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I have been breeding Argentinian Rainbow Boas (Epicrates cenchria alvarezi) for the past 4-5 years - this year I bred a holdback female and got an unusual hatchling in the litter.

I'm thinking along the lines of it being possibly anerythristic - it seems to lack all the red/brown pigments. In the photo it is pictured with a normal littermate.

Any ideas what this could be?

John

Another picture showing the contrast between the unusual hatchling and a normal littermate.

John

Another pic for comparison

John

John,
...They both look VERY normal to me. I used to see Argentinian Rainbows at the importers in Florida and they varied in color from grey with no orange like that one of yours to very much orange tint and even to very dark chocolate colored. This is a PIC of an imported one I had many years ago.

I have one now that is almost exactly the same color as the grey one in your PIC. I will try to shoot a PIC of it for you soon. I will also find a PIC of a chocolate phase one that I used to have.
Jeff

>>I have been breeding Argentinian Rainbow Boas (Epicrates cenchria alvarezi) for the past 4-5 years - this year I bred a holdback female and got an unusual hatchling in the litter.
>>
>>I'm thinking along the lines of it being possibly anerythristic - it seems to lack all the red/brown pigments. In the photo it is pictured with a normal littermate.
>>
>>Any ideas what this could be?
>>
>>John
>>
>>
>>

..I got this snake with some imported alvarezi. For many years I was not sure what it was. I had never seen another one or a PIC like it. I showed a PIC of it to Dr. David Fabius from Uraguay and he said that he sees alvarezi like this born in litters of normal looking ones. He calls them chocolate phase which seems like a good name for them.

>>John,
>>...They both look VERY normal to me. I used to see Argentinian Rainbows at the importers in Florida and they varied in color from grey with no orange like that one of yours to very much orange tint and even to very dark chocolate colored. This is a PIC of an imported one I had many years ago.
>>
>>I have one now that is almost exactly the same color as the grey one in your PIC. I will try to shoot a PIC of it for you soon. I will also find a PIC of a chocolate phase one that I used to have.
>>Jeff
>>
>>
>>>>I have been breeding Argentinian Rainbow Boas (Epicrates cenchria alvarezi) for the past 4-5 years - this year I bred a holdback female and got an unusual hatchling in the litter.
>>>>
>>>>I'm thinking along the lines of it being possibly anerythristic - it seems to lack all the red/brown pigments. In the photo it is pictured with a normal littermate.
>>>>
>>>>Any ideas what this could be?
>>>>
>>>>John
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>
>>

John,
...I took this PIC of the alvarezi I have here. It is not quite as grey as your snake. Have you got PICs of the parents of the litter. BTW, congratulations on the babies.
Jeff

>>John,
>>...I took this PIC of the alvarezi I have here. It is not quite as grey as your snake. Have you got PICs of the parents of the litter. BTW, congratulations on the babies.
>>Jeff
>>
>>
>>

Jeff,

That is a really beautiful animal. Do you still work with alvarezi?

Timothy

Timothy,
...I quit breeding them 10 years ago. I had three litters of them, one litter of 2, one of 5 and one of 11. I just thought the litters were too small to mess with them. I am not quite so greedy today and am watching for a female for the lone male I have.
Jeff

>>Jeff,
>>
>>That is a really beautiful animal. Do you still work with alvarezi?
>>
>>Timothy

but I would say the boa looks anerythristic. No reds, no browns, just black and white. The comparison shot is compelling. There's no harm in test breeding it out to find out if it is a legit color variant. So hard to tell what he'd(hopefully she) would look like in a year.
I have my own CRB variant I've been working on(2001) and I've had plenty of folks tell me that my patriarch is "normal", but they have not seen him in person, so what do they know. I even bought snakes from folks that said they had boas as light as him... not even close. This season I had my first opportunity to line breed him back to his daughter and had four babies that look identical. They are lighter than the f1's but I'm going to keep them until they are a year old before I make the call that it is genetic in a recessive way. Either way it was well worth it. Good luck, I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.
Later-
Matt Schubarth
Pet Nebula