Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello everyone, I just wanted to Update everyone. So far this year I have had 2 litters. Both of those litters have been DH to DH from my Type 2 Snow Blizzards. These are 50/50 Columbian/Mexican.

A Week ago, I got 2 Albinos 7 anerys, a few normals. I can't remember off the top of my head what the Exact ratio was, but there were 17 total Babies. NO Snow/Blizzard. The 2 Albinos are Coral Albinos and some of the Best I have produced. Also 2 of the anerythristics from the litter are some of the Best I have seen. They tend to take on more of the Columbian Anerythristic look. Unlike the Grandmother who is my Favorite Type 2 of all Time!!!!! So, with the more Columbian Look they are VERY SILVER like, and pretty cool. The normal looking babies have bright red tails. That is surprising too, and they all have a different look kind of like the Argentine/Columbian Crosses.

TODAY is my second and MAY be the Last litter of the Year.

There were 7 Albinos, Quite a few Anerythristics, and a few Normals too. NO SNOW!!!!

This is SOOO weird to me. It is genetically IMPOSSIBLE for there not to be the mixture of the two genes according to some of my old College genetics professors. The 1 of 16 is just VERY VERY hard to get, and I have been EXTREMELY UNLUCKY!!!!!!

Even if for some reason they don't cross up to make a snow, I'm keeping every female again. WHY??? I LOVE the look of them. Yes they are just 66 percent Poss hets, and the Albinos are also 66 percent Poss hets, and the Aneryhristics are 66 percent Poss hets. They are SOOO strong bloodline wise which is surprising to me, because the parents are Brother and Sister. I have 3 Adult DH snow Blizzards. 2 have Already gone, and 1 is IFFY still. They both got pregnant SOO fast and soo easy, and both gave Fantastic litters with No problems. I just think the CA gene is SOO strong. OF course I have plans for out crossing though, and here are the Plans!!!

Last year I bred the Grandsire of this whole project to a different Albino. I got a small litter, but there were 7 DH Males and 2 Females. I’m keeping those 7 males to breed to all the Poss DH snow females I kept to get better Bloodlines. The only way they will be imbred is the Parent DH snows Mother is the Grandmother of the Babies. MAKE SENSE?? LOL

The Original Type 2 seems to take a few years off. I have had her since 97 and she has given 2 litters. She took this year off. Next year I hope to breed her to a Male Albino from a litter I got last year of the DH snow Blizzards. SOOOO, if he is a het Anery, I’ll get ½ Anerythristics HET Albino. They will be 75 percent MEXICAN!!!!! Even if he isn’t het, I’ll get all DH snow Blizzards that are again 75 percent CA. I’ll keep working that route to eventually get them close to 99 percent CA!!!!

To Make a long story short, either I have the WORST ODDS, or they genetically don’t make a Snow. Science says I have BAD odds. I think the same way. It just is EXTREEMLY frustrating because I have worked on this project 7 years!!!! No Snow YET!!! Yet is the keyword. It will be here someday!!!!

I’ll post pictures of the litter. They are UNREAL to look at either way. I feel very blessed to just have the healthy litters.

For those Genetic Wizzards that may say the genes won’t add up, here is a scenario to think about. When I eventually breed 2 Anerythristics from these litters down the road, that are BOTH Het for Albino, I will get ALL Anerythristics. However, when the Albino genes match up, what will they BE?? Albinos??? Impossible!!!! They will HAVE to be Anerythristic Albinos which is the name for the “Snow/Blizzard” So, I guess I have to go Back to the Waiting Game.

It is going to be a Slower Boa year for me this year. I have a lot of goodies, but I was hoping for a better year. ESPECIALLY the Motleys. I don’t see a good Motley year in MY direction at ALL. Maybe 3 to 4 litters IF I’m lucky. Could be less, and could be more, but I doubt it.

I’ll share all this info and pics in the forum as well as my new site shortly.

Here is the Picture of the female who started this WHOLE project for me. Her name is Black Magic!!! AWESOME SNAKE!!!!

Best of luck with others. I really hope that Pete Kahl or John Birgil hit with a blizzard. They are the only 2 others that have a chance. They bought DH’s a long time ago from me. Both had litters last year, but neither of them had a Snow either.

BTW, I hope nobody takes this post as a SALES pitch. I’m really not selling anything from the project now so, please no bashing on that subject.

Take Care, Jeremy Stone

P.S. Linda, I'm dying to see your new babies, and same with you Chris. I have never checked the forum this often to see those 2 litters. I'm going to NY for a few days and that is Going to BUG me. I guess I'll have to get a hotel that has INTERNET!! LOL

I know you will get it, and out of everyone that is shooting for the snow/blizzard I know you have worked the hardest at it. The first blizzard will be here eventually. (probably by some of the longshot hets that have been sold recently) It is crazy that your odds are the way they are, however I have seen many people trying to produce snows (normal colombian) with similar results. The whole 1 in 16 is difficult to line up sometimes. By the way glad that you are taking the plunge at making this full time. I think that will definitely be a good thing for the industry as a whole. Good luck Jeremy.

Bob

Just wrote this long response and then erased it!

Great post Jeremy. Lots of work, lots of nice boas, congratulations.

A 1/16 isn't a 1/4!!!

The type 2 anery can make a 1/16-I believe the "pewter" boa is one!!!

In 26 babies from blood het anery to blood het anery there have been 8 pewters-a little more than the 1/4 ratio expected from "het pewter x het pewter."

I'll be breeding these all back to continue the work.

My appreciation of what the pewter boa is has been very high-but many out there doubt it is a true 1/16 because of the results of these blizzard crosses. Can't fight it, I just have to believe until I have a reason to not believe!! Now I need to breed pewter to blood and see what happens...

I say continue on Jeremy-and Pete-and John, and hopefully someone will hit before you are breeding the anery and albino poss hets back to the known dh's-!!

The miracle of genetics in action!! Appreciate!!!

Tracy/VPI

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Thanks and take care - Joe Rollo
'Tis not the stongest of the species that will eventually survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change' Charles Darwin

personally for me, that blood and pewter project you are working with is the coolest (non mainstream) morph project to date!!!!!!
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Chris & Alliey
Giantkeeper Reptiles
E-mail Us

When are you going to put some of those beauties on the market? By the way, the All About Boas and Pythons DVDs are awesome. Do you have plans on making/updating any more DVDs? The information on those is just priceless.

Thanks, we will do some updates on these-but getting the ball python book out first is our first priority right this second!
Re the boas, hoping to have some more in June-so we will see. I love reading this forum every day and seeing when babies are born-wow a great year already!

Tracy

First I will say this is very difficult for me to explain, and is also most likely not the case. It however may be impossible for a Blizzard to exist. At least with the Kahl strain albino.

An albino is an animal that is homozygous for amelanism. What does this mean, it means that on the chromosome pair that contains the allele for amelanism, both chromosomes within that pair have the same allele. In heterozygous animals, they have one for albino and one for wild (wild is dominant over albino).

Now, it is possible that Type II Anerys and Kahl strain albinos both have the allele for their respective traits in the same location. By inheriting one from each parent, this would mean they could be DH, Type II, or Albino. But they would not be able to show both the Type II and Albino traits in the same phenotype.

The genome of boas has not been mapped, and we do not know where each trait lies. For example sake, let's say that on the second chromosome pair on the tip of the right side is th allele for albinism. To be albino, both chromosomes in the pair would have to have the same allele in the right tip. Now if the gene for Type II Anerythristics is in the same location, and the animal had genes for both traits they can only have two different alleles in that location, so you have DH. This would make Blizzards impossible.

While all of this is possible it is very unlikely. However, if true, because Sharp and Kahl Albinos are not compatible (their alleles are in different locations) useing the Sharp Albino could produce a Blizzard.

However with this description made, I will say I fully believe Jeremy simply has been unlucky and not hit the 1/16 odds. I guess he's not one to take to Vegas!

Genetics are amaizing!

each parental chromosome (with alleles in question) would have to carry the dominant and recessive alleles for anerytherism and albinism (or vice versa) for your claim to be true. But, there is also crossing over which could possibly give rise to the Snow. If only the dominant or recessive alleles for these traits were on the maternal and paternal chromosomes of the parents, then it would actually increase the chance at Snow (actually, only Snow and 66% Possible Double Hets would result without cross over).

This was all done at the top of my head, so I hope there are not too many mistakes. Again, the aforementioned possibilities are only true IF these genes were linked.

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Ron Michelotti

Class Reptilia
www.classreptilia.com

I think I understand what you are saying. Either the Anery or Albino gene would be dominant over the other, or if both work in incomplete dominance you would have the snow/blizzard.

If the traits were linked, wouldn't a DH to a Type II of the same line yeild all Type II. Technically the DH would have two matching alleles, thus being homozygous for the genotype, with no effect on the phenotype.

I am trying to understand this, any helpful critisisim is appreciated.

Again this is all hypothetical. However in the future these techniques for test crosses may prove much more to us about Boa traits.

Chris, you bring up some good points, but here is the facts.

A Snow, or blizzard is just a NAME. The Snake is just a Combination of an Albino and Anerythrisic in RECESSIVE form together. None of these Alleles or chromozones could cance out the other. IT is IMPOSSIBLE!!!! Here is an example that will help explain this.

Lets say I don't even work with this project anymore, but I take ALL the Anerythristics I have produced, and found 1 female Anerythric that 66 percent Het Albino and PROVE her to be a Het by breeding her to a het or Albino. She THEN will be an Anerythricic that is HET albino. Lets ALSO say I do the same to a Male.

So, out of ALL these Anerythristics, I now have 2 that are FOR sure HEt for Albino by proving them out like I mentioned them above.

SOOO, now I breed those two together. Since BOTH are Anerythristic, ALL the Babies will be Anerythristic. Since They are ALSO het for Albino, 1 in 4 of these Anerythristics WILL be Albinos. That will be the SNOW/Blizzard or Anerythristic Albino in the RECESSIVE Form. THIS IS A FACT!!!!!!!!!!

So, it Can and WILL happen downt he road. You could do the EXACT same thing with the Sharp Strain, and the Same thing will HAPPEN. You will get Snow/Blizzards. It is still a 1/16 chance.

Me being Unlucky on not getting the 1 of 16 has NOTHING to do that there is Kahl or Sharp Albinos, or Type 2 Anerys, and Columbian Anerys. We KNOW for a fact, both the Kahl and Sharp Albinos are Recessive, and we Know the Type 2 And Columbian Anerythristics are also recessive. Therefore, when FORCED to show up with Better ODDS, it will HAVE TO HAPPEN.

Again, the SNOW Blizzard is JUST a name we attach to the Double Simple recessive ALbino/Anerythritic.

It is IMPOSSIBLE for those two not to match up once the numbers are better then 1 of 16.

I spoke to a Burm Breeder earlier. It took him 240 babies of breeding DH albino Lab burms to DH lab Burms to get the actual LAB ALBINO. I hope my odds aren't that unlucky.

So, there is NO way one Albino or Anery can cancel the other out. No matter if it is alleles or Chromozomes. IT WILL happen sooner or later.

The Pewter Boa is a PERFECT example of NO way Anery gene cancels out a certain Trait. The Pewter isn't a "PEWTER". All it is, is a Blood, Anerythritic showing up in the recessive form. Pewter is the NAME we give that 1/16 snake.

Hope this helps. Take Care, Jeremy

By the way, GREAT POSTS. You really know your Genetics well for being 16. That will serve you well in the snake Business.

n/p

I have never been to NY City, and I do want to go and see it someday.

Jessica appears NOT to be in a hurry in the least. I have even learned to chill. I peek in on her from time to time. "Foal Watch" has taught me that stressing over these things doesn't make it happen any sooner Heck, she may not even deliver until you return

Enjoy the plays and have tons of fun!
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Linda Hedgpeth
lindafh@frontiernet.net
Sierra Serpents

"There is just as much horse sense as ever, but the horses have most of it".

I just want it in writing my old friend. Lol. No reply means yes in my book.

So, your coming to my turf huh? I'll be keeping an eye out for you. Lol.

ps. Does anyone think that Jeremy can respond in 100 words or less? One last Lol