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This boa was represented to me as an Anery Nicaraguan but I have my suspicions and was hoping to get some feedback...

I've had him for a few months now, great eater, no issues. His size causes me to question the Nic part of the equation - his head is about twice the size of my adult female Nic's head and he is about 1.5 ft. longer than her. He is 3 years old, VERY dark, almost black tail, no red anywhere, BUT he has orange speckles on his belly. That rules out Anery, doesn't it?

If you have a minute, check the link to his pic below. Please excuse my ignorance but I am new to Nicaraguans. Any feedback would be appreciated as I am trying to figure out what to do with this boy. Thanks

My guess is -- he is a Nic. Don't know about the Anery part.
jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

looks anerythristic to me.
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Caden Chapman
slithering.serpents@gmail.com
http://slitheringserpents.com

Hi, thanks for your email. Here is a pic of his belly...he is now in shed so the orange spots are a little harder to see but you can get an idea. I'm hoping he is Anery (which is what I paid for and needed for a project).

He's no anery. That is red-orange on his belly, you can even see it thru his shed.
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Caden Chapman
slithering.serpents@gmail.com
http://slitheringserpents.com

Nicaraguans are notorious for becoming very dark as they age. Many normal looking babies will become nearly anerythristic appearing after just a few years. If there are orange specks on the belly, than it is not an anery.

Amie

It's Steph!
I see you registered and got your Q's up here! I hope some of the experienced nic folks on here can give you some reassurance on him of any sort....
If you have time today, before your thread gets too far down the page and less noticed, I'd recommend an above photo shot showing all of his body, head to tail, so they can see his overall coloring... as well as an underbelly shot for the orange speckles, if you can manage it. That will probably be a good way to narrow down the answers you get here! From those, someone can probably tell you if the orange spots mean it is a definite normal nic or if by some chance, it could be discoloration from caging, scars, etc. Since they are an indicator of the seller/trader possibly scamming you on him, I think those are important to see!
Good luck with your answers!
Talk to you soon and I'll send you that email later today that I promised... ;p
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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)
1.0 Probable Super Salmontine(Kahn)
0.1 DH Sunglow (Bonnie)
1.1.1 Hypo het anery
1.0.1 Het. Anery (Guy & ?)
0.3 Normals (Ophelia, Sasha, & Lulu)
1.0 Surinames (Solomon & Surreal(deceased)
1.3 Hog Isles (Mr.Orange & Peaches, Tang.)
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)

OK, I should have included a pic of his belly the 1st time so here it is. He is now in shed so it is a little difficult to see, but he has some faint orange spotting on his belly in addition to all the black spots. Anery or no anery? Thanks!

After seeing the belly, I went back to look at the original pic. It's my understanding Anery Nics are Type II Anery. The ones I've seen have much darker sides. A light charcoal gray background color to their sides. Yours seems to be a little too light colored on the sides to be anery. Others know better than me. Just my guess.
jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

What are you talking about? The light charcoal grey doesn't matter, darker or lighter sides don't matter, it doesn't even matter if it's a type 1 or 2. *laughs* The only thing that matters, in deciding if it's an anery, any anery, is the total lack of red-orange (erythrin) chromatophores.

That snake has that red-orange color, so it can't be an anery. It isn't anerythristic. An-erythristic means without erythrin or no red-orange color. This isn't boa specific, this isn't even reptile specific. It's true in Koi! Don't you wonder of red heads have erythrin replacing their melanin? LOL
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Caden Chapman
slithering.serpents@gmail.com
http://slitheringserpents.com

OK, that's what I figured. I didn't ask to see pics of his belly when I was negotiating with the guy and he only sent back shots. I saw no red and he said there was no red so I thought I had gotten a great deal on an Anery Nic. At least I got what I think is confirmation now. Do you believe he is even a Nic? He seems way too large to be a Nic to me. If not, I have no clue what he is. Luckily I only really gave up around $100 of trade value. I've heard much worse stories out there.

I guess the general consensus of the thread, is that he is not an anery, and seeing the orange tint on his underbelly, I would have to agree. What a bummer!
The guy who you traded with, did he send you your hypo nic too? Is she correctly identified, or is there doubt in her lineage too? If he lied about the anery, or just plain was ignorant, the same might apply to his assessment of your hypo nic.
I'm sorry Tina! That is really too bad!
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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)
1.0 Probable Super Salmontine(Kahn)
0.1 DH Sunglow (Bonnie)
1.1.1 Hypo het anery
1.0.1 Het. Anery (Guy & ?)
0.3 Normals (Ophelia, Sasha, & Lulu)
1.0 Surinames (Solomon & Surreal(deceased)
1.3 Hog Isles (Mr.Orange & Peaches, Tang.)
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)

Well, not too bad I guess.

I got my hypo female from a different person and she is DEFINITELY a hypo.

As far as trade value goes, overall I only really "paid" about $100 for this guy so I guess it could have been worse. It does mean, however, that I will need to get a new male. Not really sure what to do with this one now. I don't even think he's a Nic, he's too big for a Nic.

Looking at the original photo, can you see the sort of orangish brownish center to each scale on his sides? That is what I was referring to as indicating he is not quite gray enough there to be an Anerythristic in my opinion. And I also stated, I believed most Central American/Nics most commonly were Type II, not that they couldn't be Type I. Just that most were Type II and were a cleaner more absolute gray in appearance. That was the only point I was trying to make.
I think the snake is pure Nic, by the way. There is always the possibility it is het Anery, isn't there?
jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

Yes, could be Het Anery which isn't the end of the world, BUT... the guy told me he was Anery, not Het Anery.

BTW - I wasn't the one who disagreed with your original assessment, I think that was another person in the thread. I'm just happy to get whatever feedback I can because apparently the snake was somehow misrepresented and I didn't do enough homework before getting into the trade deal. Thanks for your response.

At 3 yrs old, he looks slightly too big to be a pure Nic.....although...it is hard to tell from the picture as the angle it was taken could be deceiving from my point of view. Of all the Nics I have, none appear to be quite that big at 3. Does he appear fat? I realize different husbandry could explain differences in size, especially if it's a slight difference. Maybe he was overfed OR much older than 3?????

OR maybe he's a result of a nic crossed with something else AND simply shows more nic traits than whatever the other parent was??? (less likely though)

All these questions I pose are questions that I'd hope the person you traded with could answer. Can you post more pics? Another option...maybe its some form of Central American but not necessarily Nic? Some Centrals do get larger than nics.

Not many people are captive breeding Nics now, let alone 3 yrs ago, especially since farmed babies come in so cheap.
~ Jason

Another person suggested a Central American of some sort.

Here's another pic of him. My camera needs batteries so I will not be able to post comparisons or pics of the females until I get that taken care of.

Let me know what you think and if you have anymore ideas.

Very nice little Nic you have there!

Here's a full body shot. He's about 5 - 5.5 ft. long, much thicker than my girls who I know are real Nics and his head is HUGE compared to theirs and other Nics I've seen.

The guy I got him from didn't produce him, bought him as a hatchling, but couldn't remember where from.

I think I will be in search of a nice Nic male...

5-5.5 feet long for a nic is not unheard of. I have a male and a female that size. The male is an 05, the female is older.

Amie