Questions regarding Hondurans

[tarantulakeeper]

I have a few questions regarding Honduran boas. I purchased a female last September from Primeval Beauty and am very pleased with her. I have been searching classifieds off and on for a male and now how some questions regarding the species.

1. I've spent some time at biogenitics.com (very informative) and I have a question for Mike. You list roatan boas on the locality list, but not Hondurans. Are these two one-in-the-same?
2. Are fire-belly Hondurans the same as Roatans?
3. In the tarantula keeping community, talk of hybrids is very frowned upon. I'm wanting to find a male that is the exact same as the female I have, yet am confused by the common names. Since these locality boas are all variants of bci, is breeding a Nicraguan to a Honduran considered taboo? Seems to me it would be, but I've not been around long enough to get a sense of how mixes are viewed.
4. Is species (or subspecies) identification of locality boas come down to trusting the seller? I see some visual differences, but do not trust that method of id. In other words, when I do find a male Honduran, I trust the seller's word (and reputation) that it is indeed a Honduran, not a Nicaraguan or some other locality boa.

Thanks for your help. Someday I really would like to find the right mate for my girl. John

 

[extreme_bci]

1. I've spent some time at biogenitics.com (very informative) and I have a question for Mike. You list roatan boas on the locality list, but not Hondurans. Are these two one-in-the-same?
2. Are fire-belly Hondurans the same as Roatans?
3. In the tarantula keeping community, talk of hybrids is very frowned upon. I'm wanting to find a male that is the exact same as the female I have, yet am confused by the common names. Since these locality boas are all variants of bci, is breeding a Nicraguan to a Honduran considered taboo? Seems to me it would be, but I've not been around long enough to get a sense of how mixes are viewed.
4. Is species (or subspecies) identification of locality boas come down to trusting the seller? I see some visual differences, but do not trust that method of id. In other words, when I do find a male Honduran, I trust the seller's word (and reputation) that it is indeed a Honduran, not a Nicaraguan or some other locality boa.


#1 No, Roatans Island boas and the mainland Hondurans are different boas.
#2 Yes, the Roatans Island boas are the true fire-bellies.
#3 I would really not consider breeding a Nicraguan with a Honduran.
#4 You can really see the difference between a Honduran and a Nicaraguan but you can not see if it is pure or not so when it really comes down to it you really have to trust the seller. I would not really worry about getting a pure Nicaraguan but it might be hard to find a pure Honduran boa.

I hope this helps you.

Thanks, Josh

 

[Mike Greathouse]

1. I've spent some time at biogenitics.com (very informative) and I have a question for Mike. You list roatan boas on the locality list, but not Hondurans. Are these two one-in-the-same?
2. Are fire-belly Hondurans the same as Roatans?
3. In the tarantula keeping community, talk of hybrids is very frowned upon. I'm wanting to find a male that is the exact same as the female I have, yet am confused by the common names. Since these locality boas are all variants of bci, is breeding a Nicraguan to a Honduran considered taboo? Seems to me it would be, but I've not been around long enough to get a sense of how mixes are viewed.
4. Is species (or subspecies) identification of locality boas come down to trusting the seller? I see some visual differences, but do not trust that method of id. In other words, when I do find a male Honduran, I trust the seller's word (and reputation) that it is indeed a Honduran, not a Nicaraguan or some other locality boa.

Thanks for your help. Someday I really would like to find the right mate for my girl. John

Josh covered it very well, let me just clarify a couple of points.

1. Just to clarify: boagenetics.com. No they are not the same, The locality list is one of the areas of the site that is still very much incomplete.

2. Fire Bellies are a term that was coined by Dennis Sargent for his line of Roatans. They exhibit very bright red/orange ventrals. Not all Roatans exhibit this to the same degree. In fact, not all of Dennis' animals exhibited this to the same degree.

3. Not a recommended pairing.

4. With all that has gone on with boas in just the last ten years, you are trusting reputation in almost any purchase. There are a lot of "mutts" out there. As fire as Roatans versus Hondurans, in many cases, they are difficult to distinguish. The mainland animals (Hondurans) tend to get a little larger and are usually a little less colorful, but this is not a steadfast rule. There are exceptions in both directions.

Thanks,

 

[tarantulakeeper]

Thank you both, Josh and Mike. In your opinions, would a breeding of my Honduran female to a Roatan male produce 'mutts' or are they close enough to be considered the same for breeding purposes? If I read your post correctly, Mike, they are different and if I'm interested in staying within the species, I need to find a 'mainland' Honduran.


Or....it would be fine to breed to a Roatan male as long as the offspring are identified as coming from the two different parents.

John

 

[Junkyard]

It is always good to have the true identites of the parent snakes, that is good business. They are different, so breeding the two species would produce a "mutt", though they are closely looking snakes. I would love to find some from the island of Roatan, but so few have them and importing is rare from what I have learned. So yes you would need to find a mainland Honduran.

If you do come accross any Roatans please let me know. Until then I am sticking with my Hondurans.

This is very similar to the Suriname and Guyana Boas disscussion.