Hydrid boas??

I don't mean to offend or have anyone hate me by talking about the voodoo of hybrids. But they intrigue me very much. Im not planing on any breeding projects or anything as Ive never bred a thing in my life.

Im just wondering on a genetic type level with the specie and sub specie and all that mumbo-jumbo. Why cant certain types of boas breed? I thought there all boas so should all be able to breed? but im told things such as a redtail cant breed to a Brazilian rainbow, or dumerils etc... cuz imo a rainbow redtail.. or rainbow dumerils would be intense!

You dont have GOOGLE?

Here we go again with some more hybrid crap. Yeah, because a rainbow boa or a pure RTB isn't beautiful enough. Why don't we all just try to breed whatever reptiles will breed with whatever else and see what that gets us. We will just stop thinking about the health effects that the hatchling hybrids and just start thinking about our wallets even more. Just like that one carpet x ball python on K.S for $3000. Have an ugly hybrid carpet for $3000 or some nice pure Jungles for $500?? Yeah. Get real.

the reason I understood why Boa Constrictor could not be crossed with Rainbow Boas is because they are a different genus, where subspecies crosses are much more likely and some species crosses work. Rainbow boas can be crossed with anacondas because they are both Epicrates genus.

I'll agree that crossing subspecies is easiest (and that doesn't always produce hybrids); and that crossing species is done...but animals of different genera can also be bred (Lampropeltis x Elaphe, Python x Morelia, etc)


sending you a PM, April

I was incorrect above, anacondas and rainbows are different Genus Eunectes and Epicrates (damn my eyes! thanks Harald) but I have heard of those two being crossed before. I have never heard of either of those being crossed into boa constrictor

I wonder if it is easier to cross genera with oviporous snakes....and, if so, why. I have an idea or three about that, but I don't want to sidetrack things too much (and I'd kind of like to see if I'm really off base before posting, lol).

Isn't the Roswell boa a hybrid morph between BCI and BCC? Isn't the hypo/salmon a form of hybrid morph? There is a lot of cross breeding/hybrid breeding with boas that are not only beautiful but also very popular. I am also intrigued by what some hybrid's may look like, doesn't mean I am going to breed for them. Yes, pure, UN-altered boas are beautiful, a lot of times more beautiful than a hybrid. If the hybrid breeding results in offspring looking more like one parent than the other, like when breeding for sunset boas, and the seller offers them as pure bred, than that is an issue with me. As long as they are being labeled correctly than it is what it is.

Originally Posted by mxracer4life

Isn't the Roswell boa a hybrid morph between BCI and BCC? Isn't the hypo/salmon a form of hybrid morph?

yes the Roswells came from Surinam BCc x albino BCi. Salmons are thought to be a Panamanian local BCi x Colombian BCi (which i found out after I got all involved in the hypos which are some of my favorites, so alas those are my crosses. I try to avoid having locality crosses and completely avoid subspecies crosses, just my preference).


edit - Although I will add some of the most amazing tree boas I've ever seen were crosses (emerald x amazon) and I have owned corn x emoryi rat snake crosses years ago (aka creamcicle/rootbear corns)

w3ait wait wait....rainbow boas and anacondas have been crossed? Please...enlighten me. I've often wandered whether it was possible myself, not that I would do so, but I would just love to know if its been done successfully, and if it has what the babies turned out like.

My personal opinion on hybrids is that species are generally distant from each other, but subspecies and such like BCO's and BCI's and closely related but evolved differently over thousands of years due to geographicall isolation. They may have come from the same or similar original species that got divded up a long time ago. In nature if something happened to bring one subspecies together with another on an island by themselves, they may eventually hybridize into a new species themselves without any human intervention. So my belief is that if the animals your hybridizing are not endangered in the wild, go for it, try it out, but for every hybrid you breed please...take the time to do two more pairing with pure blood. I will never breed my argentines with anything else because 90% of their environment is GONE. They may become extinct in the wild someday. But a kingsnake with a cornsnake....that I will do. Also, if inbreeding between pure species that are harder to obtain good blood for in the US becomes a problem, I will have no problem inbreeding to get healthy babies as oppose to mutant offspring with no eyes.