# probable super hypo boa constrictor...



## damian5000 (Jan 14, 2006)

Hey guys.  Just got this guy about a week ago.  He is awesome.  If you know boas, you know he's top of the line hypo. Also, he's a probable super hypo. I hope you like him too...


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## Verbal (Jan 14, 2006)

:X


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## LaFoto (Jan 14, 2006)

Well, he's rude to us....... so I shall do the :greenpbl: back to him, too.

:greenpbl: :greenpbl: :greenpbl: :greenpbl: :greenpbl: :greenpbl: :greenpbl: :greenpbl: :greenpbl: :greenpbl: :greenpbl: :greenpbl:​


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## doenoe (Jan 14, 2006)

lol

awesome snake, love the colors......maybe an idea to explain what hypo means


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## Lol999 (Jan 14, 2006)

Cool snake. I like snakes but know little about boa's. Nearly bought one once but settled for a Burmese python instead.

Lol


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## PachelbelsCanon350D (Jan 14, 2006)

:meh: Great shot! I love the tongue....but.....I like furry critters best! 

Beautiful markings on him though. What does hypo mean?


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## Alexandra (Jan 14, 2006)

:greenpbl:, eh??? 

nice shot though. I know no more about snakes than i do about Eleanor Rigby, but this is a beautiful snake for sure. :thumbup:


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## duncanp (Jan 14, 2006)

^ i agree with the above :thumbup: :greenpbl:


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## damian5000 (Jan 14, 2006)

LaFoto said:
			
		

> Well, he's rude to us....... so I shall do the :greenpbl: back to him, too.
> 
> :greenpbl: :greenpbl: :greenpbl: :greenpbl: :greenpbl: :greenpbl: :greenpbl: :greenpbl: :greenpbl: :greenpbl: :greenpbl: :greenpbl:​


 lol.... 

I was hoping you all would be interested enough to ask that.  Here's the long answer.

Hypo is short for hypomelanistic. It's a genetic trait which basically means lacking in black pigment (melanin). Some say it means an increase in red too. It can happen in a range of varying degrees. 

A regular hypo has this trait in the co-dominant form. It'll pass this on to half of their young. A super happens when a baby receives the hypo gene from both parents. This is the dominant form. When it mates it will pass on the hypo trait to 100% of the young regardless of the mate.

You never know for sure (unless the baby came from a super x super breeding, in which case all the babies would be super, or unless the pairing was hypo or super hypo x normal, in which case it would be impossible to make a super) until you breed them and "prove them out". Though there are some defining characteristics of a super (for instance, most regular hypos have black rings around the red in the tail, while supers have very little to none) some people debate how accurate these characteristics are in being able to name for sure that the hypo is a super. But generally if the snake shows these characteristics you can name them probable supers.

Whew... I hope I've done a decent job of explaining that. Though I believe I have a fair understanding of this genetic trait, please keep in mind that i'm not an expert. (In other words, take it with a grain of salt).



This guy is just awesome. So mellow and chill. He gave a little hiss the first morning he woke up here at my house, but hasn't done it since 

If you're interested in reading more on boa "morphs" here's a good start. 

http://www.classreptilia.com/boa_morphs.htm

Kingsnake.com has some great info too in the way of forums, as well as a classifieds section which is where I found this guy.




good day all. 

- Damian


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## JonMikal (Jan 14, 2006)

LaFoto said:
			
		

> Well, he's rude to us....... so I shall do the :greenpbl: back to him, too.
> 
> 
> :greenpbl: :greenpbl: :greenpbl: :greenpbl: :greenpbl: :greenpbl: :greenpbl: :greenpbl: :greenpbl: :greenpbl: :greenpbl: :greenpbl:​


:lmao:


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## damian5000 (Jan 15, 2006)

bump


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## PachelbelsCanon350D (Jan 15, 2006)

Gosh, he looks so TINY in your hand! The cool thing about the original photo you shot of him was that there was nothing to scale him against, so I thought he was this behemoth boa thing 4 inches thick who could squeeze me to death.  Now I'm not so afraid anymore.


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## Joerocket (Jan 15, 2006)

PachelbelsCanon350D said:
			
		

> Gosh, he looks so TINY in your hand! The cool thing about the original photo you shot of him was that there was nothing to scale him against, so I thought he was this behemoth boa thing 4 inches thick who could squeeze me to death.  Now I'm not so afraid anymore.


I thought the exact same thing. So hypo basically means albino?-Joe
edit: looking at the pic again I see his eyes have black in them so maybe im a lit tle off in thinking hupo means albino.


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## Antarctican (Jan 15, 2006)

Nice capture, with the tongue flicking out.  Looks kinda uptight though...all knotted up.  Gotta learn to chill out.


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## Rob (Jan 16, 2006)

Great capture, you've completely spoiled my mental image with the second shot though - as was said, I had an image of a car crushing super hyper mega snake thing which could devour whole gazelles. Still, I suppose you're gonna feed him up to be like that one day!

I know very little about snakes, but they look cool. I'm not sure I could deal with feeding them frozen mice or whatever though - I'm a bit girly with things like that! Still, at least they don't smell (I guess).

Cool picture!

Rob


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## weeping widow (Jan 16, 2006)

His colors are very vibrant.....but no thanks.....I don't like snakes!! ale:


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## damian5000 (Jan 16, 2006)

PachelbelsCanon350D said:
			
		

> Gosh, he looks so TINY in your hand! The cool thing about the original photo you shot of him was that there was nothing to scale him against, so I thought he was this behemoth boa thing 4 inches thick who could squeeze me to death.  Now I'm not so afraid anymore.


Laughing.  Yes, he is just a toddler.  Don't worry he won't eat you. Yet, that is. smiling...



			
				Joerocket said:
			
		

> I thought the exact same thing. So hypo basically means albino?-Joe
> edit: looking at the pic again I see his eyes have black in them so maybe im a lit tle off in thinking hupo means albino.


You're correct in that hypomelanistic is not the same as albino (Amelanistic). Albino is a complete lack of black pigment. Albinoism in boas is a recessive trait (the young must recieve the gene for albinoism from both parents for the trait to show). 

Hypomelanism is reduced black pigment (to varying degrees) and is a co-dominant trait (dominant if one of the parents is a super) and the young can show up with it, even when only one of the parents has it in his/her genetics.

Standard everyday columbian boas (not mine):










Albino boas (not mine):









Edit: These pictures were found in the www.kingsnake.com classifieds

Thanks for the interest everyone   It's great...

I think my boa is a hippie. He's extremely mellow and chill, even if he does get a little bratty with his tongue once in a while 

- Damian


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## damian5000 (Jan 16, 2006)

Rob said:
			
		

> Great capture, you've completely spoiled my mental image with the second shot though - as was said, I had an image of a car crushing super hyper mega snake thing which could devour whole gazelles. Still, I suppose you're gonna feed him up to be like that one day!
> 
> I know very little about snakes, but they look cool. I'm not sure I could deal with feeding them frozen mice or whatever though - I'm a bit girly with things like that! Still, at least they don't smell (I guess).
> 
> ...



Thanks   Though, I'm sorry I ruined your mental image. smilin...

They are so easy to take care of.  Feed them once a week.  They poop like once a month.  And most boa constrictors are quite mellow, beautiful, and a great conversation piece.  I hope some of you "snake dislikers" have been converted to some degree by this thread.

- Damian


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## Ajax (Jan 16, 2006)

Nice photo, like the fact you caught him sticking his tongue out... looks very amusing  :thumbup: .. kinda scary though ale:


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## Joerocket (Jan 16, 2006)

I'd love to get a snake. I had a simple corn snake when I was alot younger but he passed away as a baby (some type of digestive problem). The boas are beautiful snakes but they get too big for my liking. Is there any snakes as pretty as boas that dont get quite so big?

-Joe


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## damian5000 (Jan 17, 2006)

Joerocket said:
			
		

> I'd love to get a snake. I had a simple corn snake when I was alot younger but he passed away as a baby (some type of digestive problem). The boas are beautiful snakes but they get too big for my liking. Is there any snakes as pretty as boas that dont get quite so big?
> 
> -Joe


Hey Joe,  (and I absolutely can not resist... how'd you get that gun in your hand?)  

Males don't grow as large as females. Males can get up to around 8-9 ft, and females 10-12 if fed weekly. But don't let that scare you.....Please read on.

In the first 2 years of a boa's life, they grow quite fast (they can get up to 4 feet in their first year). After that, the growth slows down considerably. Though it's not recommended in the first couple years, as they are still developing their internal structure and such, you can SUBSTANTIALLY CONTROL THEIR GROWTH after that by slowing down the feeding regimen. You would easily be able to keep a standard Columbian Boa Constrictor Imperator male at about 6ft (which really is not as big as it sounds). 

The Hogg (some say Hog) Island boa is an AWESOME snake and absolute MAX size is about 6 ft. TRUE PURE hoggs could easily be kept at 4-5ft. These snakes are awesome and actually change color! They developed isolated on this island but are still considered the same species (Boa Constrictor Imperator), though some feel they should be re-classified as their own. Also, THEY HAVE THEIR OWN SPECIAL FORM OF HYPOMELANISM!!, and they are just beautiful. 

Besides the Hog, there are several more species of island boas. Here is an EXCELLENT link to some more detailed info on the different types of island boas. http://www.riobravoreptiles.com/boas_island.htm . Please take a look, there is some great information about how the island boas developed and such.

So if you don't want to go with a Colombian, I personally would recommend hog. I can't say enough about how cool these guys are.

If 4 ft is still too big, you can look into the rubber or rosy boa. Personally I don't think they're as interesting or unique, but that's just my own opinion. There are some very nice looking rosy's out there.

I would look in the boa classifieds at 

http://market.kingsnake.com/index.php?cat=8 . If you want, I could recommend some places that are reputable. Rio Bravo is one of them, but last time I checked (about 2 months ago) they didn't have any hogs available. There are a couple different "lines" of hogs out there too, so think about what you want in terms of looks. Some are quite clean, some are very speckled, but have awesome coloration (the one pictured at rio bravo is an great example).

Hog Island boa (not mine, this picture comes from rio bravo):





 Beautiful....Now I REALLY want one   maybe I'll have to move somewhere else..

I hope I haven't been TOO long winded here. I guess you know what one of my favorite topics is..... Anyways... please contact me or check out the kingsnake boa forums if you have any questions at all.

- Damian


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## damian5000 (Jan 17, 2006)

- Damian


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## Joerocket (Jan 17, 2006)

wow, thanks for all the info Damian! I'm not sure yet if I will get one though. I already have a chameleon, bearded dragon and about a dozen cichlids. Next on my list is a white's tree frog or a red eye tree frog, or both lol. But if and when I seriously look into getting one I definitly know who to talk to! Thanks again for all the info!

-Joe


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## damian5000 (Jan 17, 2006)

Hey Joe, 

It was no problem. I actually learned a couple things in the process, because I had to research a couple facts I wasn't positive about.

Sounds like you got yourself on the right track with your reptiles.

Lemme know if and when you pick one up, or if you have any more questions.  
Peace,

- Damian


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