Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i am new into the red-tail boas. i have 3 right now two females and 1 male. i am going to try and post a few pics and i would like to know if there is anything unique about my one female she has really light coloration yet she is a beatuiful snake. sorry to sound so stupid but i just feel like she is the most special snake i have come across. sorry about the picture quality it is just before feeding time and its in a box

I would agree that she is a very beautiful snake. Did the previous owner mention anything about her being either BCI (Boa constrictor imperator; common boa) or BCC (Boa constricor constrictor; true redtails)? From the pic, i would venture to guess that she is a very clean, common boa; BCI. Some would say she is a "pastel" due to the lack of black speckling and very uniform appearance of her saddles. No matter, you have gotten a nice snake. Good luck and glad to hear another boa enthusiast is addicted.
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Pete Walton
The Redtail Room

Unfortunatly she is from a pet shop. she was the first one i got there. i now know where to go for my snakes when buying them. i now have a total of 6 snakes. plus some on the way. anyhow. they told me that she was a true columbian red-tail. but they know nothing of her breeding, so thats why i came here. i have a better pic i just took maybe this will help a little better.

looks like you got a columbian, and possibly a pastel in some eyes (mine.) Pastel is a gene that Jeff Ronne (boaphile) is a pioneer of, its charecteroized by reduction of black pigment, which in some cases alows lighter pigments (sometimes more colorful like reds/oranges/pinks to come through).

But the term pastel has become such a flimsy term, some pastels have a HUGE reduction in black, some have a decent amount, some have a little, ect. Id say yours is a pastel based on the reduction of its medalions (those diamond markings on its sides) They seem to lack the black contrast that many of the older day columbians had. It be best to post pics of that. So some would argue its a pastel some would argue its not. I believe it is and find it to be a very pretty snake, congrats. I just spent like 5 minutes trying to find the article jeff ronne wrote about what a pastel "is". Couldnt find it, ask around if your interested im sure someone has the link.