That is a photo of an amelanistic(albino)Colombian Boa Constrictor(B.c.imperator), not a Brazilian Rainbow Boa(E.c.cenchria). Those are extremely common in today's hobby, and that particular strain would go for only a couple hundred bucks, and there are many different strains in the hobby that command much more money, but still NOTHING compared to what an albino E.c.cenchria would go for. Back in 1996 I saw those very same animal at shows going for $10,000 dollars because they were the very first available of their kind, and the normal Colombian boas were very revered as pets, but were about $50 bucks for a normal baby.

A snake being amelanistic doesn't necessarily mean they are extremely high-priced though at all, it all depends on what species/subspecies it is and how coveted and in demand the normal phenotype is. As anything in this world, it is all about supply and demand........always!

I have LOTS of different morphs of many different types of snakes, including amelanistic albino's and many other forms, and what they are worth all depends on how in demand the snake itself is, and how rare the morph is, whatever type of genetic mutation(s)/morph it may be.


The very first amel cornsnake was produced in 1961 by Bernard Bechtel, and were EXTREMELY rare and unheard of, even up into the 1980's...because there were very few other's in existence. But now, you can barely give them away at $10-15 dollars and are about as common as grass.

When an albino Brazilian Rainbow Boa enters the hobby, you can bet the first one's offered will go for ten's of thousands of dollars, and the original specimen would likely cost more still to the breeder(unless it was produced by accident themselves)because of what it could possibly make him/her in return sales in the herp trade.

I just remembered about the unproven "calico" trait, and there is also supposed to be a leucistic(all white) Colombian Rainbow boa(E.c.amaura) that is not a proven simple recessive trait yet as far as I know, however I don't know when or where it was produced. But THAT will be HUGE BUCKS if they become available!!

Same with an albino Brazilian Rainbow Boa. There is a HUGE difference between these and a common Colombian Boa constrictor, and are two very different animals altogether.


cheers! ~Doug
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -Serpentine Specialties

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