Now many of you might be wondering… “Hey! What in the world is The Boaphile doing here posting on the Ball Python Forum!? This may come as a complete surprise to many of you but I have successfully bred two types of Reptiles. Boas, duh and BALL PYTHONS! That’s right. I had a single pair of Ball Pythons that I cared for and belonged to my son. Not that he did any of the work. Anyhow back in 1988 or 1989 I bred this pair, had five eggs laid and successfully hatched all of them. Way way way before Ball Pythons, and Boas for the matter, were cool. So that I think gives me a small chair somewhere here at the table.



Well, I was unable to find the original post by SerpentCity regarding this but am sure there are some skeptics and figured I would chime in since I have a pretty good memory for such things. It has been a long time since I last spoke with Scott at SerpentCity but I remember what had happened up until about something between six and eight years ago with one particular female so here goes:



First I am pretty sure this was or perhaps IS a female Scott had owned for many many years. Something over 20 years sticks in my head. Anyhow, after these many years never attempting to breed this female Ball Python Scott decides to breed her. She bred successfully, laid a nice clutch of eggs, and hatched them out and badda boom badda bang end of story right? Nope, next year Scott decides NOT to breed her… badda boom badda bang, more eggs, good ones again and babies hatch again. Last I heard she had done this an additional year and badda boom badda bang, eggs hatch. I remember Scott not knowing for sure what was happening. Sperm retention or parthenogenesis. I told Scott he HAD to write something up on this. This was ground breaking very important information that the world needed to know. He said, yea yea sometime. So if Scott is now revealing this information here at the Ball Forum, I know of no other place it has been revealed before now except to people like me in discussions. I think I have all these facts correct. If not Scott can correct me. However, the greater points are these.



1. If this whole story was just made up by Scott so he could get attention or for some other nonsensical reason, he began setting this up by telling me about this female Ball Python 6 – 8 years ago. I haven’t spoken to Scott for probably five years. It strains logic to believe that was his intent way back when he told me about this many years ago.



2. Scott is a scientist. One of the most educated Herpers anywhere. I’m sure Scott has approached this like a scientist would an experiment only trying to do his best to determine the truth.



3. Why not? Why can’t sperm retention be a reality? Why can’t parthenogenesis be possible in Ball Pythons? There is no evidence that these things are not possible. Only the assumption by some that they are not.



Some Boa anecdotal information for you:



1. Pete Kahl told me years ago about an Anerythristic Boa that was a proven breeder that had been bred by an Albino male. She produced all normal babies which you would expect being double hets, save one. The one was an Anerythristic. Obviously the female had retained enough sperm long enough to produce one more Anerythristic.



2. Last year I had a female that had produced slugs and preemie babies the year before, once again produced slugs and FRESH preemie babies. This after not having a male in her cage since the year previous.



3. This year a female I had bred last year (2001) that had produced mostly slugs and a few babies gave birth again. This time very early in the year she had three live babies and a large number of slugs. I had not put a male in with her this year. In fact, it had only been about three months since the other robust females had had the males introduced to them. To short a time for a proper gestation period. I do not make mistakes when it comes to this. I NEVER EVER temporarily EVER place one Boa in with another Boa. It is not possible that I made this mistake. I have NEVER done this. It is just one of those Boaphile no no’s. I don’t do it ever. So this female gave birth to live babies after delivering a litter the year previous and more than sixteen months after the last male had been removed. Parthenogenesis or sperm storage? I think sperm storage is more likely but who knows for sure? Nobody does without doing genetic fingerprinting of Mom and babies.



4. I have heard MANY stories of people breeding supposed “Het” for whatever animals and not producing any of the expected simple recessive progeny. This includes hets purchased from Herpers with the best possible reputations. I do not believe these Herpers would ever rip anyone off. However, if sperm had been retained and any other male had previously been in with the “hets” produced, even years before, it is entirely possible that non-hets could be produced. This either using the more likely retained sperm or parthenogenesis, while it seems very unlikely, could be the root issue.



Now take this opportunity after reading all my rambling to check out these cool little babies! “Pearlescent Boas” is what I call them. Remember, while these animals may not be "Ball Pythons"... they were produced by a Ball Python breeder!











Here is their Daddy!




The Boaphile's Spot! !

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