New Boa! Need a little ID-ing from you Boa Breeders!

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Lucas Basulto
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New Boa! Need a little ID-ing from you Boa Breeders!

Post by Lucas Basulto »

Hey all I just got my late christmas present! All I know is that he is a Hog Island Boa. The colors and pattern on his tail are making me think he is a different variety or a morph of some sort. I got him from a local breeder here in Barstow who told me that he is a "pure hog island" not sure exactly what that means but the mother and father where on site.

The mother was almost entirely Salmon colored like my little guys tail. The father was a cream color with speckling. If that helps at all.

Image

Image

Image

Thanks Y'all!

Lucas
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Sam Bacchini
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Re: New Boa! Need a little ID-ing from you Boa Breeders!

Post by Sam Bacchini »

I'm not a morph follower for the most part, but I would guess it's a hypo, maybe from Panama stock.
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Cole Grover
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Re: New Boa! Need a little ID-ing from you Boa Breeders!

Post by Cole Grover »

If it's a "pure" Hog Island Boa constrictor, then that's what it is. It's a Hog Island Boa constrictor that hasn't been crossed with other subspecies or localities. I guess I'm just very confused as to what you're asking here. Hog Island Boas are an insular form originating from the Cayos Cochinos. They're in insular locality boa - NOT a morph. That locality is typified by fairly light, "bleached" and rosy coloring and the ability to lighten or darken dramatically. A simple Google search will provide a wealth of information... ;)

-Cole
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Sam Bacchini
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Re: New Boa! Need a little ID-ing from you Boa Breeders!

Post by Sam Bacchini »

Apparently I didn't read the original post very carefully (or perhaps at all? :()... What Cole said about Hog Island boas is correct.

That's definitely not a Hog Island boa. I have one (and have seen many more) and they look nothing like that. There is a salmon boa morph (which this could be), but I still think it might be a hypo Panamanian boa. Whatever it is, it's a morph rather than a locality.
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Cole Grover
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Re: New Boa! Need a little ID-ing from you Boa Breeders!

Post by Cole Grover »

Yes, I agree - it looks "off" for a Hog Island animal. I'd ask for a pedigree from the breeder. LOTS of people are offering crosses between animals descended from Cayos Cochinos stock and "other" Boa constrictor (Colombian, Panamanian, Nicaraguan, Argentine, etc.). I would strongly urge prospective buyers to NOT acquire such crosses, for a multitude of reasons...

As an aside (well, sort of), all evidence I've seen indicates that Boa constrictor is likely extinct in the wild on Cayos Cochinos. Preserving the genetic integrity of captive stock is likely the only way we can conserve this unique insular population.

-Cole
hellihooks
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Re: New Boa! Need a little ID-ing from you Boa Breeders!

Post by hellihooks »

I have a friend in AV, Luke, who breeds Hog Island's, if you want to talk to him. His have WAY more speckling... :shock: jim
(Myke introduced us... Darren, I think?)
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justinm
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Re: New Boa! Need a little ID-ing from you Boa Breeders!

Post by justinm »

I've seen insular boas in the wild and they are usually heavily speckled, and have a different gestalt than other boas. I even saw one in the Lesser Antilles that was damn near black. I don't think this looks like an insular boa to be honest. That's not to say that it's not a beautiful animal that you should cherish. I think you'll have to invest some time and research to find someone who is enthusiastic about keeping locality pure animals.
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Sam Bacchini
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Re: New Boa! Need a little ID-ing from you Boa Breeders!

Post by Sam Bacchini »

justinm wrote:That's not to say that it's not a beautiful animal that you should cherish.
I agree.
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Berkeley Boone
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Re: New Boa! Need a little ID-ing from you Boa Breeders!

Post by Berkeley Boone »

gila-91 wrote:
justinm wrote:That's not to say that it's not a beautiful animal that you should cherish.
I agree.
I'll third that statement.

I agree with what has been said- it looks to be more hypo boa than Hog Island. Did you see the sire and dam when you were at the guy's house? You mentioned they were there. How big were they? That may shed a little more light on an answer for your question.
--Berkeley
VICtort
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Re: New Boa! Need a little ID-ing from you Boa Breeders!

Post by VICtort »

You may learn as I did that Gus Rentfro's Rio Bravo reptile site is down and a bunch of speculation on Redtails.com suggests he is unavailable. He is good guy so try to track him down. Redtails.com is where boa addicts hang out, so that would be a resource for you.

Good luck, Vic
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Re: New Boa! Need a little ID-ing from you Boa Breeders!

Post by hellihooks »

Luke posted pics of the dam/sire on our local facebook pg and they both looked 'hog island'... could variability account for his not looking 'pure'. Don't know that much about HI's cept I really like them, and was going to get a pair. :) jim
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Lucas Basulto
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Re: New Boa! Need a little ID-ing from you Boa Breeders!

Post by Lucas Basulto »

hellihooks wrote:I have a friend in AV, Luke, who breeds Hog Island's, if you want to talk to him. His have WAY more speckling... :shock: jim
(Myke introduced us... Darren, I think?)
That would be great Jim. Thanks!
Berkeley Boone wrote: I agree with what has been said- it looks to be more hypo boa than Hog Island. Did you see the sire and dam when you were at the guy's house? You mentioned they were there. How big were they? That may shed a little more light on an answer for your question.
--Berkeley
Here are the parents of the boa in question:
Image

Guy who bred them said that the female is hypo and that both were sold to him as pure hog islands..the largest of the two was the female and she looked about five and half MAYBE 6 foot.



Thank you for all the info everyone! I am gunna look into this cause I just bought a female from him too and would like to try breeding in the future. If this ends up looking like they are some kind of crazy mixture than of course I will reconsider this venture to preserve genetic diversity.

Here's the girl:
Image

:thumb:

Thanks again everyone!

Lucas
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Sam Bacchini
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Re: New Boa! Need a little ID-ing from you Boa Breeders!

Post by Sam Bacchini »

Beautiful snakes, but they look nothing like Hog Island boas to me. They look more like Pearl Island boas than Hog Islands to me, but I don't think they are Pearl Islands either (not pure anyway).

Here is Vin Russo's page on Island boas where you can compare pure Hog Islands to what you have.

http://www.cuttingedgeherp.com/islandcayboas.html

Here is his page on hypo Panamanian boas which I think are much closer to what you have.

http://www.cuttingedgeherp.com/orangeta ... cboas.html

Non-hypo Panamanian boas can be found here.

http://www.cuttingedgeherp.com/centralamericanboas.html

I'm guessing yours have at least some Panamanian boa in their lineage (non-hypo?) but could also be pure Panamanian.
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Lucas Basulto
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Re: New Boa! Need a little ID-ing from you Boa Breeders!

Post by Lucas Basulto »

Thank you. I looked at that website and found a few boas that looked similar to the parents. The darker of the parents looks like it could be a Crawl Cay:

Image

(Photo taken from: http://www.cuttingedgeherp.com/islandcayboas.html)

Here is another picture of the male I bought in natural light:

Image

Thanks again!
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Sam Bacchini
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Re: New Boa! Need a little ID-ing from you Boa Breeders!

Post by Sam Bacchini »

He has great color!
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kcmatt
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Re: New Boa! Need a little ID-ing from you Boa Breeders!

Post by kcmatt »

Boa constrictor is likely extinct in the wild on Cayos Cochinos
Boas are actually not extinct in the wild down there, Cole. We were down there last year and they are fairly commonly seen on island hikes. Some talk about it being separated out as a different species than mainland counterparts but not following that.
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Cole Grover
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Re: New Boa! Need a little ID-ing from you Boa Breeders!

Post by Cole Grover »

Right on, Matt! Glad to hear it. Any pictures you'd be willing to share (here or on the main forum)?
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kcmatt
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Re: New Boa! Need a little ID-ing from you Boa Breeders!

Post by kcmatt »

Cole, unfortunately although planned, our trip from Roatan to the actual Cayos fell through. Most of the tours, including the one we were going on, stated that that boas were almost a guarantee on their jungle walk:

http://www.cayostour.com/pink-boa-constrictor.html

So, sadly another day for me. The island was a reserve in its entirety though, and pretty well watched by the government from what I could tell, so I would guess the boas there will persist for some time. Hope you guys are surviving Montana in the winter. I'm about ready for the end down here...
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