regret that decision.

How would you like to define a "beginner morph?" An easier keeper overall or a fun and flexible gene for a new breeder to play with? In the former case, I don't think there's any particular color morph that's an easier keeper than others. From what I understand, super jungles have failure-to-thrive issues and scorias may or may not have some sort of wobble (like spider/champagne/HGW BPs, jaguar carpets, and the like), so you may want to avoid those (though they're fairly expensive, so you probably would anyway!). If you're interested in boas that stay on the smaller side, look at Tarahumara, Sonoran, and Central American boas. They all tend to stay under six feet -- as it so happens, Tarahumaras are true dwarfs that tend to stay around BP size, with some breeding females staying around four feet long! A few fun genes -- namely leopard, anery, and some hypos -- come from Central American boas, so you can have some morph-y fun there. I personally think the dwarf boa market has some growth potential, so if you decide you want to get into the breeding game, you may want to look there.

I can't really comment on the latter case as much (I'm more a locality boa person), but I think the most important thing is to keep what you love. Jungles and Motleys are fairly inexpensive and splashy genes, while Aztecs and Arabesques are a bit more expensive but very beautiful. The various Hypo genes could also be added to all of the above if you're so inclined. If you decide you do want to breed, I think a good idea would be to start off with a stellar female of the gene(s) you're interested in (quality begets quality!), let her mature and enjoy her as a pet for a few years, and then look for a similarly stellar male with good complementary genes.

Since you have a valuable collection of BPs and are considering breeding, get your boa tested for IBD before you bring them home! IBD can quickly kill off a python collection and is unfortunately prevalent in the boa market -- it's estimated that up to about 1/3 of all boas in captivity carry IBD, with the morph market having more issues. If you're buying directly from a breeder, ask if they have had their collection tested for IBD, and if not, ask if they/you could get your potential boa tested for IBD before purchase. Who knows -- it could save your BPs' lives.

Good luck! As a side note, I'd highly recommend reading The More Complete Boa Constrictor by Vin Russo as you make your decision -- it's a great all-around boa book, and he's got some good morph stuff in there now!

[dakski]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I love albinos and you get nice albinos or sunglows for not crazy money. Of course, I have a ghost BI, a dwarf BCC, and VPT+ Sunglow Motley Jungle as well. So I am not all about Albino (although I have a sunglow scaleless corn, albino spider BP, and an albino carpet python).

Personality is important as well, although most Boas are pretty chill, BI's anyway, that you would get morph of.

I bought Behira, my Ghost BI, because she was so incredibly calm. The same with my VPT+ Sunglow, Jeff. Although in the latter case, I was looking for a sunglow.

If you haven't kept boas before, make sure you have the space, the humidity and heat requirements down (slightly higher humidity and slightly cooler hot spot is how I keep my boas vs. a BP), and can handle a crazy food response. Of course they generally do not skip meals and eat anything (mice, rats, etc. and F/T is not an issue).

I would check out a few users here like Richardhind1972, who has posts on his boas, I have some, and there are many others. See what you like.

We can also recommend breeders if you are interested. I agree with WrongPython, that you should get from a reputable breeder, for many reasons.

[MarkL1561]

Ummm if it’s a pet don’t focus on genetics and get what you want/what you think looks cool.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk