Some have certainly hit on some very good points. Here are the reasons as I had them figured before I made this post:

Here they are countdown style...

Reason number 3:

Sheer numbers of imports:

There were nearly three times as many Ball Python imports in 2006 than Boa Constrictor imports. 89,000 Ball Pythons while only 35,173 Boas were imported into the United States in 2006. A reference to the CITES site provided by Morti/Donnie.

CITES Export Quotas for 2006:

http://www.cites.org/common/quotas/2006/ExportQuotas2006.pdf

Colombia- 22,163
Guyana- 2,000
Nicaragua- 10,000
Surinam- 1,010
Total 35,173

Ball Pythons:

Benin- 80,000
Ghana- 7,000
Niger- 500
Togo- 1,500
Total 89,000

Reason number 2:

These greater import numbers represent a much greater number of individual breedings, thus increasing the chance that a new morph(s) will pop up. 7 or 8 times as many individual breedings are represented in the Ball Python imports than in the Boa Constrictor imports.

Assuming an average of 16 per litter of Boas, the 35,173 number represents 2200 different individual breedings. This is a low number average but considering slugs and other limiting factors, is likely not that far off. Ball Pythons on the other hand represent far more breedings. If we assume an average of 6 viable eggs per litter, 89,000 Ball Python imports would constitute 14,833 litters! That is 7.4 times as many breedings or 7.4 times as many breedings for something different new to show itself.

Reason number 1:

This is the really important one. I believe that the single greatest reason there are far more Ball Python morphs available, and identified every year is this; Normal Ball Pythons all look alive. Normal Boas are incredibly variable in appearance.

That's it in a nut shell. New Ball Python Morphs, since normal ones almost all look alike, reveal the weird or different animals within a group of imports easily. Many of the new Ball Python "Morphs" are so subtly different from normal Ball Pythons, one almost has to use ones imagination to observe the described "Morph". Now I admit, I in some ways look at Ball Pythons with a jaundiced eye, but the first time I saw a Mohave Ball Python, I was unable to tell what made it different from a "normal" Ball Python. The same goes for a large number of the other Ball Morphs out there today. I have to look at them with far greater care for differences than I would ever look at Boas to discern that ultimately subtle characteristic that would be virtually impossible to identify in Boas because of the huge disparity of looks found in Boas.

If you take a group of say fifty imported Boa Constrictors and somehow apply the pattern/color difference associated with a Mohave Ball to one of those fifty Boas, I think you may be hard pressed to pick it out. But drop that one Mohave in a group of 1000 Balls, and you will find it. Because all normal Ball Pythons look alike. Maybe a group of fifty Boas is too small, but I think the illustration makes the point. Because of the inherent variability we see in Boa Constrictors, those very subtle differences, those minuet alterations to "normal" color, "normal" pattern or "normal" black influence, can in and of themselves be considered "normal" variation. If normal then why pick it out? Why separate it for further study? Why? It just does not happen. Such a difference in Ball Pythons almost always results in the discovery of a new "Morph". Many of which are "co-dominant" meaning there is a "Super" version! In order for us to find a new "morph" in Boas, it has to be a full blow extreme difference from the norm.

Sure, Ron St. Pierre was able to pick out the first Motley, or someone at Strictly Reptiles did. Sure, someone picked out the first Albinos, duh. How could that be missed. Even Anerythristics were not identified as such until Glen Carlzen did it in the late 1980's many many years after Boas had been imported with greater numbers than they are today. Hypos? Do you think a Hypo was never imported into the US until the 1990's? I seriously doubt it, but nobody noticed it for what it was until the 1990's.

I believe there are many more "morphs" imported and produced in captivity in Boas every year that go unnoticed due to two things. 1. Boas are so variable that the different animal is hard to pick out. 2. I think most folks are not very observant. Most do not look for those individual little things that may be the key(s) to unlocking something new. Something outrageous. Something SCREAMINGLY beautiful!
This is my opinion(s) on the reasons why we have a list of morphs that is a fraction of that of the Ball Pythons guys.

There are many many more Boa morphs coming. Brand new morphs and not just multiple combination morphs coming. I know I am constantly looking for something. Anything. I don't know exactly what to look for, just to be looking. I will hint at a little something I am looking for myself. Some of the "Super" forms of Ball Morphs come from fairly inconspicuous co-dominant morphs. Where possible, the changes that occur in Ball Pythons that make these morphs, are just the things I am looking for to stumble upon that new "super" morph in Boa Constrictors. I hope I am hot on it's trail. I look forward to seeing what else comes out and see what stirs the Boa waters next...
-----
Boaphile Home
All Original/Boaphile Plastics
The Boa Network

[ Show Entire Thread ]