Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Can someone explaint the difference between a BCI and a BCC? I knot that BCC's are much larger. Is there any websites with good information on all of this? I have been looking for quite some time!

Difference between BCI and BCC? &btnG=Google Search

This is an informational forum for people to ask questions. I have done numerous searches. So please dont respond unless you know the awnser. Thanks

What more could you possibly need to know that wasnt reveiled in a google search ?

>>This is an informational forum for people to ask questions. I have done numerous searches. So please dont respond unless you know the awnser. Thanks

A google search wont tell him which one the new petshop boa is!
I would leave it at that, a nice petshop boa. If he wants to start counting scales though, he can feel free. Given the looks of the snake in the posts below, I would guess that the scale counts will come to the same conclusion, that it is a petshop boa of unknown lineage, and will do little to narrow down the subspecies. If I had to guess, I would say the snake is probably a honduran x colombian, which, depending on who you ask, could either be BCI to BCI of different locality, or a BCI/BCC cross.
-----
Davey Giltner

>>A google search wont tell him which one the new petshop boa is!
>>I would leave it at that, a nice petshop boa. If he wants to start counting scales though, he can feel free. Given the looks of the snake in the posts below, I would guess that the scale counts will come to the same conclusion, that it is a petshop boa of unknown lineage, and will do little to narrow down the subspecies. If I had to guess, I would say the snake is probably a honduran x colombian, which, depending on who you ask, could either be BCI to BCI of different locality, or a BCI/BCC cross.
>>-----
>>Davey Giltner

When I read your question the first thing I thought of was RioBravoReptiles. I went and checked it out, no scale counts, but some good background notes on both BCI and BCC. Lots of info on both and the diffrent localities. It's worth a look.
-----
Voices in the darkness... scream away my mental health. Can I.. ask a question.. to help save me from myself? Enemies fill up the pages, are they me?... Monday till Sunday in stages, set me free!!! " Diary of a Madman " Ozzy Osbournewww.bahreptiles.bravehost.com

OOPS ! Google is a pretty simple tool IF used.

http://tinyurl.com/2fml3j

Thanks I misread your first post sorry.

>>Can someone explaint the difference between a BCI and a BCC? I knot that BCC's are much larger. Is there any websites with good information on all of this? I have been looking for quite some time!

Hi,

Yours is a recurring question that rarely fails to get a little bit of sarcasm in answer!

The reason may be because it frustrates some more experienced people (myself included sometimes) who take that information for granted. Scale-counting aside it's fairly obvious to many keepers that a boa from a certain range with so many saddles and some specific colors and other looks and maybe including behaviours is a (put subspecies here). It's an accumulation of small pieces of knowledge so common that there's no easy way to quantify it.

Less experienced keepers who can't themselves quickly see the differences then sometimes become defensive or angry when the Pros won't share the secret or the shortcut to knowing which is which. (there really is no such secret info).

Maybe the so-called experts have some thinking to do to better understand how to quickly describe the differences between a Boa constrictor constrictor and a Boa constrictor imperator. In the meantime if you want to be one of the people who can, with a high degree of accuracy, quickly identify those two subspecies of boas then you should start like most everybody else.. by looking at a lot of Boas. When you've looked at enough then you can join the rest of the people who know the obvious differences but somehow can't easily explain it all to someone who has little experience telling them apart!

My website has some information and many photos that can help you get started seeing the differences between Boa subspecies in nature.

Now as far as some CB boas of unknown or even mixed herirtage.. I'm not sure if their subspecies can be correctly defined. In such a case exactly why would that be so important anyway? Maybe you can answer that question for me?

Thanks for reading my ramblings!
.

-----
Gus
A. Rentfro
RioBravoReptiles.com
www.riobravoreptiles.com

"Perfectly healthy animals are a minimum requirement.. everything else is just salesmanship" gus

If you are getting a wild caught specimen, BCI and BCC are geographically seperated with most BCI's being from the Mexico and Central Amernican regions while most BCC's are from South America. There is however some overlap in geographical region in Columbia. Anything South of Columbia shoud be purely BCC. However, when you buy from a L.P.S., they may not have any locality data to back up what they are saying it is. Even more unfortunate is the fact the most L.P.S. boas are purchased thru distributors who may either be buying from breeders they have set up to do just that (breed boas), people that breed boas in large numbers that may not be keeping pure lines (this may be the case with some farm raised babies) or they may be coming from private individuals that are keeping several species together and oops, low and behold we have babies and we need to get rid of them.

If you can get specific data from the store or individual you are buying it from then that may be your best reference. If you are buying from someone on the website then just make sure they are a pure line breeder or they at least have records of what they are keeping and breeding together. Best of all, if you are buying from someone that specializes in either BCI's or BCC's, you can be sure of what you are getting. Otherwise, post a good clear picture on the forum and I'm sure you will get answers from several of the experts and non experts alike.

There are some really good books out there that have several pictures of different locality specific individuals which will get you somewhat close. If you want to use scale counts then be sure you are asking a good source for the information. Just remember that scale counts can overlap in the case of some individuals so even this may not be a definitive way to determine what you are getting. Two books that come to mind with such information in them are "The Boa Constrictor Manual" by Philippe de Vosjoli and "Red-Tailed Boas" A complete guide to Boa Constrictors from t.f.h. publications. These are beginners books that don't cost more than $15 at most stores. If you haven't started a good reference library it is well advised that you do so just so you don't get conflicting information from those that do know it and those that think they know it all. Either way, make sure you are getting a concensus on the information you are getting. I've spent years in the LPS scene and when I was specializing in the reptile areas I always made sure that we knew what we were selling.

Just remember that locality information was not as important to many people in the herp community 10 to 15 years ago so there may be many older bloodlines out there that are actually crossings between several localities by the time you are getting your juvi snake. In the past several years this has changed to everyone wanting to know everything about the locality their animals come from. There are even several individuals striving to keep their locality specific bloodlines available.

Personally, I think it really needs to come down to you deciding which species or subspecies you really want to maintain. Whether you choose BCC, BCI, BCA, BCO, any of the insular subspecies or any of the Morphs, just be sure that you know how to properly take care of and maintain the species you choose to keep. I have kept between 30 and 40 differernt species of baos and pythons over the past 15 years and have never found any one to be that difficult if it was properly maintained.

Hope this helps

Chris