This being is the living evidence for the fact, that it is impossible to tell a true Boa constrictor subspecies from a crossbreed only from its appearence. The animal looks like a true Boa c. constrictor from the distribution area Suriname, but the father was a Colombian Boa c. imperator!
Please note: The result of a scale count will probably also fit in the pattern of a true suriname boa since the mother will surely pass the correct number of scales to some of her babies!
No. To the contrary, the opposite is true as the photo above and our findings have shown.
We have come across U.S. breeders who breed Guyanese Boa c. constrictor males to Brazilian Boa c. constrictor females. The result is then marketed as "Brazilian redtails".
The same is true for Boa c. amarali. One parent is from Bolivia, while the other is from Brazil:
Most of the Boa constrictor "specialists" in den U.S. don’t even realize that the silver-gray Boa c. amarali occur solely in the state of Sao Paulo in Brazil. They call these boas “Bolivian amaralis". It is thus hardly surprising that this misinformation leads to the production of crossbreeds between Brazilian and Bolivian Boa c. amaralis.
Schlagwoerter
Boa constrictor crossbreeds | how to recognize a boa constrictor crossbreed | crossbred boa characteristics | recognize a hybrid | hybrid boa | how to tell a purebred boa from a crossbreed | Boa constrictor crossbreed characteristic feature
The same is true for Boa c. imperator. Many of the breeders across the pond lump all Boa c. imperator together and call them "Central American Boas". They don’t give a damn about the fact that in Mexico alone at least 4 different-looking variants of Boa c. imperator occur (who must not be bred to one another!).
These are just a few examples of many. We believe that the risk of getting a crossbred boa from an import out of the U.S. is at least as high as when one acquires the snake on the European market. Even if the U.S. breeders have avoided crossbreeding different subspecies, they generally pay no attention to the different distribution areas. This makes it even more difficult for the beginner to recognize a crossbred boa by its appearance.
By the way, there is no point in asking the breeder because none of them would own up to having produced crossbreeds. Or do you seriously believe that your question "Is this boa for sure a purebred one?" you will get the answer: "Actually, its not..."
The last straw for us to lose our confidence in U.S. breeders:
In 2008 we were offered pastel-colored Colombian boa babies from a long-term U. S. business partner. Upon our inquiry he told us that the mother was from his stock of Colombian boas and the father of the babies stemmed from the “European pastel bloodline”.
The word “European” triggered a red flag for us, since we knew that there are not many Colombian boas with proven localities kept in European collections. In an attempt to verify the origin of these animals we called the breeder of that bloodline. He told us frankly that he has never claimed his pastel bloodline to be true Colombian boas and that he has no idea as to the true origin of the male who founded that bloodline. It was just a common boa that he had bought somewhere and who just happened to produce pastel-colored babies, much to his surprise.
He also made it very clear that the point of that particular bloodline wasn’t the pure breeding, but rather the pastel coloration. We were grateful and satisfied with his honest assessment.
Afterwards we confronted the U.S. breeder with this information. He insisted that these boas were true Colombian boas after all, because he had done a scale count on them and the results did fit with the corresponding patterns. It obviously escaped his attention that crossbred boas can also inherit the “correct” scale count.
Due to our loss of confidence in the judgment of this breeder, we decided to terminate this business relationship for good.
One year later we got very lucky and obtained our hyperpastel boas, whose origin from Colombia is indeed proven.