Last year we had written and perhaps optimistically hoped that the Paradigm Boa mutation would be a mutation that might be inheritable in the first generation of an unrelated breeding. This being that the Sharp and Caramel traits might be on separate genes resulting in the new Paradigm Boas. However, as speculated by several people including Paul Hollander, these two separate and different mutations are on the exact same locus or location on the genetic chain. This year we successfully bred a Paradigm male to a Ghost female. The resulting litter reveals the truth for the first time. Now instead of speculating how it might work, we can all see exactly through infallible proof that those two separate genetic anomalies are in fact full partners in creating the Paradigm Boas at the exact same location. So far all generally accepted forms of "T-Positive" Boas are inherited in a simple recessive method. This is now known to be true of the Paradigm Boas as well. Apparently the Sharp Albino and the Sharon Moore Caramel together have altered the production of melanin to an extent less than a homozygous Sharp and more than a homozygous Caramel. The result is the Paradigm "T-Positive Albino" that is unique in the Boa Constrictor world.
This marks the first time this has been identified in Boa Constrictors. This type of mechanism or combination was unknown to us and had not been part of the genetic knowledge base for most Boa Constrictor enthusiasts, it certainly is now. Much discussion has occurred and the conventional wisdom has believed that this is exactly how it worked. We remained unconvinced until now in hopes that we would be seeing Paradigm Motleys, Paradigm Arabesques etc. at the first successful breeding of a Paradigm to any of the Dominant or Co-Dominant mutations. We will have to wait a while for the satisfaction of seeing those many additional mutations merged with the Paradigm Boas now. At the end of the day though, this makes the Paradigm project better in our opinion in that it gives the project greater strength in the fact it will not be reproduced so quickly. It will take a little longer now to make these additional color and pattern combination mutations.
Below we have the litter of Double-Hets and Triple-Hets. These babies are all het for Anerytheristic. Some are also Hypomelanistic. That is as far as we can identify exactly what we are looking at for certain. They are also each 50% possible het for Sharp Albino and 50% possible het for Sharon Moore Caramel Hypos/T-Positives. That is every single baby was given one half of the ingredients that now rest on that "Paradigm Gene" from Dad. Dad delivered one Sharp gene or one Sharon Moore Caramel gene to every baby in the litter, but never both. We just don't know which have which as there is no visual difference between them. These babies will make for some really interesting breeding projects in the future. The range of babies that will be ultimately achieved from breeding these Boas is mind boggling! A few for example would be Anerytheristic Caramels, Hypo and Super Hypo Caramels, Ghost Caramels, Anerytheristic Paradigm and even an Anerytheristic Paraglow! I am sure there are many more as these were the major ones to come to mind!
We believe this breeding also proves at least one more thing: As has been clarified on the forum thanks to Paul Hollander, the Sharon Moore Caramel Hypos are a form of "T-Positive" animals. Given the fact that we now know that the Sharp Albino trait and the Sharon Moore Caramel trait both rest upon the exact same locus, we believe we can say, with some level of certainty, that the Sharp Albinos in fact maybe "T-Positive" Albinos. The "greatest" or most complete form of "T-Positive" animals to be sure but in a more technical aspect there probably isn't really such thing as being "more" T-Positive than any other T-Positive animals. The supposed Boas either have their reduction of melanin altered by Tyrosinase or they don't. The differences are in how much melanin production remains.
After long discussions on the forum clarifying precisely what "Tyrosinase-Positive" means, it is clear that the Sharon Moore Caramel Hypo is actually one of the forms of "Tyrosinase Positive" Boas known to exist today. A lesser "grade" of T-Positive if you will, but T-Positive nonetheless. I guess you could define the Sharp Albinos as the most complete "T-Positive Albino" or the highest "grade" of T-Positive. This coalition of compatibility is undeniable now that it has been circumstantiated. This Paradigm dynamic duo, despite the fact that the two are represented with dramatically different visual expressions, will bring us some very unique color and pattern mutations beyond our comprehension. The very first of these beauties is the Paraglow. With the introduction of the "Paraglow Boa", we have just scratched the tip of the iceberg with where this project can go! We look forward to proceeding into the future knowing exactly how the Paradigm trait is now inherited.
We would like to say thanks to everyone for their continuing positive remarks, e-mails and praise for these wonderful Boas we are very lucky to be working with. We would also like to thank Jeff Ronne for his help with both this year’s and last year’s introduction and explanation of the Paradigm Boa. His assistance has been greatly appreciated.
If you got all the way through this, thanks for reading!
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