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albino coastal boa found !

R

Rob T

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Just thought I would share this unbelievably lucky story with you all.
A few weeks ago I was standing on my brothers front porch talking to him by cell phone watching the sun-set. After hanging up the sky was near dark. I thought to myself this feels like good boa weather. So I jumped into my car and headed for the local hills. After driving about 3 miles I headed up a steep hill that had many cars coming down. I didn't want to search this road so I turned off the first available road. I quickly slowed down and watched the shoulder. I drove a few hundred yards when something caught my eye on the shoulder. It didn't look right. I started to pull forward when I noticed it move. I got out walked over to it and looked down. I could see the outline of a junvenile boa with it's head going into a small bush. I reached down and picked it up. I looked at it under the headlights and thought that it was extremely light. I quickly got into my car and turned on the dome light. What I was seeing couldn't be real. I knew what I was looking at but I was afraid this was going to be a dream. I saw it flick it's pink tongue out. So I put the snake away and drove up the road in shock. Approximately 50 yards up the road I saw a large boa cruising the shoulder. I got out and picked him up. I was to elated to see this guy because he was the dark coastal color and confirmed for me that the juvenile was indeed an albino. I drove for just a little while longer before I couldn't take it anymore. I drove back to my brothers and showed him the incredible find. My firs Riverside boa ever and it's an albino.
 
I would like to discuss the details about this animal in a little more detail, and I would like to document the finding on my website if that is ok with you. Do you have any more pics of it? Please feel free to e-mail me at [email protected], and if you would like to talk on the phone, I can send you my # then. I look forward to hearing from you!
 
I'm proud to say that this is my best friend that found the albino. You've come a long way since our first Steens trip.

I miss you buddy.
 
yea, i want to see this snake, and you holding it! because i could have found a snow rosy going up my street(i live where they are native to hehe) but without a pic to prove it then it really didnt happen..... i sure wish i would find a snow. i would be very very happy...
 
"yea, i want to see this snake, and you holding it! because i could have found a snow rosy going up my street(i live where they are native to hehe) but without a pic to prove it then it really didnt happen..... i sure wish i would find a snow. i would be very very happy..."

Even if he does post a pic with him holding this snake, all it proves is that he is holding an albino snake. It does not prove he found it in the wild, or that he even owns it. I can post a pic of me with holding a snow rosy out at Whitewater, but it really does not prove anything beyond what you see in the picture.

I will say that I have very trustworthy friends that have seen the snake in person, and I have see pics, but I am still not convinced, as no one was actually there when he found it, and there is no way to verify it. Also, Rob just came out of nowhere. No one knows this guy from before this "find', but he apparently is an avid field collector, and he has supposedly been doing some hard core field collecting for many years. Of this I have no doubt, but I do doubt this story, and one of the main reasons is his total reluctance to answer any questions about this find, and his avoidance of my e-mails and phone calls. I am not that scary of a guy, but if this did not happen, I will find out.

One other thing that casts major doubt here is the fact that this snake looks to me like a Whitewater amel that has been plugged into a coastal rosy boa. It has normal eyes like the typical Whitewater amel. The "other" Coastal Boas, found not far from where he claims to have found his, are totally different looking Boas with bright red orange heavy patterns with red eyes. To me it looks like the Whitewater amel gene is responsible for this snakes pigmentation (or lack of it). Initially, I was going to document this find on my website, but I have changed my mind. I pulled what little info that I had, as I will not be a party to pulling some kind of hoax on the herp community. My gut tells me that this whole thing is just way to fishy, and I trust my gut.

Here are some pics of the actual specimen that were sent to me by from someone else that he sent them to, followed by a couple pics of a Whitewater amel that I have that looks similar but actually brighter.
 

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thats very tru, finding any albino is the wild is very slim chance as it is... but right on the side of the road in the hills??? thats gotta be like a 1/100000000000000000 chance


nice looking rosy's you posted
 
The first two pics that I posted are the actual snake in question. In other words, that is the snake that he claims to have found.
 
I guess I would I was thinking that if someone had found this snake and were so excited to post it on forums than they would be just as excited to post updates and any info they had on it, but I've been wrong before. Just can't remember when :rofl: .
Mark Westberg
 
snakeyman said:
yea, i want to see this snake, and you holding it! because i could have found a snow rosy going up my street(i live where they are native to hehe) but without a pic to prove it then it really didnt happen..... i sure wish i would find a snow. i would be very very happy...
Click to expand...

Oh he definitely has the albino he claims to have found. I have been to his house and seen it. He even left the mite on it he says that was on the snake at the time he found it. He seems like a really nice guy, and like previously stated is one super dedicated field herper with an amazing combination of luck and skill for finding Rosy Boas. But having only met him once I can't really vouch for him(not that my word means particularly anything).
 
Did I get that right. He brought a wild snake into his home and did not clean the mites off? That is just begging for an aweful infestation.
 
I only saw one mite, not mites. I asked him if he was going to extract it, he said no. He seemed to think it would help cooberate the fact that the snake was wild-caught. In all fairness, he told me about the mite before I saw the snake, so it's not like he made that up as a spare-of-the-moment excuse. He also showed me at least a dozen Rosys of various localities and I did not see a parasite one on any of the other snakes, and I was looking. All his snakes looked pretty healthy too.
 
I also purchased a SF male from him and the snake didn't have any mites on it, but I quarantined it anyway. The same snake is doing great. Like I said I really have no real idea if Rob is telling the truth or not having only met him once, but he didn't seem like a greedy scammer-type guy. He discounted the snake for me(his idea) because I missed him on our first scheduled meeting and had to make a 2nd trip, but the reason I couldn't make the first meeting was entirely my fault.
 
Salton Sea said:
I only saw one mite, not mites. I asked him if he was going to extract it, he said no. He seemed to think it would help cooberate the fact that the snake was wild-caught. In all fairness, he told me about the mite before I saw the snake, so it's not like he made that up as a spare-of-the-moment excuse. He also showed me at least a dozen Rosys of various localities and I did not see a parasite one on any of the other snakes, and I was looking. All his snakes looked pretty healthy too.
Click to expand...
The way you talk about extracting a mite sounds like you are actually referring to a tick.
Someone would not extract ONE mite, let alone leave ONE mite on a snake.
 
Dennis Hultman said:
The way you talk about extracting a mite sounds like you are actually referring to a tick.
Someone would not extract ONE mite, let alone leave ONE mite on a snake.
Click to expand...

Well tick then. The thing was so tiny, you could barely see it underneath the scale of the snake and the snake was little more than a baby.
 
I do not trust him. Things are not adding up. Well they actually are but it is not adding up to what he would have us believe. Like I said his absolute reluctance to answer any questions that I have for him tells me something.
 
sounds like BS to me....

anyone who would intentionally leave a tick on an animal to prove it was field collected deserves a lobotomy....... lol. I cannot stress that enough.

Then again, anyone can place a tick on a snake....... Looks to have the influence of a whitewater amel IMO. Again, this screams BS, and I seriously doubt this animal was field collected, no way in hell.
 
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