BCC / BCI - Which is it????

[Invictus]

Hey all,

I've been noticing a serious conflict of species classification going on all over the net. Here's the impression I was under, and what I had read from what I considered to be reliable sources:

BCC - Common and Surinam boas.
BCI - Others, including Redtails.

But, I've been noticing a few places listing common boas as BCI. Can anyone clarify for me, and back up with some kind of scientific resource, what I should be referring to my common boa as? Is he a BCC (as I've been talking about him here), or are common boas BCI?

[Zoe]

"Common" boas, as they are called (Colombian Red-Tailed Boas) are BCIs, as are hog islands. There are BCC Colombian Red-Tailed Boas, but they arent very frequently found.

BCCs are called "True" red-tails, and include suranimes, guyanas, etc.

[Invictus]

Erg... ok, my boa is most definitely not a red-tail of any kind, but he is a "Common Boa Constrictor."

Here are a couple of pics. You'll see his tail has orange in it, but certainly not red.





So, based on the picture, and the fact that neither of his parents (I've met his parents) have any red in their tails, would he still be called a Columbian Redtail? (BCC?)

[Zoe]

That looks liked a BCI to me, a beauty though!

ColOmbian Red-Tailed boas are almost always BCIs, by the way.

And the term "red-tail" was coined by petstores, because way back when a "red-tailed boa" was far more apealing than a "boa constrictor". Some "red-tailed boas" don't have very much red at all.

Your's could be called a BCI (Boa Constrictor Imperator), a Colombian Red-Tailed Boa, a Common Red-Tailed Boa, or a Common Boa.

Zoe

[Infectrix]

Invictus,

I'll tell you what man, I've beat myself over the head many times over this topic trying to understand and still I don't understand boa constrictors..

Here's what helps me..
- They're ALL boa constrictors.
- I don't pay attention to the "red-tail, red-tailed" stuff.
- To me, they all start out as boa constrictors. Then as specific characteristics of a certain ssp. come out, I'll make a final conclusion as to what the snake is to me.
- Once I've figured out if it the snake is BCC or BCI, then I attempt to go with locality. I always use locality last. Most of the time I leave that out because who really knows where the damn snake came from.

Of course there are exceptions like a someone who actually traveled to South America and pulled a few snakes out from their actual locations in the wild, brought them back to the U.S. and bred them out.

Or someone who got their locality specific species specific snake from a breeder who brought them (or it's parents) back to the U.S.

If you look at a bunch of pics of BCC and BCI, you'll be able to differentiate them like Piebald and Axanthic in BP's.

I guess it's just one of those things that happen when a scientific name is the same as the common name.

[Zoe]

If you look at a bunch of pics of BCC and BCI, you'll be able to differentiate them like Piebald and Axanthic in BP's.

Actually, they can be very hard to differentiate! The only way to know for sure is to do a scale a count - and I've seen some BCCs that looked like BCIs and vice versa. But for the most part, yeah, they arent too hard to tell apart.

Zoe

[paul_le_snake]

lets not forget the good old central american and mexican BCI. there are (i think) 7 recognised locales of BCC. suriname, guyanese, peruvian, brazilian, venezuela, trinidad and colombia. but to say that u can differentiate as easily as ball python morphs can be confusing. all ball morphs are just that, they belong to the same species and need the exact same conditions and ease of breeding. different locales of BCC and BCI may have huge varying natural conditions, from arid grassland to dense tropical forest.
cheers
paul

[Zoe]

And lets not forget about BCOs!

Zoe

[Infectrix]

Zoe,

You're right, they can be hard to differentiate but when we decide to add a BCC to our collection, most of the time we have to deal with pictures. What would you and I look for? Pointy snouts, low saddle counts, widows peaks, "bat" saddles, dark 5 o' clock shadows, the infamous red red red tail.

Of course there are BCI that share these marks. Just going by that, a high percentage of the time, you'll end up with either a BCC or a one of a kind BCI with a BCC price..

Now as far as locale goes, ..

[Zoe]

the locale issue is a big debate... Are Guyanas actually any different than Suranimes? Asboth have been imported from both countries? Or are they the absolutely the same?

And lets not forget the school that says there are no Bci only variations of Bcc and that Bci will be eliminated. I have a tendency to lean this way myself, controversy and overlap on scale count, distribution, saddle count, and everything else makes a strong arguement that Bci is not a true species but only a Bcc variety.

[Invictus]

That would make things so much easier for me.

But, the consensus is that my snake is a BCI, not a BCC?

[Zoe]

Yessir!

[Linds]

In addition to what has been said above...

BCC were originally called redtailed boas. A few decades ago, dealers began applying the name "redtail boa" to the similar looking BCI in an attempt to make more money off them, as well know, BCC fetch a higher price. This is when BCC then had to be called "true redtails". Often when you see a snake advertised as a "rdtail boa" it is simply a BCI. BCI are NOT redtails! Would you call a Hog Isle a redtail? They are BCI as well. IMHO the term should be abondoned for both subspecies, it just creates too much confusion. Different subspecies shouldn't share the same common name. Its best to refer to them by their latin names, or simply locality and boa (ie- Guyanese Boa, Colombian Boa)... leave out the redtail

[Colonel SB]

My favs are B.c.l's mmmmm blue phase!