Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Is this trait just from imbreeding or do all Dumerils Boas have a patch of missing scales where the back of the lower jaw joins at the neck?

Hey I do not have an answer for you question but my Dumeril has the same bald spot so I just wanted to know how old your snake is mine is 23" inches long and I guess 6-8 months old Hopefully someone has an answer for you because you have me curious as well.

I don't actually own one yet. There are plenty to chose from now in all sizes but I am hoping to find a gorgeous young male to raise. I am just trying to find some info concerning the missing scales. All the Dumerils I have seen or been told about have the patch under the neck. All Dumerils may have it, even in the wild. But, if it is only a result from too much imbreeding I would like to find a breeder with a purer blood line without that defect to buy from. So who knows the real deal about these boas?

As far as I know, they all have it. I have around 50 Dumerils currently ranging from a few months old up to 15 plus years old. As far as in the wild, I can only assume they have this spot as I've never been to Madagascar to see first hand. Look up Blue Chameleon Ventures(or adventures, not sure) and e-mail them. I believe they have made several trips to Madagascar and could probably comment on the wild type animals better than anyone that frequents this forum. Good luck, take care!

Paul

Thanks for the info Paul. I will continue looking into it and post my findings.

In the Reptiles mag Dec. 2004 issue there is a article by Bill Love and he says this trait is found in wild Dumerils found on Madagascar. It has been suggested that the clear patch of throat scales found on captive Dumerils is the result of inbreeding, but since it is found on them in the wild I believe that theory should put that to rest.
Chuck

Thanks also for your reply Chuck. I am going to email Bill Love at Bluechameleon.com and see if he can expand on what just wrote. I will post the results here

Mine shows this as well..

Photo Link
Missing scales...

Let's try this one more time------

I emailed Bill Love and his wife Cathy returned a message that Bill will be in Madagascar untill Feb 15. I hope he replies when returns. Every Dumerils I have seen in Southern Ontario has scales missing on the neck like Steve's.

LOL, e-mail her back and tell her to contact her husband and make sure he gets some pics of this for you while he's there! Take care

Paul

im no expert, but isnt it possible that 2 related wild dumerils mated? this could explain why the person saw them w/o scales in the wild. as faras i know, snakes and any other animal will mate with a member of its own family to keep the line going. my old dog mated with her son 3 times (3 times more than what i wanted) and there were no 3 eyed or nolegged dogs. from what i have been told by some animal vets, trainers, etc, is that the mother can mate with the son but the father cannot mate with the daughter (in the animal kingdom). not sure as to the scientific legitimacy of this its just what a few people have said.
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1.1.0 Colombian Redtail Boas
2.1.0 Sumatran Blood Pythons
1.0 Black Blood Python
1.0 Dumeril's Boa
0.1 Coastal Carpet Python
0.1 Jungle Carpet Python
1.0 Texas Tiger Salamander

I don't think that this trait has to do with inbreeding.

The dumerils population has a reputation for being inbred due to the fact that all of the animals in the country came from very few wild stock. (Hate to say it, but its the same story with half the snake species in captivity) People got wind of this and started to worry that this wierd thing on their dums neck might mean that their snakes were inbred. I have heard that wild snakes have this mark and although inbreeding in the wild is possible I doubt that all wild snakes are inbred and all magically exhibit the same deformity all over the country. Inbreeding tends to amplify any random genetic mistakes, so it tends to produce randomly different mutations in different inbred lines, not consistently produce the same thing.

Oh, and I have a male that does not have that mark.

Either way the mark does absolutely no harm, so as long as you buy from someone who you trust does not breed sibling snakes together, it shouldn't matter.

cheers

How long is that male of yours Zach? Looks over 6 feet. Thanks for the comment. It may not be anything to worry about('the patch'), but it would be nice to snag one without the bare spot like yours. We now know it's a rarity.

The snake in the pic is not the male I was talking about, it was just a good pic of one of my females. She is right around 7 feet and 15 lbs. Here is a pic of the male with no scales missing. He is very silver colored and only 4 feet long at 6 years old. I got him from NERD a few years ago, but I would not recomend them, doing buisness with Kevin was a mess!

I actually sold him a few weeks ago... I'm already regretting it...