Let me say this at the beginning, I think all of the animals in question are GORGEOUS and regardless of what they turn out to be, or not, anyone would be lucky to own them!



Having seen Gus's animals in person, I can say with confidence that they are not "wild type" animals. There is SOMETHING going on with them. The method of inheritance APPEARS to be simple recessive based on 2 litters.



Having said that, we've yet to see an animal identified as "hyper" from Gus as an adult. So who knows what they look like as adults. Maybe they're dominant and we don't know it and Gus just had 25% odds, twice. Probably not, but who knows!?



As for the label "hyper" or "hyperpigmented", Gus has the right to label them whatever the heck he wants too. If he wanted to call them MARIO BROS BOAS, he could! The name assigned does NOT have to explain what you see. In this case, I actually think "hyperpigmented" does a GREAT job of describing what you see. The pigment of the boa (pigment is ANY color, not just black) is amped up! The prefix "hyper" means higher, above, beyond, super, etc.. I feel like "hyperpigmented" is accurate. And even if it wasn't, it's not the boa communities place to correct it. We can talk about it though, and I do feel that's what most people are doing.



As for the animals produced by KW and then marketed and sold by JJ, I haven't seen them in person, but the photos I've seen make the animals appear to exhibit similar characteristics as Gus' "hypers", although not as extreme (again, judging from photos only). Perhaps that's an effect of different cameras and lighting, perhaps it's the differences in the lines, or perhaps there is a difference in the expression (or lack of expression) of the genes.



I do feel that the label of "hyper" or "hyperpigmented" should NOT have been used for the animals originating from KW's breeding efforts, and labeled and marketed by JJ. I do not believe JJ had any negative intentions, I just think it's a situation that, in hindsight, turned out not to be the best idea. The way I see it, "hyper" or "hyperpigmented" is a label belonging to Gus's line of animals (kind of like "jungle" belongs to Lars Brandle's line of animals showing pattern and color anamolies). If it turns out that KW's line and Gus's line have the trait known as "hyper", then Rentfro (or RioBravo, or ..?) line hyper and Walters line hyper could be assigned (similar to Kahl and Sharp albino) to lessen confusion over the origins of the animals.



I also think the marketing of the normal appearing siblings as 66% possible hets was perhaps another good-intentioned effort by JJ that may, in the future, show to be a bad idea. Until KW does further work with the animals and at a minimum the results of the litter are reproduced (and at best the offspring produce and shed light on what's going on), assigning a method of inheritance (simple recessive) is in essence guaranteeing something that can't be guaranteed at this point.



Those are just MY thoughts, certainly not facts, just my interpretation of what's going on and my take on things. I'm merely offering them up for others to consider.



As I said at the beginning of this, I think the animals are all BEAUTIFUL and anyone would be lucky to have them, regardless of what the situation turns out to be, or not. And that's coming from someone who doesn't get all nutty over Peruvians!



Thanks for reading, feel free to comment or ask any questions



jb
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Jonathan Brady

*You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be misquoted, then used against you.*

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