Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey all,
So my girl is a boy (as per my previous post!). Anyway, I went and picked up this girl yesterday. She's got some cool colors and I wondered if anyone had any input on local, morphs, etc...

Thanks for looking and I appreciate all input!!!

With no head? Just kidding. Looks like a normal colombian to me.
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Caden Chapman
slithering.serpents@gmail.com
http://slitheringserpents.com

I disagree, normal yes, but there are a lot of CA traits.

Notice no specific locale there, just a BCI mix really. Can't expect anything more without a definite history. Would need a clear full body shot with head and tail to make a better guess.
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http://www.GilbertBoas.com/
http://www.BoaList.com/

Sorry...new to Boas. CA? What do you mean by that? Also, I posted a couple more pics on the morphs/local page. Thanks a lot for your reply!

A locality: Central American boa. They are smaller and from what I've seen from mine and in pictures, darker sometimes with little or lots of speckling even; and sometimes they come with small man's syndrome! LOL! They can have a temper, but so can any snake of course. My CA bites at me if I'm ten feet away, even with gentle handling and no fear on my part, rarely is it in good enough spirits to let me by without one nip in my direction!
Good luck!
Steph S.

Hope she dosn't turn on me! She's super tame so far. I'll keep you posted though!

Here is another pic of her:

Has traits of a lot of CA locales, not one in particular though.

Central American, is not a locale. Locales are specific geographic isolated populations. Such as Pokigron Suriname, Iquitos Peruvian, Sao Paulo South Brazilian, Liberia Costa Rican, etc. To some, locales are defined by countries. Insular populations would be another example. But since Central America covers Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama, it is not a specific locale.

A Bluefields, Nicaraguan is a locale specific CA boa, but just because a Boa is CA doesn't make it a locale boa. Too broad a region.
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http://www.GilbertBoas.com/
http://www.BoaList.com/

Thanks for the info! It's fun just to know what you all with the experience think. I've got a lot to learn!!!

Took me awhile to read this reply... but I can't believe that didn't occur to me earlier, boy do I feel silly! ;p Many people sell boas as just Central American, but in fact... now that you mention it, that is like almost no information at all. I've seen boas specifically from those places you mentioned (as being part of CA) for sale regularly and in fact, it makes other boas being sold as "CA" almost like buying a Mutt then since they could carry traits from many different lines developing in those locations. Locale is more specific and I should have rethought my words, thanks for setting me straight... My 'CA' was actually an adoption from a Petco store I worked at when I was 22, there they buy and sell them as just "Central Americans." So I really did not think deeply on it and just accepted that. Now I wonder about its history.
Thanks Chris,
Steph S.

Labeling a Panamanian, Honduran, Nicaraguan mutt as CA isn't wrong, and it avoids incorrect labels that may have been attached to certain morphs as well.

For example. The CA Motleys are often sold as Nicaraguan Motleys, in truth they are of Panamanian origin (though that has also been debated, if you wanted more info about that shoot me an email). A lot of the CA Hypo het T-plus Albino are from Panamanian Hypos X Nicaraguan T-plus Albinos. So, instead of calling them mutts, or wrongly as Nicaraguan (there are pure Nicaraguan versions though), it is better to call them CA.

The only wrong case I have seen in the application is in calling Sonoran and other Mexican locales as CA, when Central America does not include Mexico.

I don't know Petco's source for their reptiles. But if they get farmed stock, you likely have a pure Nicaraguan. El Salvador's politics have prevented export for some time now, no boas have been imported from mainland Belize, or Guatemala. The only source of Costa Rican boas out of CR is through a serpentarium in Grecia. I do believe there are other breeders now in CR using stock that originated from there, regardless Costa Rican law only allows export of CBB, the owner of Zoocriadero was the only person granted permission to collect boas for captive breeding. There aren't too many Honduran boas, I don't know the exact reasons, but I am sure that wouldn't be too hard to learn. And then with Panama, until 2005 they had a 10 year ban on export. I have to check my CITES, but I believe the first shipment that year was 50 boas (of which 3 purported Sabogae, and a number of Hypos in the mid 20's). CITES doesn't include subspecies, thus the "supposed" BCS. There was a second small shipment later that year. There was a 3rd shipment this past spring.

Knowing the export history of various countries, as well as the laws behind them, will help you determine if a seller is honest in the representation. Again, there is some room allowing for that person being uninformed as opposed to deceptive.
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http://www.GilbertBoas.com/
http://www.BoaList.com/