In 1995 I produced a litter of Sonoran Desert Boas which contained two extremely abberant looking Babies, one normal colored but with four stripes from the neck to the tail with lateral blotches, the other one nearly black, with leopardlike markings on it`s back.
In 1999 I bred this two females back to their father and when this Babies arrived I was very surprised that both litters contained Leopard Boas beside normal looking Sonorans.
Leopard Boas are very variable in the shape of their back patterns and in color.
They can be striped, marbled, or with long cream-white blotches on their back, they nearly can show the pattern of a Labyrinth Burmese Python, few are even plain dark with one fine bright stripe on their back.
Most of them are melanistic, some have red throats, others are red at the belly or have a big amount of red on their tails. Their ground color varies from grey to a rusty red,up to nearly black.
Their tongue is blue and the eyes are dark, reddish brown.
Very typical are their distinct headpatterns. Fine black lines from the nose to the eyes and sometimes around the eyes like eyelashes, and a reddish blotch on the rear of the head set theirs apart from every other Boa constrictor's.
When breeding two Hets together in 2001 I finally proofed that the Leopard trait in general is a recessive one, but what`s going on with the different pattern- and colorvariations inside the Leopard Boa Strain we still have to find out.
I think a lot of fun and excitement will be guaranteed in the future of this genetic adventure, breeding the Leopards - or combining them with all those beautiful other color morphs of Boa constrictor.
So in some years the report about their History hopefully might be a bit longer!?









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Hans Winner

www.hjwinner.com
Home of the Leopard Boa

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