Some Red Tail Questions

[treeboa]

Colombians on average are the largest BCI. I had a het albino female that was just under 9ft and about 40lbs. The Central American locales are smaller and the island and a couple Mexican locales are true dwarfs. There is also a dwarf Nicaraguan line. I, personally, love the Costa Rican and Panamanian boas. By the way I highly doubt a pet shop has a pure Colombian hypo. They are very uncommon. They are hardly ever listed on Kingsnake or Fauna Classifieds even.

[Evenstar]

Great info, you are always so thorough and awesome! And I ♥♥♥ Zeppelin .

Op- great helpful info so far. Yes, they have amazing entertaining personalities. You may check out Bob Futo as well. I got a ball from him, but I have seen some gorgeous boas come from him too.

Thank you!! I hate to play favorites, but Zeppy is one of my favs too! Shhh - just don't tell the others....

And yes - Bob Futo is another great resource!

Thank you all *very* much for the info and for sharing your babies. I'm excited to get one some day. I didn't realize BCC were touchier with husbandry- I will look into BCI. Which locality to you recommend? Is there any particular ones known to get larger or stay smaller?

Yes, the hypo I held at the pet shop was a Columbian. Active little girl. They feel so interesting! Way different skin texture than balls.

DooLittle: I absolutely fell in love with Ripley last time you posted pictures of her. She's the reason I want an albino some day!

I personally do recommend a Colombian BCI as your first. They tend to have the most tractable temperaments and are outstanding feeders. Start with a male baby. Males will stay a bit smaller than females, averaging 6-ish feet. And if you get a baby, you can "grow" with your snake and get comfortable with him.

Hog Islands and the other insular localities tend to stay smaller, but they can be harder to find. Central Americans tend to be more temperamental and nippy.

Colombians on average are the largest BCI. I had a het albino female that was just under 9ft and about 40lbs. The Central American locales are smaller and the island and a couple Mexican locales are true dwarfs. There is also a dwarf Nicaraguan line. I, personally, love the Costa Rican and Panamanian boas. By the way I highly doubt a pet shop has a pure Colombian hypo. They are very uncommon. They are hardly ever listed on Kingsnake or Fauna Classifieds even.

Sorry, I'm not quite sure what you mean by this. Colombian BCIs are the most common locality out there because this is the locality that has spawned so many morphs and varieties. Sure, there are locality crosses, but the "common boa" is 99% of the time a Colombian. I have 15 boas, 9 of which are Colombian boas - 3 are hypos, 1 is a hypo albino (sunglow), 1 is an albino anery (snow), 2 are jungles, and the other 2 are different lines of pastel. Of the other 6, 2 are pure Argentines (BCOs) and the others are Colombian x Sonoran crosses. If you look at the pictures in my last post, those are ALL Colombians. All you see on Kingsnake and Fauna are Colombians with a few BCCs mixed in. Just wondered if I'm confused by your reference - did I misunderstand what you were trying to say?

I will say it is true that many "Colombians" are not 100% pure. But I am of the theory that nearly all localities and subspecies of boa are not "pure". There is way too much crossing and inbreeding occurring in the hobby for all of our localities and subspecies to remain pure. Plus, boas don't refrain from breeding in the wild just because one is a Colombian and one is a Central American. LoL! And there are very few breeders who actually take the time to document lineage. But most Common Boa Constrictors are, for all intents and purposes, Colombian BCIs.

[3skulls]

Saw the pics and forgot to read any of the info.
Some great looking Boas!!!

:p

[treeboa]

I can't remember if it was someone's website or a book where I saw it(I'll try to find it). They had pics of the original Panamanian, Colombian, and Central American Hypos. The Colombians look nothing like the generic hypos that make up most of the hypos on the market. The author states the original lines were mixed and I tend to believe that considering not just the looks, but the fact that most of the female hypos I've seen are smaller on average than Colombians. My female is less than 6ft and is 10 years old. I will try to find where I saw this and post it.

[treeboa]

And by the way, I'm not saying it matters to me. Like you said they are all BCI and anyway there are those that think that BCI and BCC are not different subspecies but just different locales of the same one. I was just passing on to someone new to Boas that it is unlikely it's a pure Colombian to educate them.

[treeboa]

I found a thread post with some not so great pics on it. Strictly Boas owned this Boa and had better pics and the story on their web site, which is now defunct. The pattern is pretty much the same, maybe a little cleaner, but the ground color and tail color are different. Of course this really only matters to locality specific breeders and matters not to the general hobby, myself included. I didn't mean to sound like it did, LOL!

[treeboa]

Forgot the link! http://www.redtailboas.com/f17/pure-...an-hypo-50988/

[treeboa]

I didn't mean to type my Hypo is 10 years, LOL! She's 7. I did not ever have the money to buy any of the early hypo offspring!! She was expensive enough as it is! I love her to death, though. That's why I still have her even though I got out of Boas.

[Evenstar]

I can't remember if it was someone's website or a book where I saw it(I'll try to find it). They had pics of the original Panamanian, Colombian, and Central American Hypos. The Colombians look nothing like the generic hypos that make up most of the hypos on the market. The author states the original lines were mixed and I tend to believe that considering not just the looks, but the fact that most of the female hypos I've seen are smaller on average than Colombians. My female is less than 6ft and is 10 years old. I will try to find where I saw this and post it.

Ok, I getcha now! Couple of thoughts to add to the mix - 1) Hypomelanism is going to look different on various localities because of how the gene reacts with the phenotype. 2) Most people think of BCC in reference to pure localities. 3) While some BCI localities are often stressed as pure, such as the insular localities, Central American and Colombian BCI usually encompass a broader range. Again, just thoughts to consider.

I found a thread post with some not so great pics on it. Strictly Boas owned this Boa and had better pics and the story on their web site, which is now defunct. The pattern is pretty much the same, maybe a little cleaner, but the ground color and tail color are different. Of course this really only matters to locality specific breeders and matters not to the general hobby, myself included. I didn't mean to sound like it did, LOL!

Handy thread to read! Thanks for finding it. And s'all good.... I agree - to most of us, it doesn't really matter. While I feel the various subspecies should be kept pure, I'm not as rigid with the localities, lol.


Oh, btw, here's a thread regarding pure Type B Colombian boas. These are one of the true pure lines of Colombian BCI available. Rio Bravo's Barranquilla line is another.

https://www.facebook.com/notes/buddy...97195730305464

[treeboa]

Thanks for the link. Very interesting!