• Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

    =====================
    Posted 08/15/2025
    =====================


    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

    =====================
    Addendum: 01/10/2026
    =====================


    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

bad eye albino

D

dhserps

New member
Joined
Jun 3, 2004
Messages
185
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
SouthWest Florida
i have questions im considering purchasing a couple albinos w ith a bad eye one to breed to hypo one to breed to another albino or anery how would this effect when i breed the offspring of the hypo bred to the albino back to get sunglows i read the post on here but i just had specific question since i was using the hypo to put new blood in the offspring
 
Avaliable evidence at this point strongly suggests that eye deformities associated with albinism in Boa constrictor are genetic. The albinism itself is not the likely cause, but it's believed that a genetic eye deformity was introduced fairly early into the Khal strain and has since surfaced.

From a moral standpoint, albino boas which are expressing an eye deformity should not be bred. Their siblings should not be bred. Their parents should not be bred. All utilizing these animals in a project of any kind, even (especially) outcrossing them to create snows will do is spread and encourage the deformity, even if the offspring do not directly express it.
 
I agree with Seamus. You might save a few $ initially by buying those animals at a discounted price, but this will only create problems for you in the future. You will never be able to know when the problem will surface in your animals (and it will). You will be seling offspring that will have the deffect (thus creating a bad name for yourself). You will also sell animals apparently normal but carrying the genetic deffect and thus perpetuating the problem. Let's put it this way, I would stay away from them even if they were free, even the the price you will pay is way too high.

Regards.
 
B.s.

Misinformation to the fullest. I was on the same boat until I spoke with Doug M. From the Boa Basement. The only albinos he deals with are sharp strain. He says that the eye deformites are tied up somewhere in the albino strain and pop up randomly. He has them in his sharp strain and any large albino boa breeder has them. Rich ihle whole sales his to bob clark to sweep them under the rug as if they don't exist. The one eyed thing isn't simple recessive and if you breed enough albinos of either line you will produce them. A few large breeders even have one eyed and no eyed boas as breeders.
 
Morgan,

I'm going to assume what you just said was a joke. Even if it was Rich or Bob would probably not like it at all.

Thanks.
 
No1snotsucker said:
Misinformation to the fullest. I was on the same boat until I spoke with Doug M. From the Boa Basement. The only albinos he deals with are sharp strain. He says that the eye deformites are tied up somewhere in the albino strain and pop up randomly. He has them in his sharp strain and any large albino boa breeder has them. Rich ihle whole sales his to bob clark to sweep them under the rug as if they don't exist. The one eyed thing isn't simple recessive and if you breed enough albinos of either line you will produce them. A few large breeders even have one eyed and no eyed boas as breeders.
Click to expand...

I'm confused about what boat you WERE on and which one you are on now. Are you saying that you were on the boat with Seamus, but now that you say all the big breeders do it so it's okay, or what. Please clarify.
 
I'm with John on this one. On the other hand if eye abnormalities pop-up in albinos almost 99% of the time, there goes your randomness theory. It's hard to believe Doug Matuzak told you that. On the other hand it's even harder to believe that Bob Clark would be looking forward to receive albino boas with deffective eyes. Your blanket statement:

A few large breeders even have one eyed and no eyed boas as breeders.
Click to expand...

is offensive at best, and should be claryfied if you have verifiable information of what you are saying.

Thanks.
 
I'd like to see what the available genetic data is for these eye abnormalities. As yet, I've seen none of it. For what it's worth, I've seen eye abnomalities in a litter of wild-bred timber rattlesnakes. Small and missing eyes have turned up in a variety of captive bred reptiles, not just boa constrictors.

Feeding trials with a variety of domestic animals (trout, pigs, chickens, others) have shown that borderline vitamin deficiencies in the parents produce a variety of congenital defects in the offsprings' skeleton, skin, nervous system, etc. Vitamin A deficiency in pigs can cause missing eyes. (See Lee Russell McDowell's Vitamins in Animal Nutrition.)

I wish someone would raise a pair of albino boa constrictors with one or both eyes missing on a low fat, vitamin fortified diet and then breed them. The result might help give us a handle as to whether the problem is genetic or environmental.
 
I'm sorry if I ruffled anyones feathers. I'll try to answer some questions of yours. I orginally like any normal person was totally freaked by one eyed albinos and wanted to get as outcrossed blood as possible from those. For Dan I'm not saying it's cool to breed one eyes and no eyes, but I'm not lynching anyone for doing it either. I did speak with Doug on the phone becuase I'm getting some boas from him here in a couple of weeks. Matter of fact I'm paying for them today. Anyways, we got on the one eyed albino subject and he told me those things. Now I was blown away at first but you have to take into account this guy has been around for a long time and is one of the top producers of boas in the world. I would also be willing to bet he produces more sharp strains than anyone, but I'm not 100% on that. Just to go over it again I was trying to say the eye deformites are somehow intertwined in the albino genes. I'm not talking about normals.

Try not to get to angry now, but if you have a huge problem with this info buy a snake from doug and shot the breeze with him about it. He's a really cool guy. Or just ignore the thread like it never happened.

Regaurdless have a good day.
 
The problem is that the eye abnormalities in BCI have shown 99% in albinos. I
have yet to see one ad showing any other boa showing eye problems.

And yes, you are right. Vitamin A deficiency will lead to eye defects, including
blindness. That's why livestock require vitamin A to be added to their diet to
avoid such problems. Boas on the other hand obtain their vitamin A from the
liver deposits contained in their prey items. You lost me with your rationale
behind the need for a low fat diet. Fat is required for normal absorption of
vitamin A (fat soluble vitamin) and it's metabolites.
 
paulh said:
I wish someone would raise a pair of albino boa constrictors with one or both eyes missing on a low fat, vitamin fortified diet and then breed them. The result might help give us a handle as to whether the problem is genetic or environmental.
Click to expand...
As was mentioned in the previous post. Why is it almost exclusive to Albinos? I believe if it was something as simple as a vitamin deficiency, that there would be an even greater occurance of one eyed/no eyed normals, since more of them are produced.
 
Ambient light, even at low intensities, can cause irreversible degeneration of
the retina in albino rats. They apparently need 12-h cycles of light and
darkness to decrease the incidence of the problem. A 24-hour period of
continuous light will cause some damage, and after several weeks of continuous
exposure, there is complete degeneration of the retina leading to blindness.
Maybe we should learn from this, and maintain albino boas under lower intensity
light, and by no means use incandescent lamps for heating purposes. Of course
this does not address the problem of the inherited condition whereas animals
are born blind or even with the absence of one or both eyes. One other thing,
please don't fall for the traumatism story; albino boas are not that "dumb" to
suffer ocular accidents so frequently. :)
 
The BoidSmith said:
The problem is that the eye abnormalities in BCI have shown 99% in albinos. I
have yet to see one ad showing any other boa showing eye problems.
Click to expand...

Perhaps albinos need more than a normal does to develop properly.

One thing that I have wondered was whether both Kahl and Sharp albinos show eye abnormalities or whether it was restricted to the Kahl strain.

The BoidSmith said:
And yes, you are right. Vitamin A deficiency will lead to eye defects, including
blindness. That's why livestock require vitamin A to be added to their diet to
avoid such problems. Boas on the other hand obtain their vitamin A from the
liver deposits contained in their prey items. You lost me with your rationale
behind the need for a low fat diet. Fat is required for normal absorption of
vitamin A (fat soluble vitamin) and it's metabolites.
Click to expand...

It might not be vitamin A deficiency but some other deficiency. The vitamin A deficiency was simply an example. Or boas' normal diet in the wild might include more vitamin A than they get from the diet of rodents that we usually feed them.

As for the fat, I'm not aware of any good studies on the proportion of different prey in boa constrictor diets in the wild. At least some prey, like iguanas, would tend to be considerably leaner than the rodents we feed the snakes.

Unfortunately, I have a lot more questions than answers. :shrug01:
 
Paul,

I have yet to see advertised one Sharp albino with eye deformities. But we also have to remember that the Kahl strain has been in the market for quite longer and thus there has been more line-breeding taking place.

As far as having more questions than answers, welcome to the club! :)
 
The problem is that the eye abnormalities in BCI have shown 99% in albinos. I have yet to see one ad showing any other boa showing eye problems.
Click to expand...

I just looked at a CB jungle BCI on Friday. One of the jungles in the litter had one eye larger than the other. It was very noticeable. The guy is not selling that one but it was the first time I had seen a BCI with one eye larger than the other eye on anything other than an albino.
 
An anomaly every now and then is possible, as with any other species. The problem is when it shows-up consistently in one particular strain of that species. The lack of melanin in albinos does not protect the retina. That’s probably why they may be more susceptible to turn blind even when born with normal eyesight. A different issue altogether is congenital eye deformities or even animals born without one or both eyes. A similar problem using rats as an animal model is called inherited retinal degeneration. It’s also an hereditary trait that affects humans as well. The only solution we seem to have with albino boas is to avoid inbreeding as much as possible and never use animals with notorious eye defects in our breeding projects. But how do we convince someone who has produced such animals not to sell them at a discounted price? How do we convince the brokers not to sell in turn? We all have seen ads where the animal is advertised as having had a trauma in the eye early in life..."a rat bit him in the eye". We always ask ourselves why so many nigerian scams keep showing up. The answer is because there is people that still fall for them. Why do albinos with eye deformities show-up in the ads? Simply because there is a market for them.
 
This is a much larger problem then most people want to admit or believe.

As time goes on, the results of breeding these animals multiplies exponentially.
However, the larger problem here is the passing on of the genetics through siblings that probably carry this defective gene, but do not display it.

They are even more likely to contaminate breeding projects, then their one-eyed siblings. Conscientious breeders who would never allow a one-eyed animal to reproduce, may be unknowingly passing on this same genetic material through the breeding of their siblings.

With all of the morphs being produced, the eye deformity issue can (and most likely already has) spread well beyond the albino boa.

A little disturbing, isn't it!
 
I can't comment on other morphs, but yes albino are now off my wishlist. After hearing some of these practices I'll now opt out of the albino thing. I was familiar with the eye deformities in albinos but somehow thought breeders of the past had learn't from their mistakes--Breeding a deformity over won't make it go away, deforms should be culled!
 
Back
Top