my new 100% het albino boa

[carciady]

http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu316/carciady/DSC00336.jpg

No name as yet, i just bought him today from a reptile show in doncaster. UK.

[sassamagoo]

Ok, so I'm new..... what exactly does 100% het albino boa mean? I mean, he doesn't look albino to me. My boa looks exactly like that, size, coloration, everything. Does that mean mine is an albino? Or is it a bloodline thing, meaning if you breed him you'll get albino's?

[carciady]

The photo does not do him justice, but yes its a blood line thing as you put it lol, his dad was a full albino. Im not shure about yours as I do not know its parents. I hope this helps.
All the best Ady

[Will0W783]

Carciady, nice boa! Sassamagoo, the 100% het albino would mean that one parent was albino and the other parent was normal. Since albino is a recessive gene, the albino parent would have to have two copies of the albino gene, thus one would be passed on to every offspring, making them all have one normal and one albino gene; thus, they are ALL heterozygous(het) for albino. Thus, there is a 100% chance that the boa is het for albino. If one parent was het and one parent was normal, there would be a 50% chance of the baby boas having an albino gene; thus, they would be 50% het albino. Once they've been bred to another het albino or an albino and produced at least one albino offspring, they are considered "proven out" hets. Hope that clears it up a bit for you. :)

[sassamagoo]

Thanks for the clarification Willow, yes that does clear things up. :)

[Will0W783]

No problemo!

[carciady]

Chears Willow, its the first snake I have had from a baby so quite excited.

[Will0W783]

Aww, that's great. I have a bunch of baby snakeys, and they're so precious- it'll be neat to watch them grow.

[carciady]

I have had him since sunday and I cant get him to eat yet. But I dont know the last time he fed. I will keep trying and then go to a 2 week routine.

[Will0W783]

Don't rush him. Oftentimes snakes take a few weeks to settle in. I've had snakes that ate the day after I got them, and others that wouldn't eat for a month after I got them. My advice would be to leave him alone for a week, don't try to feed him, let him acclimate. Then offer him an appropriately-sized meal (about the thickness of him at his thickest point) and go from there. When he is hungry, he will eat.

[carciady]

Many thanks Willow, he is a lovelly snake with an equally lovelly temprement. I will leave it a few days before trying again, the breeder I bought it off said it had been eating pinky mice but I was to feed it fluffy mice. He is about 18 inches long.