Hypo- meaning less or under, and used as a prefix to melanistic together that means less black pigmentation or under the usual amount of black pigment.. And it is obviously true.

But in the culture of Boas and other popular snakes (other reptiles?) Hypomelanistic or even just Hypo has taken on another expanded meaning. It is used to describe an animal that not only has been given less black pigment but can also pass that trait on to it's offspring IN A PREDICTABLE FASHION..

So.. while this nice boa is hypomelanistic and it can pass on the probability of the same trait to its' offspring it is not in the new sense HYPO, meaning that if you find another like it (maybe a grown-up offspring) and breed them together you get super-hypos..

This is something that should be worked out because simply calling this Boa hypomelanistic is correct but it would be wrong for someone to promote it as a HYPO, capable of producing genetic super-hypos if that had not been demonstrated.

Those interested should come up with a system of labels that is not (potentially) ambiguous. Then slam the people who pull the shenanigans (gosh, I love to use the word SHENANIGANS!)
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Gus
A. Rentfro
RioBravoReptiles.com
www.riobravoreptiles.com

"Quality is not an accident. Perfectly healthy animals are a minimum requirement.. everything else is just salesmanship" gus

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