Boa morph? Central American Morph? Big Girl

[Eavlynn]

Stunning snake. Certainly not a Central American. More likely Colombian, or a Colombian cross. She looks to be a stunning pastel. Nice snake. I would have it sexed again to confirm that its not a male.
Warren

Somehow, in my head, I thought Columbia was in Central America. You'd think I'd know better, having 2 Columbian boas haha

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[MontyP2016]

I actually had her sexed tonight along with my entire collection. The guy first thought she was a male, then checked my male, checked her again, and said she is definately a Female. That's the good news. Bad news is that 2 of my BP's that I thought were female ended up being male. The guy I got them from (almost 2 hours away I drove to buy them) swears they are female and said he is going to get their breeder paperwork out tomorrow and send it to me (paperwork dont mean much when I saw the piens and the difference with the probe depth in 3 males and 2 females). Good news is that they are still great snakes and I still got them for a decent price, and they were not meant to be bred this season so I have time to look for another nice female or two for next year. I did learn a valuable lesson today (one that I shouldve learned long ago).

[MontyP2016]

On a side note...

Eavlynn....Its ironic that you posted here, I was looking at your snakes on another thread a month or so ago and saw the name "Zoe"..... I told my wife that the next snake I get I'm naming it Zoe and sure enough I now have a Bumblebee named Zoe. Lol just wanted to let you know I stole one of your names haha

[CloudtheBoa]

Definitely a normal Boa imperator with no visible morph influence (could be het but could only find out through breeding and wouldn't bet on such small chances), whether or not it's pastel is debatable. I personally don't like to suggest the pastel label without knowing the snake's parentage, if the pastel lines have been muddied with non-pastel blood, or if the offspring is a particularly low expression pastel. It definitely has a bit of that pastel appearance to it, though. Very nicely bred at the very least.

Gorgeous girl and agree with Gio, 6.5' is not small by any means. Not all boas are set to reach X size, most females average about in the 7' range give or take a half a foot. 8' is large, not necessarily terribly uncommon, but still large.

[Eavlynn]

On a side note...

Eavlynn....Its ironic that you posted here, I was looking at your snakes on another thread a month or so ago and saw the name "Zoe"..... I told my wife that the next snake I get I'm naming it Zoe and sure enough I now have a Bumblebee named Zoe. Lol just wanted to let you know I stole one of your names haha

I'm glad I could help with naming! Names are always a tough one for me. I don't mind at all if you use it. Again, I have to say congrats on this girl. She is stunning. I might be just a hint jealous. Can't wait to see more of her!

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[Warren_Booth]

whether or not it's pastel is debatable. I personally don't like to suggest the pastel label without knowing the snake's parentage, if the pastel lines have been muddied with non-pastel blood, or if the offspring is a particularly low expression pastel. It definitely has a bit of that pastel appearance to it, though. Very nicely bred at the very least.

Personally I completely disagree with that. What is the likelihood that anyone will know the exact percentage of the bloodline that was pastel. Furthermore, given that pastel appears to be a polygenic traits, why does that matter because within the exact same pairing you can have high and low expression, yet be the exact same percentage.

The visual phenotype of this animal clearly is of a pastel. As such, calling it a pastel fits. In the 20 years I have been breeding boas, I have not seen many that are so clearly a pastel in fact. Now, being able to determine the lineage of pastel is impossible.

Warren

[CloudtheBoa]

Maybe I was mixing pastel lines and being pastel in general up. I did agree it looked pastel, just thought you had to know its breeding to call it pastel.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Warren_Booth]

Maybe I was mixing pastel lines and being pastel in general up. I did agree it looked pastel, just thought you had to know its breeding to call it pastel.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

No, Pastel simple refers to the phenotype. If you know the line that is better (e.g., EBV for example).
Warren

[AbsoluteApril]

Maybe I was mixing pastel lines and being pastel in general up. I did agree it looked pastel, just thought you had to know its breeding to call it pastel.

It used to be that people wouldn't call a boa a pastel unless it came from a known line. Then as 10 or so years has gone on, people just call any reduced black/speckled boa with nice color a pastel.

Pastel is a general description as noted, and not a morph like it is in BPs (A high color, low black boa is more likely to produce babies with that trait). Boa are so highly variable already.

I have a boa that people were always calling pastel, I've still just called her high-pink *shrug* guess I'm stuck on the old ways.

To the op - that is a very beautiful normal boa.
The size is perfectly fine. My first boa was 9yrs and 5.5'. She's now 27yrs and just over 8'. Boas continue to grow their entire lives. Don't go so much by size to judge age, good body structure is what is more important. Good luck with you new addition!

[paulh]

Pretty snake! IMO, a wild type (AKA normal). However, wild type in boa constrictors is quite variable. Wild caught or captive bred? Your guess is as good as mine. Pastel? I can't tell so will skip that issue.

Technically, Central America is the area from the Colombian border with Panama to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico. The pet trade has produced so many non-standardized common names that (IMO) Central American boa could mean almost any BCI. YMMV.

Columbia is an alternate name for the USA. Colombia is the country in the NW corner of South America.

Quick and dirty sexing. Look for the spurs low on the sides of the body just forward of the tail. Female spurs are often invisible in a pit in the skin. If a claw is visible, it is generally thin and straight. Male spurs are usually obvious. Claw is thick with a definite hook at the end. Comparison of several adult boas of known sex is helpful for identification. Method is probably about 75% accurate. An experienced prober can probably hit ~95% accuracy.