I’m new to BCI’S, and I don’t know what to get. I’ve saved a few black devil’s and a few super fire’s, but that just about it. I saw a post a while back, Best Boa Locale for Beginners, and @lindasark had a really nice looking Nicaragua female. Do you know any other morphs similar to it? It was a beautiful shade of black and gray, kind of like a ball python axanthic. Anybody know any morphs similar to it?
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Hey, I’m new to boas to, by that I mean getting ready to breed and start finding snakes to breed. But I just wanted to let you know what I’m investing in to give you an idea of something that might turn out well. Anyway, I own a central American boa with Hypo Het Leopard morphs, and am currently looking for a female CA boa with either Het Leopard, or Leopard. I am specifically looking targeting beginners and people who want a fancy snake that’s not to big that’s also not a ball python.
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Axanthic in boas is incorrectly called Anery. There are multiple types. I can recall off the top of my head if there is a true locality Anery morph in Nics. Nicaraguans are typically not the easiest handling boas for a beginner. They’re usually very nippy and reactive. You can get them to calm down some but the reactivity will usually still be a thing.
Morph wise, you’re going to struggle to stay locale specific if you’re trying to be in the relevant portion of the market morph wise. Certain locale specific morphs do move easily, but the market audience for them is small. If you’re trying to stay locale specific I would either stick to pure CA T+ stuff or Sonoran Leopards. They’re the smallest commonly available boas too so they’ve got that going for them.
For the ‘mixed’ portion of the market, VPI T+ combos are the hottest thing right now. Especially VPI IMG and/or Blood combos. IMGs are awesome but they’re saturated so a ‘relevant’ IMG combo is going to be $2-3k.
This is an IMG Motley Aztec Het VPI
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I’d suggest spending some time in the for sale section of MM. Click the traits tab and start looking for what really grabs your attention/interest. Once you’ve begun to find a gene/combo you like or would want to strive to make, start looking into the Morphmedia section. Take that information and play with the MM Calculator with your dream pairings. This is a great tool, it gives examples alongside statistics and it was key for me to start understanding how the different types of genetic mutations work.
To clarify a bit of terminology:
Locales are not a morph. Localities strictly point to where the animals originate/imported from.
Morph refers to a genetic mutation. There can be pure locality morphs as ballornothing mentioned, but I mention it just incase you weren’t already aware.
People new to boas sometimes get confused with Pastel. Pastel are line bred traits (polygenic) in boa constrictors - so technically not a morph - with the exception of Marron (might be more I’m unaware of)
I think the most important thing in boa constrictors is being selective. Pairings should have a goal or vision for whatever you’re trying to achieve.
Edit: Best investment = That spot where what you can afford meets what you love when it comes to boas. Buy boas that you would want to own, even if they never successfully reproduce.
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And this post is an example @smite of why I think you are an expert on boas!!! 
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Thanks for the compliment, Caron! I’m becoming an expert at buying them, that’s for sure 
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i think some of the best investment grade boas are going to be anything thats het leucistic aka fire, these fire boas can be had for sub 200$, and pair fire x fire = white boas that sells for 1k minimum? pricing issues? definitely
Also next to this are going to be pure locality, any of them Surinam, Guyana Peruvian etc etc. as mentioned sonoran leopards are fantastic, so are CA/Tarahumara/Tamaulipas boas , I think some people get bad rap for the Central American boas because they are buying them from wild caught (and may or may not know that), my captive bred ca are puppy dogs, and honestly my most trusted in the pack, i hand them to children.
I have no experience with nicaraguan boas other than various hets running through my collection so i cant speak on these, although, you can find them very cheap and sometimes the cheapest animals leave the customer with the most money left over for extra care, causing them to thrive. I will say, as an investment, nic boas are a no go you cant beat trappers selling them for 5$, You could try to find some costa rican boas, these are very nice but also very hard to actually find healthy CB.
Argentine boas are beautiful, and this is likely what you saw; striking white and black an almost natural anerythristic. They are angry shitheads, all of them. If anyone has a nice argentine its a far outlier, we dont work these, these are 100% angry boas, even with proper training, very territorial likely the angriest of all boas ive ever encountered, on par or worse than wild caught brazilian rainbow boas.
I also agree that what another user said about VPI being hot, theres some cool combos, nerds got a fantastic male VPI but, its 2200$, 3 years from now that snake will be 500$…
Img is way overpriced (albeit beautiful) and will definitely tank as they are being bred like crazy right now, its a inc dom so you can just grab a male and breed a generic Cen am/sonoran female and get small IMGs thats basically the entire market craze right now.
Scoria is a weird one, I dislike it, for some reason its crazy expensive and is basically the same as spider in ball pythons, so while people may ask a high price, theres a small portion actually paying it.
Start with your females if your building a business, they will need time and you will need experience. Success in boas comes with planning and execution.
I would recommend going for any locality boa except the argentines, if you want to work morphs, take a look at fire, aztec, and motley, Motleys get larger, have bigger litters, have a natural black look, and can be had for around $100+shipping. Aztec is just as strong of a pattern warp as motley, and looks insane with albino/hypo combos. Fire is subtle alone, but insane in super form.
Im on MorphMarket , I carry alot of the stuff I recommend, Its not biased its experience, any questions feel free to inbox me ~ Lake Reptiles
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@jasper-is-the-king I have a CBB CA boa and he is the sweetest boy! You can’t go wrong with CAs.
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Something concerning is most of the central americans being offered on the website are wholesale & wild caught, theres two sellers in particular that are around 100$ asking price, knowing they bought them from a wholesaler who only deals in wild caught is concerning, they literally just flip animals from wholesale websites on MM, For reference, if you want wild caught, they can be as low as $30… The fact theres someone up there with about 15 of them for 125$ is concerning. Just check the seller feedback, are they selling all sorts of ■■■■? monitors? frogs? turtles? snakes? tegus? geckos and more? this is a reseller and should usually be avoided. This is the equivalent of a puppy mill only worse, they are yoinking these from native habitats…
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Yes I certainly understand your point! Tbh I have not searched for CAs for purchase since I got Red 6 plus years ago as a tiny baby. I found him on Kingsnake Classifieds. I didn’t know MM existed back then. Actually he is now a breeder/seller here.
As far as wild caught goes, I steer clear of Any seller who advertises WC. It is just a personal opinion but I feel badly for all the precious wildlife yanked out of their natural habitat, crated up and sold wholesale for the almighty dollar. I believe it’s wrong and totally unacceptable. My pet peeve is the importation of sunbeam snakes. They are so delicate. They should be left alone to live out their lives under the rice paddies……
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I just did a search after this thread and found a guy with 17 listings for cen ams, all wholesale/wild caught, not listed as such and asking 4.5x the normal wild caught price, literally had to report it you can see the various hets in the animals theres some T+ hets and such and not even mentioned… Obviously a reseller or undercover website selling wild caughts as captives, hes got 20 species listed at once, and sells no other boas at all… so painfully obvious
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Wow! That makes me ill. All animals are living breathing creations and do not deserve to be treated as commodities!
Thanks! Can you include a image of a argentinian or a CA for me? I checked and the argentine on looks similar, just a little more cream/grayish. I wanna know if I’m looking at the right snakes.
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I am not sure who you are wanting pics from but here is my CA boa “Red”. 
Edit to add: He’s a dad btw! Long story……
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I only breed what I like for myself.
I like the Southern Brazilian Amarali BCA and the Northern Brazilian BCC locality boas. As for morphs, I like the sunglow motley jungle, and the jungle morph mixed with lots of other morphs.
I was thinking of getting into the VPI stuff, but now I am leaning towards the NFI morph.
Hypo jungles het albino.
Sunglow motley jungle.
BCC
BCA
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Tom I am in love with the BCA and the BCC.
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@tommccarthy Although in my eyes Red is the best boa ever. He may not be as majestic but he makes up for it with his sweet demeanor.
Btw, he was sold to me as a CA jungle boa but people have scoffed at the jungle part and some have said he’s a Columbian not CA. So what is he in your opinion?
I see CA jungle in him to me. With him being CA they tend to have a lot of black speckling. That makes it harder to see the two tone horizontal line that jungle boas have. But I do see the line in him. Plus a few other things i look for in my jungles.
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Yay ! Several people have denied him as being jungle! Thank you!
I know virtually nothing of “the market,” but I can offer my perspective as someone who bought their first boa last year.
I was the most drawn to IMG, VPI, leopard, sunglow, and moonglow. I ended up getting an IMG, and I have no regrets, she’s amazing.
I think IMG, black devil, and super fire will stay popular for quite some time, just because the reptile community seems to collectively lose their 
over all-black and all-white animals.
I personally love IMG/VPI combos, and it seems like many other folks do as well. All of the “glow” combos (sunglow, moonglow, snowglow) are gorgeous and seem well-loved by most in the boa community.
You could also go the pure locality route if you wanted. There are some truly beautiful localities, and there’s stunning variety in size, colour, and head shape. I think my favourite localities are Peruvian long-tailed boas and Argentine boas. Though the Suriname and Guyana true red tails are also pretty spectacular.
Are you hoping to start breeding, or do you just want a pretty pet? Honestly, regardless of your answer, I think you should first and foremost focus on what you like. One of the great things about boas is that there’s pretty much a boa for everyone. No matter your preference on colour, pattern, and size, boas have got you covered. So ask yourself what you like, what you don’t like, and start narrowing it down from there.
It literally took me over a year just to narrow down three morph options to start shopping for. There are so many choices with boas, it can honestly be a bit overwhelming.
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