What kind of boa

Well Im not gonna give you guys the pleasure. God Bless both of you, have a wonderful week....

Oh one more thing, I do agree its not a rainbow! I did some research. You know instead of name calling we could have helped each other. And Seamus I do apologize for calling you a prick! Even though I think you were out of line I had no reason for the name calling.
-Matt

Could it be a Sonoran or a Nicaraguan? Or a cross? What do you think?

heres a picture of the tail

its gray underneath.

Well, now that we all agree it isn't a rainbow...

There are a few different ways of classifying boas. There is subspecies, there is locale and there is captive or naturally occuring bloodline/morph/microlocale.

Some of those obviously overlap... there can be multiple subspecies within a country or multiple countries of origin for a given subspecies and then morphs, phases and microlocales mixed into any of those.

The problem with captive Boa constrictor and a lot of other species/subspecies as well, is that there was no real emphasis on these factors in the pet trade until fairly recently. Scale counts can be used to determine subspecies... but subspecific crosses could have scale counts from either of the parent subspecies or an entirely new third set of possibilities. Saddle counts (color and pattern in general) are an easy way of generating an idea of what you may be working with but abberrent animals crop up constantly, especially given the widespread subspecific intergraditation which has happened. So getting a fix on a guaranteed correct subspecies can be difficult at best, impossible at worst.

As to the locales (some locales are synonymous with subspecies, some are not), unless you have hard verifiable data about where the animal was collected, or where it's parents were collected, that can't be determined beyond a shadow of a doubt either. If you have import papers on the animal or it's parents then you've got enough to say that it's a locale specific animal but even then there are some incidental border infractions when it comes to wild collection and the country an animal is imported to the states from may not be the one in which it was actually pulled out from under a log.

http://home.att.net/~crinaustin/BoaGeneral.htm

Is a very good, very accurate site if you want to attempt a scale count. Still not a 100% guarantee that you can identify subspecies from this although it's the most accurate you can get while allowing for potential subspecific contamination on an animal from relatively unknown origins.

Just visually... I'm going to say it looks a lot like a Boa constrictor imperator mutt. There weren't any pictures which allowed for a real saddle count but it looks to be within the BCI range and I've seen plenty of subadult and adult animals with that coloration and dark appearance. Chances are pretty good that it's the result of long term captive stock so there's no point in even guessing at a locale because it's probably got a few in it. There's a good amount of subspecific crosses in the captive bloodpool too... So it's just a common boa constrictor, unless you end up with a scale count that proves beyond any reasonable doubt that it's a different subspecies.

I'd also reccomend Greg Maxwell's site... It's about Chondros, but everything written in the "Locale Debate" can be applied to captive populations of numerous species, including boa constrictors.

Edit: Just to clarify a bit, with this animal the most you can probably hope for is a determination that it is LIKE something, since the chances of making a hard and fast determination are pretty low. So if you want to call it "Central American looking" (for example) that works, while avoiding actually calling it a "Central American"

Second Edit: Here's the Stockl's website, in case you just want to look at photos of various subspecies, locales, phases and morphs and then guess at what might be in your guy's genetic soup. http://www.boa-constrictors.com/com/com.html

I say that we in the boa community need to start classifying them the same way it is done in the alterna locality arena.
If you don't know it's background, or you know its a cross, call it a generic.
Generic has no negative conotation except to purists. To the rest of us it just means "I don't know what it is".
That way, everyone... morphers,purists, and hobbyists alike all have a common word for the unknown, or mutt boas.

I would say it's a common boa( BCC or BCI ). Also it has connected saddles.

Ok, obviously isn't a Boa constrictor constrictor, I would personally call it just a BCI, nothing more, nothing less. Doesn't look too central american to me if you're looking for a "pure" answer. But, like I said, BCI or Boa constrictor imperator. Nice "mini paper" there Seamus. And that was a very nice rainbow person I don't remember who's name. And Matt, whoever you are, don't try and show up Seamus like that, you'll just get walked over.

- Shane

PS i'm too lazy to put in italics...there i said it...

Originally Posted by VaranidGuy

Ok, obviously isn't a Boa constrictor constrictor, I would personally call it just a BCI, nothing more, nothing less. Doesn't look too central american to me if you're looking for a "pure" answer. But, like I said, BCI or Boa constrictor imperator. Nice "mini paper" there Seamus. And that was a very nice rainbow person I don't remember who's name. And Matt, whoever you are, don't try and show up Seamus like that, you'll just get walked over.

- Shane

PS i'm too lazy to put in italics...there i said it...

Shane getting walked on by some people just makes the back stronger. Opinions are the foundiation of any forum. I stood corrected and am man enough to say so....