I had been joking around with Jeff Ronne for a while about coming up to his place in Minnesota to take pictures. It was pretty much just a pipe dream that I thought he may one day actually consider. To my surprise I recieved an email from him a few months back stating that he actually wanted to do it! So I went up there over the July 4th break and got a few photos. And by a few I mean a few thousand... of hundreds of boas. Many of them mean as can be! I tell you what, juggling a hefty SLR camera with a big external flash with a bitey boa repeatedly striking... in an 85 degree room... while trying to get the snake to ball up for a pic... proved to be quite the challenge. I certainly slept well after each day (except for that one day with the crazy loud guests... but I wont get into that). Eventually it was over and I flew back home for many days of photo processing. I had an absolute BLAST! Being able to sit around and pick Jeff's brain on everything boa related and see his amazing collection was an honor to say the least. I can't thank Jeff enough for the opportunity. On with the pics!
First I want to share with you guys what I was able to pry from Jeff's hands during my stay.
I managed three very nice boas - a high pink pastel male, a high pink hypo male, and a monster tail hypo female.
The high pink males came was produced by some extremely high colored normals that Jeff held back and bred together. I went through and picked out the pinkest one I could find. I had a tough time choosing between another one that appeared slightly less pink but also slightly more washed out. I opted for the pinkest because of the fact that the primary "feature" of the pairing was the color. Here he is (an 08):
Now, these high pink animals had not been around long before I got there. I dont think Jeff got a good chance to really evaluate them yet. I picked out this high pink hypo male that had slipped past Jeff's radar. I could tell he was certainly less than ecstatic about giving this guy up. This little guy has an insanely red tail with tons of color... great saddles... bright side diamonds. He's got it all!
Last but not least is a monster tail hypo female. I picked her because she was extremely clean and colorful. This is Jeff's older photo of her (shes an 07)... I forgot to snap some shots of her while I was there:
Now I'd like to share some of my favorites that I saw during my stay:
I love the look of this ghost. I'm not an anery guy at all but this individual caught my eye. Hes very dirty and then his tail hits you right in the face: "Bam!". Gotta love it.
A pastel from CCS's bloodline. These kids have an incredibly soft look to them:
A nice high pink from a different litter than the animal I got:
Another high pink. This one is a sibling to mine. This is the one I was trying to decide between.
A high pink hypo:
This, I think, is a monster tail normal. Incredible bloodline...
Again, I think this is a monster tail hypo:
A Nova boa. Apparently this line appears to be working like the "aby" line. Aberrancies across the board (hypos and nons):
Pure Colombian Hypos. These were some AMAZING hypos. Incredible that they are F1's. They look like they been selectively bred for generations. Could that be because of the lack of central american blood?
Faded pattern hypos. Just another crazy looking aberrant line from Jeff - a -Roonie:
Pearlescents. The genetic reverse stripers:
Here are some of the older animals that I really liked.
A pearl ( I think):
Another, but without the hypo mutation:
Dunno... incredible animal though:
I think this one is from his faded pattern line:
Brazzzzzzzzilian:
White necked boa...neat.
Insane Colombian.
Anyone like monstertail hypo jungles? I do.
A trippy looking salmon:
A really nice and light adult female outside. It was dark so most of the pics of this animal didnt come out well:
Another nice Colombian:
Crazy jungle! This is how I likem:
Can you say "Cali-co"?
This is one of my favorite animals he has. If not my favorite. It literally glows in person. If It didnt wish to bite so much it would work perfectly as a night light.
This is a sibling. For some reason Jeff likes this one over the previous. I disagreed! He said this one wasn't looking in its prime while the other one was looking unusually good.
His motleys are INSANE!
Here's the CCS pastel. Looking good still, eh Chris?
Funny little story - Chris happened to call my while I was standing in the boa room with Jeff. He has no idea I was up visiting Jeff. Jeff told me to let him answer it so we could mess with him. It was pretty funny... Chris didnt believe it was Jeff.
This is my other favorite of Jeff's. A monster tail hypo.
I think this one is the nicest adult pastel Colombian I've ever seen. This is a very large boa too!
Here is the monster tail hypo female that produced the one I'm getting from Jeff. It was interesting to see Jeff try and handle this animal outside - he's certainly far braver than I!
Thats all folks! I had an incredible time and would like to thank Jeff for his hospitality!
