I've seen photos of some stunning looking snakes, both Rosy Boas and Kenyan Sand Boas, referred to as calicos. I know that many of you may have some proprietary projects ongoing, so I'm not asking you to give up all your secrets...unless you want to :^) I have a couple of questions for those of you who are "in the know" if you don't mind.

First, can someone tell me what exactly the term "calico" means and does the term mean the same thing when it is applied to different species (Rosys, Kenyans, Balls, etc.)? It looks to me like the common characteristic is a random distribution of dark pigment leading to a patchwork pattern of light and dark patches interwoven with patterns from other pigments. Is this the general idea?

Both the general lack of information on the web on the subject and the fact that I haven't seen any calico phenotypes yet for sale tell me that the calico trait is probably not yet well understood genetically. Is this true? Any insight would be great.

Thanks,
Steve

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