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I really like this boa. She's much better looking than that pic below indicates. What would you recommend I breed her to?

I have a male stripeline albino, and a very clean male Ghost.

typo...

Thats a tough call. Do you have a pic of the ghost? If it's a nice ghost I'd go with that.

He's still a tiny little baby. I'm hoping he stays light like
that. If I breed him to her in a few years all of the babies
would be hypos 100% het for ghost(anery), right?

but you would get something like this

12.5% het anery
25% het hypo het anery (dh ghost)
12.5% super hypo het anery
12.5% harlequin het anery
25% hypo harlequin het anery (triple het ghost)
12.5% super hypo harlequin het anery

you wouldn't get all hypos unless your ghost was carrying two hypo genes but he looks to be carrying only one hypo gene so that's why you wouldn't get all hypos

hypo x normal=50%
hypo x hypo=50% hypos, 25% supers, 25% normal
super hypo x normal=100% hypos
super hypo x hypo=50% supers, 50% hypos
super hypo x super hypo=100% supers

take care
Bob

if both parents were hypos all of the babies would be hypo.

Thanks, one day I'll have this stuff down...

Simply think of a Salmon with one Salmon gene as being het for Salmon. So, a het Salmon bred to a het Salmon would give you (on average) 1/4 Salmon babies.

A Salmon that has two Salmon genes is homozygous Salmon. If this Homozygous boa is bred to a het for Salmon on average 50% of the babies would be Salmon. Just like if you breed a Albino boa to a het for albino boa you will get on average 50% albinos.

Notice the Salmon gene works just like the albino gene only with the Salmons you can see if they are hets for this gene. This is why we call it a dominant gene--because you can see the trait in the heterozygous form. Some people call the Salmons codominant. But codominant is differant--With codoms the het animals will look very differant than those that have two copies of the gene. A good example is the Motley boa. The het motleys (those with one motley gene) look much differant than the homozygous motleys (also wrongly called "super motleys." A super motley is really just a homozygous motley.

" If this Homozygous boa is bred to a het for Salmon on average 50% of the babies would be Salmon. Just like if you breed a Albino boa to a het for albino boa you will get on average 50% albinos. "

Sorry, this is wrong. I should have coffee and then post.

>>12.5% het anery
>>25% het hypo het anery (dh ghost)
>>12.5% super hypo het anery
>>12.5% harlequin het anery
>>25% hypo harlequin het anery (triple het ghost)
>>12.5% super hypo harlequin het anery

Hi Bob,

I thought breeding harliequin to anything, all the babies would be considered harlequin?
-April

I don't think so April although I have been wrong before but I thought it was dominant

here is a piece of info from Tim Magee's website founder of the harlequin boa
" Throughout my experience with them, I have gained a great deal of insight into how the characteristics of expression seen in these animals works, how it develops, as well as how it is passed on or inherited, and I believe these animals may represent an example of "incomplete dominance". I choose to insist that any given anomoly will catagorize itself through its behavior when bred, if allowed to do so by someone that understands that there can be more to genetics than "co-dom", or "recessive" and is willing to devote the time and effort. It is my opinion that absolutely nothing in terms of genetic mutations is "proven" in one breeding, and the initial breeding(s) simply provides first step evidence that points us in the right direction towards an eventual conclusion or accurate classification.

The anomolous aspects in both pigment and pattern produced from this project are tied directly to a single bloodline and appears to be more dependant upon the direct relationship to that lineage, rather than to the visual appearence of the parental contributor. For this reason, I have taken the rather unpresidented step of naming the bloodline itself, rather than any one particular appearence produced from it, so I think it's important to clairify here that "Harlequin" is not the name of a monotypical "morph", but instead referes to a specific bloodline with non-recessive, variably expressed characteristics, which has now proven itself over multiple generations to be much more than a simple "homogenization effect" created by random "selective breeding"."

and a piece from Josh Ketchum's site also for reference
"The Harlequin Boa is a very beatiful animal. They can have both abberant patterns and very incredible colors. I have had several litters of Harlequins born at my facility and I have been very impressed with the quality of animals I have produced. I bred Harlequin to Harlequin in 2007 and the female is due to drop June 24, 2007. I am very excited to see what this litter will bring. The breedings I have had thus far I have noticed that about half the offspring come out Harlequin when breeding my male Harly to a normal female. The other half are fairly normal looking, but still very beautiful. The Harlequin boa gets better with age. The pastel colors come in more and more with every shed. They make stunning adults. I am excited to see what the future holds for this morph as more and more people discover just how incredible these snakes are."

One can argue that they have low expression ones and high expression ones which I agree but when a jungle mates to a clean normal the color is also great on the normals not carrying the jungle gene so it is not real clear but I think dominant is the key word though but if I'm wrong please correct me cuz I'm not afraid to learn something new take care and nice chatting with you
Bob

it comes from a particular bloodline so I guess in that sense it would apply I just tend to think of it as a morph rather than a bloodline with the typical harlequinish "backs of arrow" dorsal saddles sometimes connected and/or tail stripes with pastelish colors that get better with age
Bob

hmm from my litter of hypo harli x high pink normal, I don't think I could have picked out which ones would be considered 'harlequin' or not.. they all looked harli to me. Some didn't have as much color but did show the pattern aberancies. I thought the trait was not proven one way or the other yet, I haven't heard from Tim in a while so I don't know what new things have come about with this morph.

This was the litter after birth, the pinker looking ones are the hypos.

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'There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."' -Rainshadow

I believe connected dorsal saddles (resembling the backs of arrows) and/or dorsal striping is the definition of them. I'm not aware of any morphs that will produce all of itself in the same form (I know super motley mated to a normal makes all motleys but not super) so this morph would be the first to my knowledge. I don't like it when people mate their pastel to another normal or salmon and claim every one is pastel, "I tell them pass the pipe my way."lol any further light you can shed on the subject please let me know and your hypo harlys were very pink at birth so do you have any older pics??? please show them cuz they are HOT!!!! take care and nice chatting with you again April
Bob

Hi Bob,
Thanks for the explanation. There is so much about this gene that I still need to understand. It would seem odd to get all babies being one ‘morph’ when bred to a normal (I agree about the pastel thing! Urrrgh!) but at the same time, this was how I understood the harlequin gene to work. Breed a harli to a normal, all harli babies but with reduced expression of the trait. I was thinking the trait was some sort of intermediate expression, an incomplete dominant trait. Of course I am no expert on genetics, so I really can’t say!
Some from my litter show tons of color but no weird saddles, a few had the saddles and striping but not the color. Here are the 3 hypo harlequins that are my keepers. These pics are a few months old, I’ll take some new ones hopefully this week and start a new post.

Puzzle:

Redboy

Candy:

Below is a pic of their mom, Zahara. Just a nice pink normal.

Take care!
-April

interesting link, "basic principles of genetics"

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'There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."' -Rainshadow

mom is hot and the second one is beautiful with great pastel like coloring and the third looks like he or she could open a brothel with that pink color Maybe all the offspring carry the trait and genetics some just show more than others but definately high and low expressions but definately post some updated pics for me. I really like the harly's with saddles like this one which kind of resembles your first one pictured with a couple of the saddles I like that look like arrows
harlequinboa.net/hb-cms/index.php?option=com_gallery2&Itemid=39&g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=182

take care and thanks for sharing April
Bob

Why breed it to a ghost. The striping associated with the harlequin bloodline is hit or miss in most cases and generally shows up when the bloodline is breed to itself. Harlequins are known for their color and striping and I don't see why you would want to take away the color. I'd breed it into albinos to make some killer sunglows with a chance of producing stripes. Thats just me. I have plenty of harlequins and I certainly wouldn't blow them on a ghost or anery. If you can produce sunglows that have extreme coloration you can demand higher prices for a better looking animal. If you do choose the ghost they'll be nice/clean nonetheless. Trey

choice, he's a stripeline albino too. I just got the Ghost.

I've also got a nice pastel f4 hypo. Would that be a better pick?

I'm pretty sure that it's a super, so in that case all of the
babies WOULD be hypos het for ghost, right?

I'd breed the probable super to the ghost. all the babies would be hypo het anery and plenty of supers. I'd stick will putting the stripeline albino on the harlequin.

>>I really like this boa. She's much better looking than that pic below indicates. What would you recommend I breed her to?
>>
>>I have a male stripeline albino, and a very clean male Ghost.
>>

I need a girl like that to enhance the stripe My F1 DH tried to have. He ain't a super, but he's cleaner than some proved supers I've seen.

Nice looking girl. When you start with a nice enough animal, you can't really go wrong with anything you pair her with.

Good luck!
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Richard Carew
Sunset BCI
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