Reptile & Amphibian Forums

why is it hogs are always in dark phase when you want to take a pic. the female is out of my old pair of wild caught hogs.

wish i know why shes so ugly her sdes in dark phase are that nasty purple color you get on some of the OK hypos out there.

and her tail is that gross caramel color that carmal ball pythons have instead of that nice black color most hogs have. why is she so ugly?

I hope not! And if so, I'll be happy to take that ugly pair of Hogs off of your hands!

Whether you're serious or not, I would like to point out that many of us don't appreciate certain boas for the traits they, or others of their subspecies and locality offer.
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ETHNOCENTRIC - as defined by merriam webster
- characterized by or based on the attitude that one's own group is superior
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For example, if you had a Suriname enthusiast looking at boas using the standards they look for in Suriname BCC, they would find ALL BCI ugly as well as all Amarali, Occidentalis, Longicauda, and every other subspecies of boa as well as every morph. All of these animals would be considered "ugly" because the observer would be looking for widows peaks, a 9-10 saddle tail, obvious dorsal lateral color shift, less speckling, pinks and purples with chocolate or black saddles, separated markings, etc.. And while that's beautiful, those are not all characteristics of each of these species.

For example, the BCO's. I think they're GORGEOUS!!! But if you judged them from the perspective of an ideal Suriname, they'd be the ugliest boas on earth. They're dark, right from birth. Typically have little to no "red" in the tail, they lack the widows peaks of a Suri, you can't even tell if they're clean because they're so dark. Their lateral diamonds are all connected, etc...

I personally think there are UGLY (yeah, I said it, sorry) examples of every subspecies and locale out there, but those Hogs are FAR from ugly my friend! And I think it's a shame that some of the best characteristics have been bred out of the CB animals (like speckling).

So, to everyone, don't be so "ethnocentric" or... "locale-centric" when looking at an animal. Appreciate it for the traits it displays that are unique to it's subspecies or locality!

jb
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Jonathan Brady
*You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be misquoted, then used against you.*

You posted the wrong pictures. I don't see any ugly Hoggs!
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he hasn't lost his sight or his sense of beauty. He was simply being facetious. This also brought to light that I have no ability whatsoever to detect humor over the internet. Thanks for that Micah... lol
jb
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Jonathan Brady
*You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be misquoted, then used against you.*

That's okay, I didn't catch it either but I got an inkling by the last post...

I liked your response - it made a good point, although the last time I saw that word used, it was in a cultural studies class, hah.

~jenny
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"We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words."
- Anna Sewell (1820-1878)

and nobody caught the reference to t+ ball pythons? in the above pics shes at her darkest ever (really darkened up when she became gravid) and shes still almost as light most hogs.