Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm contemplating a purchase here... And I REALLY need some help!

There is a Boa available at a local pet store - a few friends told me I should go take a look at it. At first glance, I thought it was a hypo. But the store says it is a salmon. Now, I don't know what the difference is between the two... Could anyone tell me how to tell them apart?

Second - the boa is an adult female, 5 ft, and a proven breeder. BUT, she has a defect, she is missing one eye. It appears to be a birth defect, because the scalation where the eye SHOULD be is perfectly smooth, and there is no visible scar. The store claims it was from stuck shed when she was a baby, but I don't believe it.

Price... They wanted $450 for her, but I managed to talk them down to $350. Is this a good price? What should an adult female salmon sell for? What should an adult female hypo sell for??

It seems like a pretty good deal to me... As long as she is able to breed!

Mark
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Mark & Aimee Berger
reptilesrus@msn.com

You already suspect that they are lying about the eye defect. They are more than likely lying about her being a proven breeder too. A 5 foot female is very unlikey to have been bred. Too young, too small. I would stay away from that deal.
Also, the salmon/hypo thing has become very muddied. Technically the term salmon was coined by Rich Ihle. Check out salmonboa.com.
Now everyone is calling their hypo boas...salmons. My thought is that if they didn't come from the Ihle bloodline, they are not salmons.

I guess the salmon/hypo thing really isn't going to make that much of a difference to me anyway. Let's just call it a hypo.

Yes, I do believe I was given false information about her eye defect. It was too smooth across her head to have been an injury or lost eye due to stuck shed (is that even possible?).

Whether or not she is a proven breeder, who knows? She is between 5 and 6 ft - which seems to me could be of breeding age. But at pet stores, anything CLOSE to adult size is a breeder. She didn't look like she was bred this season, and she most likely would have been too small to breed last season. So... I guess I am trying to figure out if this makes her worth more or less!

I'm still back at whether or not she'd be worth $350. The only thing I could find wrong with her was the eye. No scars, good weight and muscle tone, no URI.

In any event, I've got a few days to think about it. No one wants to pay that kind of money for a boa in a pet store... Or at least not at this pet store.

Mark

>>You already suspect that they are lying about the eye defect. They are more than likely lying about her being a proven breeder too. A 5 foot female is very unlikey to have been bred. Too young, too small. I would stay away from that deal.
>>Also, the salmon/hypo thing has become very muddied. Technically the term salmon was coined by Rich Ihle. Check out salmonboa.com.
>>Now everyone is calling their hypo boas...salmons. My thought is that if they didn't come from the Ihle bloodline, they are not salmons.
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Mark & Aimee Berger
reptilesrus@msn.com

If the eye looks like it was that way from birth, I'd worry
about her not having the best genes as use for a future breeder.
But just about the price, $350 for a 5' hypo female seems like
a good price, I paid $320 for my baby salmon female... it is
up to you if she is 'worth' it tho.. too bad you couldn't
share a pic! Do you know anything else about her health?
how long has she been at the store, etc?

I'm going back to the store to look at her again today... I'll take some pics, and try to get more information.

Thanks for the help!

Mark

>>If the eye looks like it was that way from birth, I'd worry
>>about her not having the best genes as use for a future breeder.
>>But just about the price, $350 for a 5' hypo female seems like
>>a good price, I paid $320 for my baby salmon female... it is
>>up to you if she is 'worth' it tho.. too bad you couldn't
>>share a pic! Do you know anything else about her health?
>>how long has she been at the store, etc?
>>
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Mark & Aimee Berger
reptilesrus@msn.com