$1500, which route would you go?

If you want to learn genetics, learn it from a genetics text, such as Elron and Stansfield's "Schaum's Introduction to Genetics". Once you have a solid grounding in standard genetics, you can acquire a working knowledge of the dialect that many boa fanciers use.

The amount of genetics misinformation I see on the web sites is terrifying. For example, the true statement that there are no heterozygous salmon boas that look normal has somehow gotten changed into the false statement that there are no heterozygous salmon boas.

Paul,
I purchased that book about a month ago based on a previous recommendation of yours. This is an excellent book and I highly recommend it as well to anyone interested in genetics.

Thank you Paul for the heads up on it.

Problem with the t+ is that they are in the 10k range not nearly close to the $1500.00 range LOL

Well here is the problem that you have, You want a quick return on a relatively small investment as everyone else does LOL? My suggestion to you would be this. $1500.00 dollars is in no way going to buy you a breeding age Albino, male or female, nor will it buy a breeding age Triple het male or female, at least not 100% hets. I would suggest that you buy a yearling male (2004) Double Het Ghost that is 66% or even 50% het albino. That is going to be about $1000.00. A yearling of 2004 MAY breed with a female boa for next season. With the Extra $500.00 that you have you can get a female Anery that is also 66% or 50% het for snow/Albino. You with me so far?.....
Ok say you get lucky and your male does indeed breed with one of your normal female Boas. What you will get is ½ normal and ½ Hypo babies. Both the Normal and Hypo babies will be 66% Chance for het Anery and all will have an outside chance of being het for albino. Out of that group you will want to keep a 1.3 group of the Hypo babies (future breeding stock) Selling the rest for what they are Hypos and normals with possible hets for Anery and Albino. The sold babies will or should get you back your investment money.
Fast forward to 2-3 years later (boa breedings take time) your Anery female is now of breeding age and you let you male Hypo het Ghost/possible het Albino breed with her. The very least you get Ghost Boas, Anery Boa, Hypos double het and het for Anery Boas all in one litter. With the blessing of the boa gods, both of your 66% chance for het albino proves out and you can throw sunglows, snows, Snowglos also into that mix. All the time you have also been keeping a few babies here and there from your normal breeders to build up stock and to see what proves out as you go. So your $1500.00 investment has made you a nice little return in both snakes and money (assuming that you do not have any illness or other problems with it and all goes “best case scenario”
I hope this rosy outlook helps out a bit
Good Luck

i know hoppy, $1500 is out of my price range LOL

Paul, I appreciate the correction...and I, too, will be looking into a copy of that book

If I were you, I would go with something homozygous- that is, so that what you breed it to will be 100% het for whatever. Possible hets don't sell for that much. Maybe a hypo? Not homozygous but codom so there's no "possible" het. Obviously you won't be able to get a sunglow or snow but maybe an albino? Just my .02. Good luck!

while you're giving out investment advice, what about this scenario? I'm buying a hypo het albino baby female this year. Next year I assume I'll want to purchase maybe a yearling male? albino? and some other known trait, possibly homozygous for stripe or something like that and het for salmon. How long before the two of them can mate? and see return on investment? how much would I have to spend to get an albino male with other certain traits?

Originally Posted by snakehorse

while you're giving out investment advice, what about this scenario? I'm buying a hypo het albino baby female this year. Next year I assume I'll want to purchase maybe a yearling male? albino? and some other known trait, possibly homozygous for stripe or something like that and het for salmon. How long before the two of them can mate? and see return on investment? how much would I have to spend to get an albino male with other certain traits?

Ok, if you've got the hypo het albino, i'd recommend getting an albino (~1000-1200), or if that's too expensive, a 100% het albino male (2-300). In a few years (2-3) you can breed them and get a few sunglows.

There's no such thing as het salmon, it's a dominant trait. There is a difference, super vs. regular, the supers have both traits so the babies will all be salmon. You can't tell if a baby is super though until you breed it.

I don't know anything about stripes, cost or worth or anything.

If you want an albino het something else, it wouldn't be worth it unless you get something else that's het for whatever your albino is het for, because then you'd end up with 50% hets that either won't be worth much more than normals or you'll have to go years trying to prove them out.

Personally, I think snows are the way to go; not as many people are breeding them as sunglows. But sunglows are pretty!

Of course, you should do it for the love of the hobby, but nobody wants to invest a bazillion dollars to make $100 babies...

No need to worry about spending more for a yearling male. Males will breed at a younger age/smaller size than females. You have your hypo het albino female, purchasing a male next year (or the year after) will be fine. In the long run, you're better off giving the female a few years before you try to breed her - don't push her to get her to size, let her grow at a more natural pace. As far as what to look for in your male - I would go with either another hypo het albino, or an albino (about the same cost). It sort of depends on what you are ultimately shooting for. If you are just looking for a "return on investment", pick up any young male boa in the next year or two & when the female is of appropriate size, breed them. If you have an interest in boas, and you really like certain morphs, work towards those. As far as time is concerned, you are looking at a minimum of 3-4 years before you see babies (female at least 2 1/2 years + gestation...many would recommend waiting still another year to let the female mature.) If you just want to make money (which is kind of how it sounds) - ball pythons are the hottest market.