Reptile & Amphibian Forums

That the shape of arabesques heads are different? they appear to be longer than an average BCI head. Kind of a long coffin shape.. Just thought it was interesting that the pattern morph mat have physical differences too.
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Ed Lilley, www.constrictorsnw.com

I've noticed that too. Not sure why that is.

Matt

Here is my male..

he fathered a litter of striped arabesque albinos and all kinds of combos not to long ago and I noticed this while trying to figure out who was who among the babies. None of the striped albino besques made it but striped besques did and they were not easy to tell they were arabesque at first glance, (They were premature) the striping relly throws the arabesque pattern for a loop. I have one female that is connected pattern at the neck then like a lightning bolt stripe, then a hoop then a lightning bolt, hoop, into kind of an I shape and then thin saddles and some more striping on the tail... But that head shape is so different when they are side by side.. I'll post pics of the babies as soon as they shed they are pretty cool looking.
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Ed Lilley, www.constrictorsnw.com

cool pic
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litters have the longer heads? My arabesque sibling has a longer head. He is as close as it gets to being arabesque without acually being one, but his head shape is different. Are we 100% certain that the arabesque mutation is 100% Colombian? I know I have heard some controversy over this before. To me, that would make more sense than the arabesque pattern gene producing physical differences as well. Just a thought.

Phil Goss

Not that I have seen, But I have only seen what I have...LOL... The babies that are non arabesque look nothing like one and have shorter heads with a wider base..

Your arab sibling is pretty interesting though...HMMM...
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Ed Lilley, www.constrictorsnw.com

Steve Hammond? It is an educated guess based on the looks of his boas, and he produced the first Arabesque.

I believe there is some discrepancy as to the origin of Arabesques, but Colombia does have a WIDE range of natural phenotypes.

Your boa looks similar to Jeff Ronne's Fine-line boas, which originated from Steve's stock as well. I think it is nothing more than a characteristic of boas from that bloodline.

was bred by Steve. He's over three years old now and has that beautiful arab. yellow color. I agree with you. I think it is the locality of the original stock that causes for the narrower head, not the gene which produces the arabesque pattern.

Phil Goss

my observation was a good one.

It could of course be argued that it is still the genes of the Arabesque because the Arabesque (everyone) has SOME genes of the original stock. It still comes down to the origin of the original Boas that produced the Arabesques and their offspring.

I have seen a few Arabesques (Albino, Hypo, Sunglow) in person, but this observation has been noted through photographs and past characteristics with other origin specific mutations. This is the kind of stuff that makes the hobby thrilling!

What is Arabesque? Arabesque is the pattern mutation originated by Steve Hammond. Arabesque does not refer to the narrow head shape that arabesque possess. Yes the narrow head comes from the original stock, but I think it is the locality they came from which render them the narrow head, not the gene responsible for the arabesque pattern/color. Let's say the original Arabesque came from a Colombian X Suriname breeding. The babies had the arabesque pattern, but the Suriname head shape. The head shape would be from the Suriname's different build due to different demands and evolution of it's region of origin, not from the gene making the arabesque pattern. Again, just how I see it.

Phil Goss

Text isn't always the best means of communication.
Simply stated, the genes are in the bloodline not the mutation.

Because the Arabesque are from that line, it is a gene they possess. But, the gene is not there because they are Arabesques.

Does this make sense?