Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey everyone,
I have a question regarding salmon and super salmon boas.

I was under the impression that a salmon is a hypo and a super salmon is a hypoXhypo. Super salmons creating the more intense hypos hence the name super. So whats with this 'possible super salmons' I keep seeing for sale? Isnt it either a salmon or a super salmon? Can someone clarify?

Thanks

P.S. There are some amazingly beautiful boas on this forum, the sunglows are my favourite.

To my understanding when two Hypos(I believe Salmon is the denomination for RIch Ihle's line) are bred a small percentage of that clutch have the possibility of being super salmons. As Hypo melanism is a Co dominant trait, meaning if bred to a normal half the clutch should be hypo, these super slamons would produce a full clutch of hypos when bred to a normal as the trait is now dominant. Please correct me if I am wrong )

>I was under the impression that a salmon is a hypo and a super salmon is a hypoXhypo. Super salmons creating the more intense hypos hence the name super. So whats with this 'possible super salmons' I keep seeing for sale? Isnt it either a salmon or a super salmon? Can someone clarify?

Well, all salmons are hypos, but not all hypos are salmons.

A salmon has a salmon mutant gene paired with a normal gene. A homozygous (super) salmon has two salmon mutant genes in the gene pair. If you mate two salmons, theoretically the result is
1/4 homozygous (super) salmon
2/4 salmon
1/4 normal

SOME homozygous salmons are more intensely colored than the run of the mill salmons. Unfortunately, there is enough variation that a good proportion of homozygous salmons cannot be distinguished from salmons.

In other words, "possible super salmons" means that both parents were salmons. The snake could be either a salmon or a homozygous salmon from the breeding, but the only way to be certain of the genotype is to do a breeding test.

Paul Hollander