Hi there! Long time keeper of 10+ years with my first and oldest snake being a much beloved 13 year old wild type BCI, but very new to their breeding in concept, let alone years away from practice. My experience in breeding is currently with my little ball python project, so I apologize if my line of thinking comes off much differently than boa breeding; I have a gorgeous 2024 “Orange Tail” Hypo female that I adore and am trying to think on what I should plan to work towards with her, in the future.
She’s got a couple years yet to grow of course, but I think I’d like to pick up a future boyfriend for her either this year or the next. I guess I’m just kind of stuck on where I want to and should focus on taking her, if that makes any sense? I’m not necessarily looking to mix “high dollar” stuff with her, as I have a lovely '25 VPI Junglow het Blood girl I’ll be hunting an IMG Blood het VPI combo male for over the next few years, so that’ll be an expense all of it’s own. I guess what has me a bit hung up is that this hypo girl was sold to me as an “Orange Tail” hypo, and I’m not fully sure if there’s any decorum for how to choose pairings for them?
I know I personally like my hypo boas to have a lot of color (especially orange) to them, seeing that sometimes I look at hypo boas and simply find myself thinking that they just have a reduced pattern at best and nothing else. Morph combinations being exempt (i.e. Ghost boas), are hypos not necessarily meant to be orange? Is it just a preference thing?
Part of me thinks that I should just look for another nice orangey hypo, but would it be okay if this male wasn’t considered an “Orange Tail” hypo? What even would be considered an “OT” hypo; is it hypo from a particular line, or is it any really orange hypos?
Sorry to blather, the tl;dr of this is - What would you think to pair to an “Orange Tail” hypo? Pictures of said female for tax, of course! She’s a bit of a spicy girl, her name is Nami!
Nami is a very nice looking orange tail hypo. Do you know if she is het for anything other than hypo? I would get a male albino or sunglow to breed her to. This way if she is not het for albino then all the babies will be guaranteed het for albino. Possible het babies are harder to sell as most people don’t want them.
Also get what ever pattern morph you like best and add that to your breeding. I only breed what I like not what is popular. This way I make the best example of the morphs I like with selective breeding.
Rich Ihle’s is the breeder who started the orange tail line. He is also the guy who started the Salmon hypo boa line too.
It’s just my opinion as the first orange tail sunglow I bought many years ago I belive had a small % of Suriname BCC boa in her. She produce a lot of high orange sunglows for me.
Back in the late 80s and 90s breeders would not say they were cross breeding boa localities for colors and patterns. As then it was frownd upon. Not so much any more. Some breeders don’t even know they are cross breeding. As they don’t even know they’re boas have BCC or other localities in their bloodlines.
The first hypo boa was from Panama. So all hypo boas are some type of cross to begin with.
I personally breed for color, pattern and bigger boas. I know hypo is concerned a dwarf boa lineage. But I don’t like dwarf boas personally I like my boas to be big. That is why I don’t have blood boas or leopard boas in my morph I produce. Plus the blood boa browns out as they trun into adults.
I have a new BCAXBCI and BCCXBCI cross boas I have been working on for the past 5 years to add color and size to my morph projects.
BCA = Boa Constrictor Amarali. Southern Brazilian Amarali. My BCC is a Northern Brazilian BCC.
My BCAXBCI cross boas look a lot like your girl’s color.
Thank you so much for the information and for sharing your animals! You went above and beyond in your explanation, and I really appreciate it. You have some utterly stunning boas, too - those BCIxBCC/A crosses are gorgeous. Love how the BCC/A influence almost seems to clean up the patterning and make it more distinct!
As far as I know, Nami is just a single gene hypo with no hets, but I was also thinking towards going with an albino combo of some flavor, seeing how nicely hypo works with albino - particularly favoring the sharp strain, as far as t negative albinos go. A sunglow would be nice since it could result in some super hypos, but I’m admittedly a bit hesitant only because I wouldn’t be able to tell at a glance if the hypo in him would be that high saturation I’m shooting for when stripped of the albino. I do suppose I could just ask to see pictures of the parents though and guage it that way!
It sounds like we have pretty similar tastes in boas - as far as pattern morphs go, I absolutely adore a nice solid columbian motley and have one on my “gotta have it” list already. I know hypo and motley are allelic as well, so if I went with a sunglow motley, anything coming from him would be guaranteed het albino and either hypo or motley. I just wish the hypo didn’t have a tendency wipe out the standard motley patterning so much, lol.
I like leopards and bloods visually, but also prefer my boas to be big - my boy Jethro (the aforementioned 13 year old boa who kicked off my passion) is rather big for a male BCI, just measured him at 7’4" a couple weeks ago. Not powerfed in the slightest. I also just picked up a 2025 female OS black line Argentine, knowing those gorgeous beasties get big and beefy. Excited to watch that one grow, for sure!
So ultimately I guess I’ll be hunting for an albino/sunglow motley over the next year or so… I don’t suppose you’re working on producing some?
I normally produce motleys every year but I am giving my high color female motley a year off this breeding season. And I did not use any of my male motleys this year. I will have 3 female motleys next year in 2027 breeding.
This year I will be producing Kahl Strain hypos, albinos, sunglows and jungles from these two. Mom is just a sunglow and dad is a BCCXBCI hypo jungle het albino. I always make a few super hypos to every year.
I will also make 50% het Kahl Strain Mega Peaked 75% BCAX 25%BCI. From theses two. My veterinarian friend hopefully will makes MP albino this year. They will be 25% BCA
All good if you’re not producing motley stuff until the 2027 season, quality is worth the wait and I’m certainly in no rush since it’ll be at minimum another two to three years before my girl would be ready to go, anyway.
It looks like you have some killer stuff lined up though for sure, can’t wait to see what comes of it! Do you only work with the Kahl strain for albino, or do you work with Sharp, as well? Between the two, is there one you favor? Have you noticed any significant differences when putting those strains to hypo and/or motley?
I only work with Kahl albino and VPI albino. Just started with VPI. I am to old to start a new project line let alone have the room for 3 different albino lines. My favorite is the jungle gene I like adding it to my morphs.
Back when I first got into the albino projects Kahl was a little cheaper than Sharp. Many years a go Sharp had better colors than Kahl. But now Kahl in my opinion is the same if not better with colors. My high pink / red sunglows are fantastic looking in person. Can’t get the colors to show up in pictures that good. My adult sunglow motleys have a lot of purple on there side now too.
I haven’t noticed to much of a difference in hypo and motley in the two albino genes. But Sharp albinos do seem to have more white in them than the Kahl.
It seems like there are more morphs in the Kahl albino in my opinion to pick from.
That’s fair - working with two different strains of t negative albino would be limiting in its own way, with a lack of cross compatibility. Easier to stick with one! I also like VPI stuff and have been anxiously awaiting better weather for the VPI Junglow girl I snagged in auction to be sent my way. Spring can’t come soon enough!
I’ve read previously that Sharp tended to hold color better in the long term, but looking at your animals I can agree that Kahl definitely seems to have stepped up its game. Your animals look so vivid in the pictures alone, and I know cameras tend to struggle capturing saturation, so I can only imagine how highlighter-bright they have to be in person!
You take such great photos of your animals, it makes me pine for warmer weather so I can take mine out for a photoshoot lol. And I can see why you’d regret selling that motley, she’s stunning! Definitely gotta get one for myself eventually, whether it’s as a future breeder or just a pretty pet.
They are so gorgeous! In the “some more” at of pics, what is the morph of the one in the 7th image? I see that it’s in another image too, but it’s alone in the 7th.
The female you regret selling is magnificent. I know just about zip regarding boa breeding but I can see the she’s very unusual.
Definitely gotta get one for myself eventually, whether it’s as a future breeder or just a pretty pet.