Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have been a python breeder now for over 15 years and have always loved Boas. For some reason, whenever I had cash in hand, I always gravitated toward the pythons. I have been watching the boas and am in love with so many morphs. I would like to purchase at least a pair, but which pair?

I love the snows, so DH snows?
I love the Sunglows, so DH Sunglows
a trio of Albino's?
How about some Ghosts?

What would you tell a breeder who wants a beautiful boa that will retain value once breeding comes in few years? What would you do?

Pickup a beautiful triple het female of any visual morph you like!

My suggestion is to go with the Morph you like best, don't worry about the value so much.. If you're in it for the money, go for something that's "IN" right now and should be for a while, if you're doing it for pleasure, buy what you'd like to have in your collection regardless of the pay off.. No matter what snake you decide to go with, you will make your money back on it 10 fold by the time they come of breeding age.. Even with a pair of normal boas there is a greater return than you put out.. Just my .02
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Joe Lydon
Got Boids?

man that boa is just sick. Very nice

First, get what you like, figure out what you want to produce then figure out what you need (can afford) to get there.

Second, The male is where it's at, you can use him for multiple projects so don't scrimp there. Not suggesting using him for multiple breedings in one year but different projects for different years.

Third, If you can't afford (or justify) the visual morphs, go with 100% hets. IMO, nothing worse than getting a 50% or 66% het animal, raising it for 3 years and breeding it to find out it's not het. Also if breeding %het to %het, and no morphs, which one (or both) didn't prove out?

Fourth, mix it up. Either get your boas from different sources or get ones from different bloodlines to keep the bloodlines stronger. Again, IMO, there are cases where people get two babies from the same litter and breed them back together. Usually not a problem but what if this is the second, third or?? time this was done. Maybe not by the same breeder. All the morphs by nature were inbred to get the trait to show. Many breeders have bred back into them various external bloodlines to reduce the affects of inbreeding. I have heard stories of het snow breedings for example where all the snows didn';t survive. Due to inbreeding...dunno!!

Fifth, do you pairings where if possible, the babies are visually identifiable as to their morph (and het) status. for example:
Male Albino het for Anery bred to Female Anery het for Albino.
25% babies visualy Snows
25% babies visualy Albinos (also 100% het for Anery)
25% babies visualy Anerys (also 100% het for Albino)
25% babies visualy normals (100% double het for Albino and Anery)

Look below at my list of BCI's and you can see the possibilities for Snow, Sunglow, Ghost and Hypo's

Lastly, HAVE FUN!!!! Remember, it's a hobby (it can pay for itself but it's still a hobby)
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Thanks,

Dave "Rainbows-R-Us"

0.1 Wife
0.2 kids
4.12.100 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
1.1 Ball python
0.1 BCI "Elvira" normal from 1989
1.0 BCI albino / het-anery
0.1 BCI Hypo / het-albino
0.1 BCI Anery / het-albino
0.1 BCI Hypo (possible super)
1.0 BCI albino het stripe
1.0 BCI salmon hypo
0.1 BCI ghost

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Everyone is correct I guess...the hard part is deciding which one I like most. I like the idea of identifing all the animals, without having to guess the het status.

I guess I will be scanning the classifieds. Thanks all.

You're only about a year behind me, I decided last year I wantred to get into morph boa's. I also love the Snows, Sunglows, Hypo's and Ghosts. As you soon see cruising the classifieds.....sky's the limit. I myself could not afford (justify) the cost of the high end morphs, so I got partials that will allow me to produce those that I like so much. Guess who gets first pick of the babies????
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Thanks,

Dave "Rainbows-R-Us"

0.1 Wife
0.2 kids
4.12.100 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
1.1 Ball python
0.1 BCI "Elvira" normal from 1989
1.0 BCI albino / het-anery
0.1 BCI Hypo / het-albino
0.1 BCI Anery / het-albino
0.1 BCI Hypo (possible super)
1.0 BCI albino het stripe
1.0 BCI salmon hypo
0.1 BCI ghost

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats