PHFaust: On behalf of Jeff Barringer and all of us at kingsnake.com, I'm sincerely thank Rich Ihle of www.salmonboa.com for being our December Guest Chatter! It started with one. An unusual colored sub-adult boa came into Rich Ihle's hands back in 1991, and gave birth to some of the most unusual color babies. These were the founding stock of the Salmon Boas. Rich specializes in boas with some very interesting results. The Bloody Salmon Project and The Boa Constrictor Sabogae happen to be two such projects. Falling in love with boa constrictors back in the late 1960's, there was no turning back for Rich. He purchased his first boa then and there at a pet shop in Des Moines, IA. An entire business now goes back to these two events in his life. Rich has been involved in this business for 40 years, he has contributed to numerous articles and has sent many boas to their new homes igniting that same spark he had in the late '60s for countless numbers of other owners. Tonight he is here to discuss Boa Constrictors.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls I present Rich Ihle of www.salmonboa.com.

SalmonBoa.com: Thank you everyone for joining me tonight!
fireladie: thanks, what would be a good place to stare reseaching boa genetics?
SalmonBoa.com: There is a good genetics book by Dr. Bechtel
SalmonBoa.com: Its called "REptile and Amphibian Variants" and it has some really good basic info.
SalmonBoa.com: Its an older book, but great for a start.
fireladie: thanks!
eunectes5_nr: Rich, there is an old photo of you with a big green anaconda on your shoulders floating around....where did it originate from and do you still have it? Also what was length and weight?
eunectes5_nr: the anaconda...not the photo
SalmonBoa.com: Its a girl named Annie! She is 7 years old and doing great as we speak.
eunectes5_nr: size?
SalmonBoa.com: She is about 16 feet and I believe she weighs about 200 pounds. She is completely tame and a real handful!
SalmonBoa.com: It takes several of us to handle her because she is so powerful.
SalmonBoa.com: Anacondas are certainly the strongest snakes I have ever dealt with! GA
eunectes5_nr: understandable
Boidaeaddiction: Hey Rich, I looked forward to seeing you at daytona, but I guess that didn't work out. I was wondering how the health was of the scoria boa, and when should we see heterozygous animals. are we certain of the genetics yet?
SalmonBoa.com: Sorry I missed you in Daytona.
SalmonBoa.com: The Scoria boa is doing great! She is a little over 3 feet long now.
SalmonBoa.com: We are trying to grow her up slow as to not mess her up in any way.
SalmonBoa.com: We also have her brother who is a normal.
SalmonBoa.com: We are not sure of the genetics yet. There needs to be more breedings to determine if its recessive or some form of dominant trait.
SalmonBoa.com: It is certainly an unbelievable animal to look at and Im blessed to have it here in the collection! GA
jsifuentes_nr: what is the best way to go if i want to really make a living breeding and exploring the world of boas?
SalmonBoa.com: I think its very difficult to make a living breeding boas.
SalmonBoa.com: People should keep their real job and have breeding herps for a hobby. Once the hobby overwelms you, and you cant do both, and see enough success in breeding, then maybe give up the real job.
SalmonBoa.com: I have been breeding reptiles for a long time and have not been able to have it be my main job until the last recent years.
scaleman: I know the general rule of breeding size and age. Do you have anything special you look for in determining if the female is ready other then weight and age?
SalmonBoa.com: Great question!
SalmonBoa.com: I think the age is the most important thing. I see way too many boas that are fed and grown too fast and they have the size, but not the maturity.
SalmonBoa.com: I have done it myself.
SalmonBoa.com: I try not to do it anymore.
SalmonBoa.com: Its best to take time in growing your animals and by doing that you will be able to have many successful litters over a period of years instead of 1 or 2 litters and a burned out female.
NUCCIZ_BOAS: rich, how long do your males breed for? I have a stubborn male, he breeds for 1 day at a time, and takes 2-3 weeks off, its been like this for 2 months now, Im worried about low sperm levels in the female as she is in her pre-ove swell right now, should I be worried about slugs?
SalmonBoa.com: On the males, I introduce them in November and I leave them with a female the entire winter months.
SalmonBoa.com: If I dont see any breeding at all after a month or so, then I will maybe pull the male and put something similar in to replace him.
NUCCIZ_BOAS: this is my favorite pairing, is there anything I can do besides introduce another male to stimulate breeding
SalmonBoa.com: Its a tough question because they are all different. I know people who use 1 male with 3 or 4 females.
SalmonBoa.com: Some people use 2 or 3 males at once on a female.
NUCCIZ_BOAS: haha, can I borrow another sunglow?
NUCCIZ_BOAS: just kidding, thanks
SalmonBoa.com: I like to keep it 1 to 1 and very seldom do I have a male that does not try to breed. I too get pills and slugs like everyone else. I wish I had an answer for that.
softkiss: I have two argentine boas male and female
from same breeder and they've always been
in the same habitat. Will I have to reintroduce
them to get them to breed or should they in their
natural environment? Also they are Appendix 1 City
so would I be
able to sell them as a private owner?
SalmonBoa.com: You should keep them seperate through out the year and only put them together during the cold months.
SalmonBoa.com: This will usually work better than leaving them together all of the time.
SalmonBoa.com: You will not have a problem selling babies. They are legal to sell.
softkiss: Thank you
SalmonBoa.com: However, they do need to be larger than some of the other boas such as Imperators and a little bit older.
JasonGonzalez: Hi Rich, are you working with any T 's right now and if so do you have any plans to produce Paradigms soon?
SalmonBoa.com: IM working with the T Argentines and the T nics. We are not yet working with the Paradigm project.
TSUSnakeGuy: Hey Rich, what are your thoughts on the genetics of the salmon gene? Is it co dominant or what? Also do you think since the motley gene works almost like the salmon gene, will the prices of motleys lower like it has done with hypos?
SalmonBoa.com: The Salmon gene has been described as an Autosomal Incomplete Dominant trait.
SalmonBoa.com: Autosomal means that it affects both males and females the same.
SalmonBoa.com: Incomplete Dominance means that the animals that are hets., show the trait and the animals that are homozygous show a greater form of the trait. Some people refer to it as Co dominant.
SalmonBoa.com: I dont believe the Motley gene works the same way.
SalmonBoa.com: The Super Motley is absolutely detectable and a Supersalmon is not.
PBM: Someone mentioned this in the boa forum today, so I thought I'd ask the man who would know....what is the BOO line story
SalmonBoa.com: BOO was a baby boa in a store that basically was an Anery that was black, silver, and white.
SalmonBoa.com: She never got that golden yellow look that Anerys get. We hoped we could produce animals that could produce a White Snow boa that did not yellow out.
SalmonBoa.com: That has not happened yet.
Boidaeaddiction: Do you think that we have wrongly identified morphs genetics? With the leopard boa, I see the hets being the leopard form and the leopards as dominant or super, because the hets look different from normal sonoran boas
SalmonBoa.com: Wow!
SalmonBoa.com: I think that there is so much that we do not understand about the genetics of these animals.
SalmonBoa.com: We try to think in black and white. Its either recessive or dominant, or co dominant.
SalmonBoa.com: There are many other forms of genetics and I am not a geneticist. I really dont know what the answer is. Its a lot more complicated than we seem to think.
SalmonBoa.com: I dont have any leopards.
Boidaeaddiction: Id like to see a het leopard crossed to a wild type to see the outcome
SalmonBoa.com: That would be a great trial.
DormantSouL: I am reffering to the same snakes SoftKiss did... (2-Agrentines.)
What would be the expected litter count, when/if they reproduce,
and would the young require any specialized conditions beyond that of the adults?
SalmonBoa.com: As for litter count, that is going to depend on how large the animals and how old they are.
SalmonBoa.com: I would certainly expect the first litter to be in the mid 20's to low 30's.
SalmonBoa.com: Older larger animals can certainly have numbers in the 50's.
SalmonBoa.com: The babies would be raised the exact same way as other baby boas would be raised.
mack1time: I own 2 BCC as well, 1 male 1 female I have kept together entire time except during feeding. In the past few weeks I have noticed copulation and the female is still readily taking 2 2lbs rabbits every 10 days.Also i do not burmate. If she is prego will she continue feeding? and should i seperate if she is?
SalmonBoa.com: I would stop feeding at this point.
SalmonBoa.com: Continuing to feed the animal after she has been bred can certainly cause premature birthing.
SalmonBoa.com: My females, once they have been bred, are not fed until they give birth.
mack1time: Thanks
rptylz_nr: someone gave me a boa with a very yellowish ground color and reddish markings. how can i tell if it is a salmon or even where it is from?
SalmonBoa.com: You should try to take a good photo of it and email it to us.
SalmonBoa.com: Especially close up of the tail area or the last foot of the body.
rptylz_nr: thx
TSUSnakeGuy: Do you prefer to cycle your boas or just put them together in the cooler months? If just put together how long do you keep them together befor eyou decide it is time to seperate and feed them and when should the be reintroduced?
SalmonBoa.com: We operate in the summer months with temps in the upper 80's and very humid.
SalmonBoa.com: In the fall the temps start to drop to the mid 70's at night and back up in the mid 80's in the daytime.
SalmonBoa.com: This usually takes place the first part of November.
SalmonBoa.com: That is when we introduce the males.
SalmonBoa.com: We stop feeding.
SalmonBoa.com: Young males will get a meal every couple of weeks while older males will refuse food.
TSUSnakeGuy: do you change the temps on your heat source like mine are on heat tape should i lower that?
SalmonBoa.com: We will let the temps go as low as 70 at night, but back up to 80 in the day.
SalmonBoa.com: We use no heattape in the winter months.
SalmonBoa.com: Many people breed without dropping temps. but the animals still experience a cooling period.
softkiss: Do you feel that a boa owner can establish a rapor with their
snakes in as they adapt to each others habits and
respond to each other accordingly? Example, my argentines will
go to their two seperate levels in their cage when they are ready
to feed since I feed them independently and I close the trap door
between the two levels. This would indicate they have adapted to my
husbandry care request.
SalmonBoa.com: I totally believe that these animals are alot smarter than people give them credit.
SalmonBoa.com: They develop habits, some good and some bad.
SalmonBoa.com: A good animal person can read what their animals are wanting and thinking.
SalmonBoa.com: It sounds like you have a connection with your animals.
SalmonBoa.com: Very cool!
SalmonBoa.com: They all develop habits and reactions to your habits!
mack1time: Out of all your boas what percentage would you say have already done the dead for this year?
SalmonBoa.com: We are heavy into breeding right now and I usually dont see most of the ovulations until the first part of January.
Adam105: I bought a Hogg Island from Vin Russo last January. He grew from under 2 feet to now just over 5 feet already. Mr.Russo mentioned to me that that type of growth rate is rare and that I feed too much even though I am only feeding one medium rat per week. Anyways onto my question...I was thinking of throwing in an adult female with my male in hopes of getting some baby Hoggs, but I heard boas will not reproduce every year like say, most colubrids. The problem is I am a junior in high school and will be selling everything the summer after senior year. If I pair up my male with an adult female now, do you think there is a chance I will get atleast one litter? Or would it just not be worth it? Thanks!
SalmonBoa.com: Males can be young and he probably will breed for you.
SalmonBoa.com: If the female is of proper size and age of course. I would say go for it and good luck!
147boas_nr: when do you think the scora boas will be avalible and what is a good size to breed a female boa and age
SalmonBoa.com: It will be a few years before we will have Scorias available.
SalmonBoa.com: A female boa should be at least 2.5 years old if its an imperator.
SalmonBoa.com: Some of the others need to be 3-4 years old.
SalmonBoa.com: They should weigh at least 10-12 pounds.
neonate: are you aware of any naturally occuring morphs in cays, caulker corn isle, fire belly, sabbogae, 0r anything else?
SalmonBoa.com: Sabogaes are very hypo in appearance and this is naturally occuring.
NUCCIZ_BOAS: rich, what is your personal favorite morph to work with? Everybody has that 1 favorite gene, what is on top of your list and why?
SalmonBoa.com: MY FAVORITE! Its got to be the Salmon Boa. I love all of the different looks and it works so nicely with all of the other morphs out there.
SalmonBoa.com: I know that Iguanas can tell between a man and a woman.
BigWorm06: ive had a few reptiles that were fine with me and im female but they would bite my boyfriend all to bits 2 snakes and 1 iguana did this
SalmonBoa.com: The snakes ability to taste is above and beyond what we can comprehend so it probably can, but it would be difficult to determine.
BigWorm06: so would they just do that because he tasted good? lol
SalmonBoa.com: Everybody has their own scent. It could be a smoker, a drinker, or a cologne user and other scenarios that could trigger a negative response.
BigWorm06: ok thanks
boawoman: Been great Rich....thanks so much. Sharon
NewVisionDragonZ: i wanted to know what would be a good starter boa? and what type is usually the best for handeling
SalmonBoa.com: A great starter boa would be a Salmon! All of our Salmons are very friendly and very handleable.
Boa4me: Hi Rich! How are the genetics of the blood boa in terms of size showing up in the litters you are producing. For example, are you seeing Bloody Salmons that are exhibiting the dwarfisim of the Blood Boa? Do you think that we can eventually see female Bloody Salmons maxing out at around 5 feet or so?
SalmonBoa.com: Definitely!
SalmonBoa.com: Bloody Salmons are going to top out at 4-5 feet.
SalmonBoa.com: that is for females.
SalmonBoa.com: The first generation hets are maxed out at 6 feet.
NewVisionDragonZ: wow thats cool
SalmonBoa.com: This is a very exciting project and the fact that they are smaller makes it easier to maintain a collection.
Adam105: Have you or anyone to your knowledge produced paradox coral amels? I saw one at the White Plains, NY expo but could not find any online. It was stunning to look at. Also, whats a good morph to begin with in boas? For example, how pastel is with balls.
SalmonBoa.com: Paradox Coral Albinos? They pop up with different amounts of black. Its very interesting. I do know of a breeding where 2 paradox animals bred and produced all normals.
Adam105: wow
SalmonBoa.com: So far we dont see anything genetic going on.
SalmonBoa.com: I dont think we can produce them, I think they just pop up!
Adam105: Thanks!
rptylz_nr: how can i get a difficult feeder to eat? my snake is 2 feet long about 6 months old and refuses to eat most of the time. ive had her since feb
SalmonBoa.com: I would try offering her a hiding spot if she does not have one.
SalmonBoa.com: Leave a pre killed meal in the entry way of the hide spot overnight.
SalmonBoa.com: If that does not work, give us a call and we can visit about it. There are many things you can try.
rptylz_nr: she has one i did that she let it rot
SalmonBoa.com: I have alot of ideas about picky feeders...too many to share now. Give us a call this week!
SalmonBoa.com: I would need to ask you alot of questions about the scenario of your animal.
snakeboyeisel: Rich is there plans for a new DVD? i would like to see your new facility, cages, anything that might be new or changed since the first DVD
SalmonBoa.com: We do have plans in the near future for a new DVD.
SalmonBoa.com: It will probably be another 2 years before its completed, but we are definitely working on something.
Amazoa: Hello Rich, nice seeing you this summer at the big show. The kids in my reptile show are having fun watching that boa grow up. Thanks for all you have done to make reptiles a household name. Later my friend----------------------Richard Rooker
SalmonBoa.com: Thanks Richard!!!
Amazoa: your welcome
SalmonBoa.com: Glad to see you hear tonight.
SalmonBoa.com: Im glad the kids are enjoying the boa!
Amazoa: love it thank you for coming
PHFaust: On behalf of Jeff Barringer and all of us here at ks.com, Thank You for taking your time to chat with us. Transcripts will be posted with in a few days. Once again, Thank you Rich. For more information about Rich, visit, www.salmonboa.com
fireladie: thanks rich!
JasonGonzalez: Thanks for taking the time Rich.
TSUSnakeGuy: thanks Rich
PHAlex: thanks Rich!
SalmonBoa.com: Thank you all for joining me tonight. It was a bit scary. I have never been in a chat room before.
Redmoon: thank's Rich. it's been great just sitting here and reading
SalmonBoa.com: Once we got started it went very smooth!
fireladie: you did great rich
PHLdyPayne: great having your here Rich....I never knew to know there is a morph of red tails or BCI's that willl be smaller than 8 feet for females
-----
Cindy
PHFaust

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