Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just curious, how come I don't see many of this particular morph. I have a Hogg myself..but the snow must be really expensive and rare I imagine??? Odd because boas are much prolific breeders than say ball pythons.

I am sure someone w/boa morph knowledge can answer the question for me.

I see these salmon or hyposalmon's everywhere..but rarely do I see a snow.

The snow is rarely available on the market because it is 2 homozygous traits in one. (the albino and the anerythristic traits)

To end up with snow boas is a fairly long process and can take many attempts to achieve the result of producing a snow boa.

The way they are produced is you breed an albino and an anerythristic boa together. The litter they produce will be double heterozygous for albino and anerythristic. You then breed a pair of the double hets to one another and you will get a 1 in 16 chance of producing a snow, and since the average number of neonates for a first time breeder female is around or under 20 you have a low shot of ending up with a snow boa.

As for price, I saw a few last year for $3,500.00
I imagine that this year we will see more of them available then in prior years, and also I won't be surprised to see them drop below the 3000 price range. (not all, but a few should go for that this season)
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Randall L Turner Jr.
www.aircapitalconstrictors.com
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I've literally only seen one or two at shows here (Virginia) and the asking price is $5,000.00 per neonate. What I would have given to have five grand at that last show! lol Nice to know that at least in some parts of the country, the prices are dropping. It won't be any time soon that I can afford a high end boa like the snow, but it's nice to dream the prices will drop to within my range one day.

Raven

I can recall 2 seperate ads here on kingsnake last year with snow boas for 3,500.00 each.. I cannot though unfortunately remember who it was that had them. ( I think pro exotics might have been one of them, but don't quote me on that..lol)
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Randall L Turner Jr.
www.aircapitalconstrictors.com
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Thanks a lot...that was pretty interesting ....I appreciate the genotype info too...that was helpful

the answer to one effect or another was that most boa breeders prize animals with outstanding color and pattern. Since a snow boa is void of color, it is hard to see the contrasting patterns, therefore not as desirable to some. IMHO, Many people are still into them but snows do not appear as popular as other morphs and locales in the boa species. Personally, I'd take a pure Hog over a snow boa, but thats just me. I'm sure there are an equal number that feel the opposite way.
Jason
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www.members.aol.com/northeastsnakes
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0.2 Green Tree Pythons
2.2 Ringed Pythons
2.3 Ball Pythons
1.2 Hog Island Boas
1.1 Argentine Boas
0.1 Solomon Island Ground Boa
1.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boas
7.8 Corns (various morphs)
1.1 N. Pines (Pituophis)
0.0.1 N.Diamondback Terrapin

1. Like someone mentioned below, they are a Double simple recessive gene. VERY HARD to produce NUMBERS. I have nice group of adult males, but still. I breed a SNOW to a DH snow, and only 1/4 of the babies come out SNOW. You really have to have power animals or just a lot of patience. Another thing with the Double Simple recessive gene. Many Albinos are weak as babies. They have a VERY hard time digesting that yolk, and if that yolk is very large, then they just don't make it. Some snows born just a DAY or 2 early have a tendency because they are "Albinos" to do the same thing. They have a HARD time lasting through those 3 CRUCIAL first days. So, with the GENES being rare, and this difficulty, it is MUCH harder to produce LARGE numbers of Snows.

2. The snows as they get older DO yellow out. Many of the anerythristics used, tend to TAN out as Adults. Even though they are beautiful Animals, they do yellow out. So, when bred into the albino gene, you'll see that many of the Snows keep a nice white for the first year, but after that, I have yet to see a snow that doesn't have a good amount of yellow. They still LOOK a lot different from your albinos, and they don't yellow AS much as albino. They also have the white eyes, but yes they do yellow. They are a great gene to work with though, and I ABSOLUTLEY LOVE the Snow boa. I think it is one of the best looking Babies around. Even Adults are Striking to stare at.

In conclusion, I wanted to mention that many are trying to use the Type 2 anerythristic gene to get into the Snow project. There is some speculation that not only are some of the type 2 anerythristics anerythristic, but they are also Axanthic. I bleieve I have one of those animals, but ONLY time will tell. I have a nice group of DH snow/type 2 adults and I hope to produce the Snow/type 2 this year. One breeding has been done so far. Only 13 babies came out and since the snow is a 1 out of 16 there were NO snows/type's produced. However, the Anerythristics that came out look INCREDIBLE. They do look axanthic, and very neat with 1/2 Columbian gene in them. The Albinos are very neat too. I for sure think this is going to make a MUCH BETTER snow. Even, though I LOVE The snow as it is. There is ALWAYS room for improvement. Keep your Fingers Crossed for a MAY Type 2 Blizzad/Snow Boa. I have 1 really good shot in May, and one in Late July. Take Care, Jeremy Stone (The Image Posted, is the FOUNDING Matriarach of my Type 2 snow project. She is the one I do believe to be not only Anerythristic, but also axanthic. ONLY Time will tell. She is gravid again this year with taking 2 years off. I bred her to a coral albino this year.

Jeremy,

That is one sweet anery... Awesome
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Randall L Turner Jr.
www.aircapitalconstrictors.com
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