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I picked this boa up about 8 months ago. It was purchased from a well known individual in the industry. I was assured that she was a Motley boa. I now believe that she is CA, but that info was conveniently left out. I posted these pictures on another forum site, and many people had their doubts she is a motley at all. What are all your thoughts.

This is the picture provided by the seller.

These pictures I have taken.












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Lee Frey
Serpents Plus (aka. Lee Herps)
sandboa@hotmail.com

That is a tough one.. From the striping on the lower side leads me to belive it may be a Mot..

Would you say it is a CA?
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Lee Frey
Serpents Plus (aka. Lee Herps)
sandboa@hotmail.com

I wouldnt hesitate to call that a mot, not the clearest representation of one but a mot none the less. Judging by the pattern i though ca right off the bat.

I very much believe that it is a C A Motley. Broken patterns are more common in the Central American Motleys
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Snake room janitor

I was told by someone that all CA Motleys have all white bellies. Is this true? As you can see, she does not have an all white belly.
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Lee Frey
Serpents Plus (aka. Lee Herps)
sandboa@hotmail.com

The heavy head stripe and odd pattern on the upper body make it look motley to me. VERY low expression- I think that is a good thing though. I don't care for how uniform many motleys can be. I would also say central american,but I am less sure on that. Interesting find! thanks for posting

As you know Lee, I am a non-believer. I do see traits similar to C.A. motleys but I do not believe that one to be a motley. Sometimes motley siblings can have some motley traits. And like I said on the other forum, lateral striping does occur fairly frequently with C.As. Dark coloration is common in C.A.s.

Also yours doesn't have the clean white belly that motleys are known for.

Amie

I plan on purchasing a CA Motley male for her very shortly. Hoping to prove her either Motley or not next season. I will let you all know the results when they are available.
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Lee Frey
Serpents Plus (aka. Lee Herps)
sandboa@hotmail.com

Lee,

Since the motley gene is dominate, wouldn't it be better to breed her to a non-motley. By breeding her to a male motley, you insure that she will produce motleys...that won't clear up anything, unless a super motley pops out.

Amie

Unless I am missing something here, Motley is an incomplete Dominant gene (co-dom). Statistically, breeding her with a motley will result in 1/4 normal, 1/2 motley, 1/4 super motley if she is motley her self. If she isn't motley then the results should be 1/2 normal and 1/2 motley. So what I would be looking for in the litter would be a super motley (live or still born). I am not that familiar with the CA motley mutation. Are they known for throwing supers with only one parent being motley like columbian motleys are? Is it common not produce a super when breeding two motleys together?
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Lee Frey
Serpents Plus (aka. Lee Herps)
sandboa@hotmail.com

You're right, I meant to type Co-dom.

But personally to prove whether she's a motley or not, a male motley would be the last thing I would breed her with. If she is a motley than breeding her to anything will yield motleys, and you will have an answer.

If she is not a motley and you breed her to a non-motley, no motleys will show up in the litter and you have your answer.

But if you breed her to another motley, you will get motleys. So it wouldn't prove whether she is or not unless a super motley pops up in the litter.

Also, statistically speaking you should get super motleys in a motley x motley breeding but there is no guarantee. She may not produce any supers in her first litter.

AND... super motleys so far don't seem to thrive. All of the ones that I know of have died by the time they were 2 years old. If you knew this, why would you purposely produce a boa that has very little chance of living long enough to breed, just to prove whether the female is a motley or not...??

Amie

I agree one characteristic of a motley is the white belly.
Also the striping on the side is too broken up.
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www.BetterBoa.com

9.7 Bci's
3.3 Corn snakes

I have spoken to two individuals that have emailed me about this thread. They both stated that they have produced CA Motleys that did not have all white bellies. I am not defending her being a Motley, I just don't know for sure. Though white bellies may be a common characteristic, it appears not to always be true.
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Lee Frey
Serpents Plus (aka. Lee Herps)
sandboa@hotmail.com

Looks like a longicauda
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Marc Duhon
Lafayette, Louisiana
SURINAMBOAS.COM
kaiyudsai@SURINAMBOAS.COM

well it is in my experience that it would be a motley with some c/a influence due to the circle back pattern but here is the exception to this i have seen some out crossing out of late that you could never tell but the circle back pattern with the dark tail tells me she is a low expression c/a motley but a beautiful animal to say the lease awesome find