So a pretty specific marketing question here: I am struggling with how to correctly refer to our Red Tail/BCI Morphs in our Social Media/Website/Marketing:
Aaron and I have discussed this at length and we want to get the input of the Forum. This may seem like a sticky topic as there are lots of opinions; I suppose I am looking for a consensus here so I can forge ahead with the scientifically correct and community-current terminology. Thank you for any support and help with this in advance :
We specialize in Columbian Red Tail Boas: Boa Constrictor Imperator
__ We’ve been calling them BCI or Red Tail Boas.
__ There seems to be a shift to calling them BI. Would this be the correct and most current label?
Is there any challenge to this considering the crossover in breeding?
For example, if RLTs have Surinam (BCC) in them and are bred to a pure BCI, then the babies have BCC in them as well. So then what would be the most effective/appropriate label?
And if this has been answered elsewhere, PLEASE let me know that as well as once I get an answer that works for everyone I’m a happy camper and am off and running .
I use the terms Boa Imperator, Boa Sigma, Boa Constrictor Constrictor. Also use common Boa when referring to unsure origin animals. I really dislike using the term Red Tail except when referring to BCC. Of course this is personal preference and others should feel comfortable using whatever they like as long as they’re clear what they’re selling.
I think most would agree with @randall_turner_jr about only bcc being labeled red tail. Just be as accurate as possible if your bci morph has some Suriname bcc blood I would try to add that in the description, kinda like they do with sd retics. Example 75% bci 25% bcc and I would also state what bcc Surinam, Guyana, ect. The majority of people would rather have as much info as possible in my opinion.
I still label my boas BCI, BCC and BCA as this is the three type of boas I work with right now.
I have breed different localities together. So I label the babies from the cross breeding as a cross. I always put what the mother was first. Example my female Northern Brazilian BCC Aphrodite I breed to my male sunglow motley jungle BCI Aang. So all the babies are BCC X BCI. So this makes them all 50 % BCC and 50% BCI.
As of right now all my albino and sunglow morphs are BCI. But in the near future I will be producing boa morphs that are BCC X BCI. I even have BCA X BCI babies to.
Perfect! Thank you so much, @randall_turner_jr@banereptiles and @tommccarthy for your input. These are exactly the lines of thought Aaron had, and this really helps clarify things a bit further for me. Yay!
We appreciate the feedback, and beautiful animals, @tommccarthy! The influence of the crosses really are making for some interesting and stunning results! Thank you for sharing!
Sorry I haven’t responded to this yet. But everyone has provided such wonderful information that I don’t really know what else to add. I would definitely recommend giving as much information as you possibly can because if people plan to breed in any fashion it is always helpful. Also, like @tommccarthy, I plan to put the females before the males. So yeah, that is my thoughts lol .
Also with all the boas I produce and sell I give a birth certificate/ bloodline history. This has the parents info and even grandparents info. Pictures of the boa they bought and of the parents.
… Also this is to say that I was the one at VMB that was pushing to use the Red Tail name for our Columbian BCI (before I was fully versed on the awesome FLRT background and amazing Florida Red Tail Projects over there. Thank you @dsed for repping that and Brian’s cool breeding philosophy here on MM: We just re-watched his video . SUPER well done. LOVE that Angela does the voice over! LOVE her!)
Also full disclosure: this thread was to “settle a discussion” between Aaron and I as his thought was that using Red Tails was not the proper decision in marketing and I disagreed . So being a wise CEO/Business Partner/Husband, he let me bring it out here to let you all prove him right.
So thank you for settling that for us, and thank you again for all of our collective viewpoints. We will definitely be as informative as possible, and @tommccarthy, we will definitely plan on doing the same when we (hopefully ) have two litters hit the ground next year. It is SO exciting to be back in the baby boa cycle and back in this awesome community!
Aaron you are welcome. I know as a husband we don’t win most arguments. take care both of you. Looking forward to seeing your babies boas this spring.
PS: Aaron is super bummed he can’t be on here more: he is still teaching full time at the local college all while we are doing a pretty major intake/acquisition to get our business on its proverbial feet as we aim for full time in the next few seasons!
We are optimistic: this time last year I was taking some MBA classes online, so we are really putting that info to the test with our strategizing… and between that, Aaron working essentially two full time jobs and intaking and loving on our growing boa family/collection, he is certainly stretched!
But I am sure to keep him updated on our conversations as we get time to catch up during the day, and he echos my appreciation for your willingness to share your experience and knowledge to keep our hobby/industry growing and strong !
Its great to see such a great team you both are. I love giving Brian and Angela love on here too. They’ve really the nicest people and like you guys, an amazing team that has gone above and beyond for me as well. I love them like they’re family. I look forward to your posts on here as I’m always trying to learn about breeding, etc.
Beautiful animals, y’all! I’m firmly in the “as much info as possible” camp, whatever the species. I don’t work with those beautiful boas, though I love learning about them. I’ve got a question about another item brought up in this thread.
Is this the usual reptile community practice? I’m asking because I have a background with horses and I’ve always listed my info the other way around; Male X Female.
@dsed thanks, man! That means a lot . As I’ve said in an earlier post (as as evidenced here on MM!) good people find good people!
And speaking of (and we can talk about this offline: DM me here if you are interested): as you are a Melb, Fl local, let us know if you have a free afternoon and want to pop by to check out the VMB Crew!
We’d love to give you a tour of what we call “VMB Site A” (read: our converted 2 car garage…) and “VMB Site B” (read: our former living room, now Boa facility …). We do have plans to expand back out of the house into a separate building in the seasons to come as construction situations settle in the economy - but for now we are truly #livingthedream#vmb​:green_heart: Yay!
Anywhoo, we’re here! Let us know; we’d love to show you around!
I don’t really think so because when you see multiple snakes for sale or when people are talking about there litter or clutch of babies snakes they have. The first number is how many males and the second number is how many females. Sometimes there is even a third number and that means unknown sex. Example 2. 3. 1 would mean 2 males, 3 females and 1 unknown sex.
When ever I talk about breeding I have always just put the females locality first just because she is the one having the babies. ( And doing all the work just like us humans. ) But when talking about sex of the babies I do it just like above.
I had thought about the numerical conventions. That was part of why I started listing my records Male X Female way back when I started breeding. Honestly though, most of it was habit because that’s the way it’s done with horse and dog registries.
And hey, gotta say as a female who’s “done all the work,” it’s always nice when a male voluntarily recognizes that we do.
:
.
.
. SUPER well done. LOVE that Angela does the voice over! LOVE her!)
. So being a wise CEO/Business Partner/Husband, he let me bring it out here to let you all prove him right. 
) have two litters hit the ground next year. It is SO exciting to be back in the baby boa cycle and back in this awesome community! 
. As I’ve said in an earlier post (as as evidenced here on MM!) good people find good people!
…). We do have plans to expand back out of the house into a separate building in the seasons to come as construction situations settle in the economy - but for now we are truly 
#vmb​:green_heart:
Yay!