Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I saw on kingsnake.com Boa morphs that they describe two different kinds of Hypo Boas, Orange-tail and salmon? I was wondering what the difference was, I know that salmons are Rich Ihles line of hypos, But what kind do I have? I just call her a Hypo, I also saw on the classifieds that people are selling Yellow-tailed Hypos?? Are they all just Names?? Or are they really different from each other? Thanks

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"Life is a Safari"

Just a little insite, as I won't go into overall depth on the topic. Orange-tail hypos are typically representative of Central American lineage, whereas the salmons have been outcrossed into Columbian lineage. Go the the boaphiles website www.boaphile.com
In the forum there is a complete write up on the history of the hypo boa, that should help you. All the best,

Justin Higgs
ECTOTHERMZ...

The way I understand it:

The orange tail was origionally started by Jeff Gee. They are his line of hypos. Andy

It is hypothesized that the origins of both the "orange tail" hypos and the "salmon" hypos are the same.

The difference is that salmons have been selectively bred by Rich Ihle. Over time he has done a lot with them and developed a great diverse line. There can be $250 salmons as well as $3500 salmons. Rich Ihle has been very successful in taking salmons to the next level year by year... because of that his line tends to be more well known and desirable.

I believe the orange tail hypos originated from Jeff Gee. Gee line hypos are amazing in their own way as well. I hope to snag a few nice Gee hypos to diversy my lines at some point.

The "yellow tails" I have never heard or seen. Not sure if its an actual genetic line. Could just be that the litter had more yellow in the tails so they use that label. I doubt its a new bloodline however (just a guess).

I personally believe Gee hypos and Salmons probably came from the same bloodline. There are however 1 or 2 other known lines that could likely be of different blood. What has been done through selective breeding over time is what has made the difference between salmons and non-salmons.

I was under the same impression that they both (orange tail Gee line and Salmon Ihle line) originated fromthe same original Panamanian Boa. Ihle bred to Colombians while Gee bred to other boas of Central American decent.

bloodline.

The original hypo female was captured in Panama. Gee acquired his hypos from this person and began his line. What he used to selectively breed it to his liking I have no clue.

In the mean time Rich Ihle acquired his line from somewhat of a random person off the streets in the same state. I believe Rich was working at a pet shop and someone brought the unusual looking boas in. The lady had been housing a pair together and they happened to mate. Half of the offspring had the unusual look (hypos). Rich ended up purchasing many of them and the original female as well I believe. Then he selectively bred them to his liking making them what they are today.

I do not know whom used what (ie CA or Colombian). What you say does make sense to me because from alot of what ive seen salmons do seem to have more of a colombian look than Gee hypos do.

There was an article Rich wrote on the salmons. It details how he came into them as you mentioned when he worked at a pet store.

I was on Jeff Gee's website a while back and remember reading something about how his have been bred to Central American lines.