The subspecies of Boa constrictor are either designated in app. The worst thing of all is to breed true locality specific boas to morphs in order to enhance the appearance of the latter (like it happens in the USA). This subspecies in particular is equally robust and hardy as Boa c. To the contrary, our experience has been just the opposite. longicauda may display weaknesses caused by poor genetics in any way. We cannot confirm the speculation (BINDER 2002) that even rare subspecies such as Boa c. has lately been increasing continuously, with the prices of the animals – especially so-called "redtail boas" - almost doubling compared to what they were five years ago. This might also be one of the reasons why the demand for pure-bred Boa constrictor in the U.S. The poor breeding results of albino boas have meanwhile caused several breeders of these animals to become seriously concerned. It appears that either the fertility of these animals suffered from the immense inbreeding, or that it may have something to do with the genetic disposition. Considering the general breeding results in 2003, the albino projects turned out to be nothing short of disastrous. It is also apparent that captive propagation of albino boas is significantly less successful than that of wild-colored specimens (>). Such effects are then further strengthened, as animals with the same genetic defects are bred with one another. Speculations that the genetics of these animals contain further defects are not easily dismissed, and the emergence of one-eyed specimens among litters of albino boas in the U.S. Don't fall for somebody trying to tell you otherwise.Īnother valid argument against the breeding of color and pattern mutations is the fact that these aberrancies of the "normal" form are nothing but genetic defects in the animals hence the inheritability of the aberrant patterns and colorations. The same is also true for "albino" Boa constrictor. It is also worth mentioning that the color and pattern morphs of Boa constrictor that are produced in the U.S. The reason that we write about this is that a few of these creatures have already crossed the pond and made their way over here, which will likely contribute to the further contamination of the captive gene pool. All of these terms are valid and exist, and have been taken from the current terminology regarding such morphs. We obviously exaggerated a little bit just now, but this is not all that far off. "Hypomelanistic anerythristic blood-snow arabesque super-motley black muted ghost sunglow albino boa double het for blizzard, piebald and jungle". This is done out of pure commercial interest, and there is no limit when it comes to naming these “artificial mutants”. The creation of such an animal is possible in a captive environment only. In general, the probability of two specimens with such genetic defects (amelanism, anerythrism, and axanthism are just that) to meet in the wild is almost null. Such creatures have absolutely nothing in common with these animals that live in the wild. We believe that some of these “breeders” know the principles of Mendel’s teachings better than the late Mendel himself at his time.įor example: One takes an albino Boa constrictor (technical term: amelanistic = lacking black pigment), breed it to an anerythristic/axanthic Boa constrictor (lacking red and yellow pigment) and thereby receives offspring that will theoretically produce one “snow boa” (almost entirely white) per 16 animals in a litter, when bred amongst each other. As a tool for this purpose, a thorough knowledge of Mendel’s Square is required. The favorite activity of some American boa keepers is to constantly create new color and pattern variants of the various species through selective breeding. There is talk of the genetical damage, one-eyed albino boas, IBDĪnd the conditions in the U.S. He has given vent to his frustration about the designerboa scene" in a detailled statement on his website. Olaf Schal (we have a great regard for him) one of the most well-known "morph-breeders" in Germany, will return to his roots and dedicate his future efforts to pristine wildlife forms of boa constrictor ("true boa constrictors") again. Now the first domino has fallen, others will follow. It was always obvious that the breeding of genetically crippled boas ("Designerboas") would eventually lead into a dead end.
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