Reptile & Amphibian Forums

crawl.

A surinamese boa can become a guyanese boa by simply swimming or crawling a few feet and vice versa.

A boa collected in Suriname could have been in Guyana the day before.

They are the same. Also, boas born Guyana have bred with boas born in Suriname,which by the way are man made borders.

Just have a silly question for you. Why would you chose a specific screen name such as Suriname Man if you yourself claim there is no difference between the two? The name would imply to me that you specialize in Suriname boas, rather than say Guyana boas, which you've just stated are one in the same. It just seems contradictory to me, but I really don't care, just a silly question as I said. Take care

Paul

There is no correlation between my screen name and this topic.
That said, my screen name is Suriname Man, not Suriname Boa Man.
A human and a boa are two different animals. LOL

My screen name is not intended to "imply anything"
I own BCC's and as my post clearly states I beleive a bcc is a bcc regardless of where it was collected.

Hope all is well and please post pics of any bcc you may own.
I enjoy pics.

Alex C

And this is EXACTLY why! I think boas can be hard enough to breed and sell as it is. I don't want to add to the mix having to argue about the "purity" of every animal I sell. If I've seen it once, I've seen it a thousand times. Someone offers their "Suriname" boas for sale at a show. Then some "expert" wants to come over to the table and argue with them about the purity of their animals, because they "look" Guyanan....TO THEM! The outcome is rarely a sale, and I can't figure out what the point ever is. Is the customer merely trying to look superior to the breeder, or the breeder superior to the customer? It all just seems like a way for people to try to be more knowledgeable than the other guy. They start arguing about ranges, elevations, river systems, saddle counts, scale counts, temperment, color of the crap, etc....it's all quite funny to listen to actually. But, there's no harm in any of this, it just makes the hobby more interesting. But, onto your other post...I'd have to say if an animal is BORN in Suriname, I'd consider it a Suriname. If I saw it swim across to Guyana, I'd still consider it a Suriname. Just as I could be black, hispanic, white, whatever...I was born in America, I'm American. If a Cuban is born in America, he's American. If he swims here from Cuba, he's still Cuban. I'm not trying to make a joke, this would just be my take on it. I think Gus could be correct that animals further into each country may have differences, I have no idea personally, but Gus is an intelligent guy, and I'm in no position to argue with the man. He knows far more than I do regarding such things. I think it's all great for debates as long as people remain respectful of each others opinions. Man, that was long....take care!

Paul

If you think about it.

A boa born in Suriname could have an ancestor that was born in brazil, guyana, suriname,etc. or a combination.
Remember they too have great grandparents, great grandparents etc. that may have come from what we now call different countries.

Just because pieces of land have been divided into "countries" by man, does not mean that boas born within those countries are guyanans, suris, etc.

You overall point is not wrong, but your logic in reaching it is flawed. It's CERTAIN that a boa from Suriname has ancestors elsewhere. It's also certain that a kingsnake from Pennsylvania and a boa from Suriname have common ancestors who were fish living in the ocean. This does not make them the same species.

What makes the Suri/Guyana distinction dubious has nothing to do with common ancestry. It's the fact that people breeding either one usually don't know for sure where their stock was collected.

What I'm saying basically is that it's quite true that there's no real biological distinction between Bcc's, regardless of locality. However, this doesn't necessarily mean there's anything wrong with producing "locality boas" of the same subspecies any more than there is anything wrong with creating locality grey-banded kings or locality rosy boas.

What I question is whether "Suris" and "Guyanas" actually reflect any sort of consistent locality difference. I severely doubt it, and most breeders really have no idea. They have not done the work that the grey-band locality people or the rosy locality people have in collecting specimens and documenting actual locality.

"They have not done the work that the grey-band locality people or the rosy locality people have in collecting specimens and documenting actual locality." In fairness, it is not quite as easy to get locale specific boas from south america as it is to get rosy boas or kingsnakes from your backyard(Maybe not literally, but you know what I mean). To say the work has not been done is kinda harsh.