#central american dwarf boa

[lancedoncrimsonwings]

Viv redecorating with Pippin the Central American Boa

Well someone knocked off his sky hide today....

Funnily enough, Pippin does know how the lock works and will rest his head on it when he wants to come out.

Heeeey Mr. grumpy gills

"FIX IT MA!!"

[corvins-colubrids]

I'm so excited! My baby Hog Island Boa (Boa imperator), a dwarf locality, is arriving Wednesday! Originally the breeder didn't think he'd be able to ship him until later this month, for his own scheduling resources, but he's arriving this week!

He's a baby, so he's still tiny, and he'll likely never get bigger than four feet, which is why I specifically sought out a Hog Island boa. They are a locality of the Central American Boa imperator (formerly known as the BCI) and they're confined to a chain of small Honduran islands, the Cayos de Cochinos Islands. Only 2 islands have freshwater, and that's where these snakes can be found!

For a long time, a boa has been on my list of dream snakes, but it can be difficult (and expensive) to find pure Hog Island lines, but this one is, and the breeder has great references and history in the hobby.

His name is Maggid because I'm a writer, and some other pets' names I have are: Saga (bearded dragon), Fable (Blue Tongue Skink), and Lore (Jeweled Lacerta). Maggid means storyteller in Hebrew, and I'm Jewish, and like to incorporate Jewish-themed names when I can. (I used to have bunnies named Babka and Pickles).

[ghostly-gator-snek]

Precious new baby

[crispysnakes]

Can I ask.. just like this question I cannot get my head wrapped around. So there are morphs.. and locals... Can a locality be any morph or are morphs specific to strictly.. bci ? asdlkfj like bloods for example those are.. a locality and they're considered true dwarf boas but.. also a morph on MM? or are they just crossed or.. ? like what am i not understanding here |D;;; if they are a cross are they .. frowned upon .. ?

Morphs refer to any reliably inheritable genes that impact phenotype (Mendelian genetics). Locality is geographical location (ex. BC from Brazil vs Suriname, vs Guyana) and is also sometimes used to refer to other species/subspecies that are kept pure (Argentines, longicauda, Bolivians, etc).

The blood gene popped up in a couple imperator populations, out of pure El Salvador and Nicaragua locality stock. It's been crossed into other BI populations (both Central American and Colombian) so unless otherwise specified, anything with the blood gene is a mixed imperator - like most morphs, and the locality is insignificant/lost. Take hypo for example. The hypo gene originated from Panamanian locality imperators, and it's in almost everything morph-related these days.

Locality folks like to preserve the different species/subspecies and the various phenotypes found in different locations as they are (a North Brazil and a Suriname are technically the same species, but have very different looks based on geography). Locality folks mostly despise stuff like pairing subspecies (Argentine x Bolivian, longicauda x BI morphs, imperator x anything constrictor). People wasting hard to find animals (especially CITES 1 animals) on mutt crosses is not ideal since you are shrinking the available gene pool for animals that, in many cases, already have a limited gene pool and fresh blood can no longer be imported.

A lot of morphers love to add BC to their imperator projects to 'boost color' quickly without putting the time and effort into selective breeding and with no understanding of hybridization, as well. Having someone unknowingly add F1 crosses that look pure back into locality projects is always a risk.

Tldr - morphs can originate in a locality and still be pure locality (anery longicauda, Zero longicauda, Parsons Guyana, etc), but the majority of morphs on MM are mixed at this point and have no locality data. They're all Colombian/Central/who knows what crosses unless otherwise specified. Boa imperator unknown.

[crispysnakes]

thoughts on dwarf boas as a first snake? any recommendations if buying from a reptile expo?

I think boas can be a great first snake if you know what you want and can meet the husbandry and housing requirements. I would be cautious about the label ‘dwarf boa’ if it’s not specifically one of the smaller Mexican locales, but, in general Central American animals stay smaller than those with more Colombian blood in them (as do some BC subspecies and locales, but they are harder to find and may cost more than what you’re looking to spend). 

I like to look over the vendor list before going to shows. If I see something awesome from a name I don’t recognize I’ll look them up on the fauna BOI or FB feedback inquiry pages while there, as I am very wary about purchasing animals from folks I have no history with or no knowledge of. Mislabeling is often rampant so you need to know what you’re looking at a lot of the times, which means you need to know what you’re looking for going in. If a purchase doesn’t feel right don’t do it. If you don’t see exactly what you want, wait to find a more knowledgeable seller online.