Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey all, first let me say Hi to everyone and hope you are all doing great!

I have a question for all you boa experts....

If the VPI and the Boa Woman Caramel are not compatable and who knows about the new ones that have now entered the scene...this has me scratching my head....
I have some boas that have exhibited some very similar traits as the above mentioned ....and to this day I have no idea what they are. Previous breedings that would have helped me figure out what they were ended in disaster. I have quite a few left but this girl is my favorite. She has the typical red eyes blonde look and transparent mustatche and along side a normal, well you can clearly see something is going on. My dilema is this, I have a male Het Sharp I got from Big Mike, and my plan was to breed him to her and see if I get paradigms or whatever. But if she is some other type of Blonde mutation what will happen? Will I be able to prove anything by using this het sharp?
Would I be better off using one of my blonde type males and just try and get a double dose?
If anyone has any ideas for what I may do to try and help prove this out I would greatly appreciate it.
My funds are very limited so What I have available to use as for male s are a Het sharp ...a Het T positive CA and another blonde male sibling.

As for the Anery in the pics, he is my Gun Metal Blue Anery...That's just a name I gave him and it stuck...but he produces dark black type anerys and also very white and black anerys in same litter and is compatable with type 1 anery line. I have some females hets that I have been raising up but they will not be ready till next year. I love this guys black eyes and he is about 5 years old now and no yellow anywhere! If anyone has any ideas of what to breed this guy to let me know that as well.

I tried resising pics in Photobucket but they may not be working right...as for the large lump in her she had a rat yesterday.

Thanks Andy Federico

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Andy I'm only doing mt best to understand my own projects and
those that I'm extremely interested in.

I do my best to explain my interpretation of these mutations
which at times is probably less than adequate.

Honestly in my opinion the only way to approach something like this is
to breed her to a normal Boa
( use a nice looking normal)

Then take one of the male babies and breed him back to his mother.

This the fastest way to prove if you have a distinct genetic mutation IMO

The fem you show looks like she has a reduction in melanin
much like a Pastel or even Hypo.

So that can easily put her in a special category.

Here are some steps Tracy (The Barkers) took with there Caramel project.

Here is the "To the Point Explanation"

I have a further detailed explanation as well

Here are the steps the Barkers took to prove the genetics in their line:

1) acquired "unusual looking" snake and siblings as
new borns in 1997

2) bred "unusual" female to sibling male and produced more
unusual (6) and (3) normals in 2000

3) bred two normal siblings in 2002 and produced "unusual" and
normals in 2004

4) bred new line of unusual I got as a wild baby to our unusual
in 2005 and got 5" unusual" and 5 normals showing these
were compatible-so I can now designate the
wild caught animal as a "caramel"

5) bred unusual to 100% het and produced half "unusual" and 1/2 normal
in 2006
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Boas By Klevitz

I Support USark.org

Thanks Larry.
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> What I have available to use as for male s are a Het sharp ...a Het T positive CA and another blonde male sibling.

First, I'm not sure whether the "blonde male sibling" is a sib of the female or of the het T positive CA. If a sib of the female, mating them will not help identify the mutation but should produce more blondes.

I'd mate the female to the older and more vigorous of the het Sharp albino male and the het T positive CA male. Both matings will tell you something, so the choice comes down to which male seems more likely to succeed at mating. If all the babies look normal, then I would mate her to the other male in the following year. Good luck.

Thanks Paul, the sibling I was referring to is a brother of the female in question and not the CA het T pos. I thank you for adding more thought to this. I had origionally planned to use the Het Sharp... that was the reason I paid 5 or 6 hundred for him...but now with those saying there are blonde type mutations that are incompatable with each other and with the T pos/Sharp Locus I was getting very confused and thought maybe those with a clearer understanding could provide better direction for me. I think now my first thoughts to breed the sharp strain gene to what I have is now the best one...that should provide me the answers I am looking for and at least set me straight...lol

Thanks Andy
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As I understood it, the question was what mutant gene did the female have. Mating her to the het Sharp albino and the het T pos CA boa will give you an answer, but it may not be the answer you want.

If she is mated to the het Sharp albino and produces at least one paradigm, then she is probably a BW caramel. If she produces at least seven babies and all look normal, then the odds are 99% or higher that she is not a BW caramel.

If she is mated to the het CA T pos male and produces at least one T pos albino, then she is probably a CA T-pos albino. If she produces at least seven babies and all look normal, then the odds are 99% or higher that she is not a CA T-pos albino.

If she is neither of the two, then she is something else. This is the answer you do not want but could get.

Paul Hollander