Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I really want an albino boa.But cant afford one.So if I bought 100% het for albino female what kind of male would I need to have a decent chance of producing some albino babies?
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You would need a het. albino male as well....

if you buy a baby het albino female then just buy a baby dbl het sunglow male. that way you can get albinos and sunglows.
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Did you just want an Albino for a pet or are you still wanting to breed your boas?

If all you want is a pet Albino, then the cost of a pair of hets is almost the same cost. You can get a nice pair of hets for around 300 dollars. You can get a nice Albino for about 500 dollars. So, if you're just wanting an albino you should save your money and when the new litters are born next year you can get one.

Now if you're wanting to breed them still..... Then get a Het Female and an Albino male. You'll spend more in the short run, but it's worth it. Of course, a Het Male is really all you need to produce Albino babies, if you already have a Het Female. IMO if you spent the extra cash and got an Albino male that would be better. That way all the non-Albino babies would be 100% Het for Albino and would be more desirable to potential buyers. That is if you're actually interested in breeding boas and wish to sell the extras. Most times people don't want the possible hets, when acutal hets are just a few dollars more.

lately Ive seen a lot of poss hets being sold at normal cost. ph albinos for $85 and poss het snows for $125 which is a lot cheaper than petco!
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IMO possible hets SHOULD be sold as normals. No guarantee they are heterozygous animals. It's basically a gamble on the het part, unless you buy and breed the entire litter.
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Richard Carew
Sunset BCI
You laugh at me cuz I'm different! I laugh at you cuz you're all the same.
Stop Inhumane and Illegal Practices

that they are possible hets. Especially with the Albinos.

It took me FOREVER to find a Motley that wasn't at least possible het Kahl. I wanted a Motley for Sharp projects and didn't want any chance a Kahl gene could get in there to mess things up in future generations.

Pricing as normals is fine, and some morphs have come to that with Poss hets, but it is still important to give all the info.

Just my feeling on it.
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http://www.GilbertBoas.com/
http://www.BoaList.com/

Agreed. I should have clarified better. I was referring to price alone.
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Richard Carew
Sunset BCI
You laugh at me cuz I'm different! I laugh at you cuz you're all the same.
Stop Inhumane and Illegal Practices

what does that mean.
How would that work with a 100% het for albino female?( I do know that 100% means one parent was albino).

I cant justify spending more then 500 dollars on a pet if I can breed on a small scale and make at least part of that money back.My hubby is not into reptiles so I have to make it sound good in order to get what I want.
BTW I love the idea of a double het but not sure if I can afford that either.BUT if I buy the female now she I will have at least 2-3 years to save up for the male.
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66% het means that statistically, 2 out of 3 babies in a litter should be het. Any individual is either het or not. Check out this site. Has a good simple calculator.
http://www.ballpythons.ca/what_get/recessive.html

Like boachris was saying... that is how much of a chance, percentage wise, that the snake you buy will be a Het. there is still 40% chance it will be a normal. In this case, or any poss. het. case, you will not know until you breed the snake in question whether it is a for sure Het.
Possible Hets can happen when someone breeds two Hets together; there are albinos, hets and normals in the litter. Since you can't tell which of the normal appearing boas are hets, you have to sell them as possible hets. If you breed a Het to a normal, then you REALLY have problems ;p meaning... the chances slim down, and you will have less carriers in the litter. Yes you can buy a possible a bit cheaper than a guaranteed het, but after you put three years of food and care into the animal... can you imagine the disappointment of getting a litter with no albinos?
Trouble could also be, you buy two possible hets and raise them up and breed them.... you get a normal litter with no albinos... does this mean you have one parent who is normal and one het? Or were neither of them hets? The only way to know is to breed them separately to a true het or albino, but then you'd have put more money into it and gotten nowhere if neither were really hets. Of course, that is worst case scenario!
Roll of the dice! If you get hets, go with a guaranteed het from a reputable breeder; I've sold my hets with paperwork and all my information so that they feel safe buying from me (given that I do not have the reputation that some others do... yet! ;p)
I would buy two true hets, a het and an albino male, or a het. and a hypo het. albino. I agree with your idea though, decide what you wanna do, buy the gal first and then save for your male of choice.
Good luck!
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Steph S.
Boas...
1.1 Albino boas (Loki & Hope)
1.4 07 Het. albino boas (Petty & Lady,Sierra,Madeline,Lola)
0.1 Reverse stripe poss. het albino (Cookie)
0.1 Salmon/hypo (Scarlet)
0.1 Anery poss. het snow (Missy)
1.0 Anery (Reno)
0.1 DH Sunglow (Bonnie)
1.0 Het. Anery (Guy)
0.3 Normals (Ophelia, Sasha, & Lulu)
1.1 Surinames (Solomon & Surreal)
1.2 Hogg Isles (Mr.Orange & Peaches, Apricot)
0.0.1 Central American (Sassy)
0.1 Emerald Tree boa (Jade)
1.0 ATB (Satan... seriously!)
Pythons...
2.1 GTPs (B., Monty & Jewel)
0.0.3 BPs (MJ, Precious, Houdini)
1.1 Carpet Pythons (Jackson & Charlotte)
0.1 Blood python (Akaia)
Misc.
1.1 Mandarin Ratsnakes (Jack & Jill)
1.0 Boxer/Pitt Mutt (Tyson)

I would stay away from "possible hets". They're basically "normal boas" until proven otherwise. If all you want is a pet then you should save up your money and get an albino.

If you purchase a baby that's 100% het for Albino you need to feed it for "X" amount of years until it's old enough to breed. Then you have to purchase a male and again feed it for "X" amount of years until it's ready to breed.

It normally take 3 years for females to mature. It normally takes 18 to 24 months for a male to mature. Sometime it takes longer for both males and female to mature.

Once mature you have to breed them. Sometimes it's easy and you get a litter on the first try. Sometimes it takes several tries. All this time you have to feed, clean, and house these boas.

BTW It will cost you more to buy a pair of hets, raise them up and get them to produce, than it would to just purchase an Albino.

BTW just because you have a pair of 100% hets doesn't always gaurantee you'll get any Albinos in the litter. Sometimes the odds don't go with you and you end up with a litter of possible hets.

If it were me and all I wanted was an Albino boa for a pet. I'd save up for a year or two and buy one. That way I'd only have to house, feed, and clean one boa.
If you want a pet, but also are interested in breeding..... Then follow some of the suggestions that have already been made.

You are aware that to properly keep a boa, raise it, and feed it, you are going to end up spending more than $500 on a pet.

Depending what cages, thermostats, substrate, and rats you use over the life of the boa the costs add up.

One of my cages for my adult boas costs $320 (AP T10, lock, heat), then the thermostat $80 (Herpstat PRO $320 / 4 cage controls). Then about $50 a year for food for one boa.

Even if you buy a $50 normal, the costs still exist.
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http://www.GilbertBoas.com/
http://www.BoaList.com/

If you are breeding, you'll be paying the costs for two boas to adulthood. Then the cost to take care of all the babies. That's a rack, heat, thermostat, mice. You'll have to take care of them for any given amount of time before you find homes for them all.

I always tell people, if you can't keep every baby you produce, then you shouldn't breed them. Because you very well might get stuck with them for a year or more.
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http://www.GilbertBoas.com/
http://www.BoaList.com/

Good points and good advice your last 3 posts.
jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

I was thinking that myself while I was reading through. Good advice Chris.

for two adult boas.But not for babies.Do they have to be seperated at birth or can they be kept together and fed seperately for awhile?

I currently have two 48x26x14 vision cages with all the heattape.They currently house a cornsnake in one and two leos in another(talk about too much room).those guys can easily be moved to tanks.
I can afford the rats etc. on a monthly basis its just coming up with the large chunks like 500 in one go thats hard to do.
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Save up whatever you can $50-$100 a month right now. Then late spring to early summer when litters are born you'll have a lot to choose from.

I'm not trying to discourage you if you really want to breed, I was just under the impression that you may not have been considering all the expenses.

Some breeders will leave babies together until their first shed. Others, like myself, remove them to their own bins right away.

More than one person has come to find a baby boa eaten by a cagemate. They must be kept separately. It will also be near impossible to keep accurate records on them if you had even two together, much less an entire litter. Tracking the babies metabolisms and sheds are important as you get them established.
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http://www.GilbertBoas.com/
http://www.BoaList.com/

I figure I will save till spring and get the female then I will have at least two years to worry about the male and breeding.In the mean time I can get things like a breeder rack, more experience and hopefully a halfsize deepfreeze (been needing one for awhile anyway).I reallywould like to try breeding at least once.Im know a guy who sells at the local expo who would probably take my excess babies.Like you said I have till spring to think about it...
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