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Probably the most popular
and most frequently bred boa morph or mutation is the Amelanistic
or Albino boa. It is a common belief that all albinos are pure
white. This happens quite often in mammal species because they use
primarily black pigment in their coloring. Reptiles have a number
of other colors besides the black which is caused by the
production of melanin. So an Albino boa can have other colors
besides black. The t+ albino produces another enzym e which will
produce black like colors (refer to the albino history page
for more details on the genetics of albinos). There are
currently two t- and one t+ albino strains of the Boa Constrictor
Imperator on the world market. The first or orginal t-
albino was first produced by Pete Kahl. The second
t- albino strain was developed by Brian Sharp and is
considered by most the more sought after of the two.
The sharp strain seems to carry its' pattern and colors into
adulthood which the original strain doesn't. These two strains are
not compatable as it seems that the same alle isn't used to
disrupt the production of melonin. When bred together the result
is a clutch of normal looking babies that are het for both forms
of albino. This year, albinoboas.com, has produced the first Sharp
strain Albino Boas to ever be born here in Germany. We
are very proud of that fact.
The punnette
Square
The punnet square was
developed by R C Punnet in 1905 based on the work of Gregor Johann
Mendel, an Augustinian abbot in a monastery in Brunn,
Moravia, now the Czech Republic. Mendel chose the garden pea "pisum
sativum" to work out the laws of genetics. The
punnet square shows the possible allele pairing as well as giving
the probability of each pairing. In the following punnet squares
we give the resu lts of Albino, het, and normal phenotype (outward
appearence) crossing. Keep in mind that Mendel used thousands of
peas to work out his mathimatical statistics. Use the Punnet
Square as a rule of thumb. In the small amount of offspring
that we deal with in animals the results of the square are not
exact.
Father
|
Mother
A
|
a
|
|
A
|
AA
|
Aa
|
|
a
|
aA
|
aa
|
|
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Example 1:
Mother heterozygous for Amelanism Aa x
Father heterozygous for Amelanism Aa
Results:
1 - AA =
Homozygous for normal looking boa (25%)
2 - Aa =
Heterozygous for amelanism (normal looking boa
with recessive gene for albino 25% )
1 - aa =
Homozygous for amelanism (25%)
|
|
Father
|
Mother
a
|
a
|
|
A
|
Aa
|
Aa
|
|
a
|
aa
|
aa
|
|
|
Example 2: Mother
Amelanistic aa x Father Hererozygous for Amelanism
Aa
Result:
2 - Aa =
Heterozygous for Amelanism (having a recessive
gene for albino, 50%)
2 - aa =
Homozygous for Amelanism (Albinos 50%) |
|
Father
|
Mother
a
|
a
|
|
A
|
Aa
|
Aa
|
|
A
|
Aa
|
Aa
|
|
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Example 3:
Mother Amelanistic aa x Father normal boa AA
Result:
4 - Aa = Heterozygous
for Amelanism ( having a recessive gene for albino,
100%)
Remember,
these numbers can't be taken as exact but
more a rule of thumb for breeding results.
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Pro and Contra of Colorbreeding
Many people are against the
idea of producing animals in a color morph that would make the
animal unable to survive in the wild. The argument is that they
would either be spotted by their prey making it impossible for
them to hunt or that they would be more easily spotted by
preditors to the obvious end result. Most of the color morphs that
are bred today ie: Albino, Annerthristic, Hypomelanistic, etc. are
normal morphs that were discovered and captured in the wild as
adults. Th is proves their ability to survive in the wild. There
are some morphs that are nearly impossible for natural selection
ie: Snow boas and or most of the new double het produced animals.
As far as Boids are concerned if released into the wild in most
places that they are sold (temperate climates) as pets today, they
would not survive in any color morph including what is considered
the normal boa. These animals are from a tropical environment and
can't survive in our temps. We breed only the Boa Constri ctor
Imperator which varies considerably in appearance in the wild. We
feel our breeding results only improve and enrich our hobby
and the pet industry as a whole. Did you really think that the
common gold fish or white mouse are naturally occuring in numbers
in the wild? These are a perfect example of human intervention in
the selective breeding process and any farmer can tell you that
the production of the white or albino mouse hasn't lowered the
number of field mice in the world at all. This is just our opinion
as everyone else is entitled to theirs.
Text by Steve Ori of A Forgotten Realm
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