Guyana/Suriname B.c.c.

[Darryl Nagy]

I have been pondering this and wanted to see what more experianced boaphiles think about this issue Gus this means you.

Now we all see Guyana B.c.c. and Suriname B.c.c. for sale but these two countries share a common border, and from maps I've looked at there is no real natural barrier between them. So I guess my point is weather it's called a Guyana or Suriname really depends on which side of the border the snake was caught on? or does the boa community at large just mean a typical phenotype and have called one Guyanan and the other Suriname. It's funny because you can look at a B.c.c. and say thats a Suri or that one is a Guyanan but that doesn't nessicarily mean thats where the snake was collected.

So I guess what I'm getting at is are we just calling the particular snake by a trade name or is one phenotype more common in Suriname then Guyana because I know snakes don't care about man made borders.

	Suriname Redtail Boa Red Tail Boa Constrictor (Boa constrictor constrictor) from the locale of Suriname. Considered to be a "True" Red Tail.

[pcncb]

I'm not sure but I believe many people sell a boa as a Suri based on what actual boas collected from Suriname look like. Is there any real difference in scale count between constrictor collected in Guyana and Suriname?

	Suriname Redtail Boa Red Tail Boa Constrictor (Boa constrictor constrictor) from the locale of Suriname. Considered to be a "True" Red Tail.

[Darryl Nagy]

As far as I kn ow there is no scale count difference between the two, they are both B.c.c. just from a different country but those counries share a common border.

[SNAKEWISPERER]

I read a story that years ago suriname closed the export of reptiles so people just started carrying there snakes across the border as started selling them as guyanas. Now they can export in suri again, so we have suris again. I don't know how true this is but thought I would add. Maybe someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

	Suriname Redtail Boa Red Tail Boa Constrictor (Boa constrictor constrictor) from the locale of Suriname. Considered to be a "True" Red Tail.

[RioBravoReptiles]

Taxonomically speaking 'Suriname redtail' and 'Guyana redtail' are meaningless or interchangeable terms. Locality of origin is easily and definitively defined; "Where it came from".
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Many people say they see little difference between the two populations. For whatever reason a few vocal people actually campaign against there being any distinctions made between them. It's an interesting subject but the controversy has it's roots in marketing and pricing more than practically anything else.
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A nice Suriname boa sells for more than a Guyana snake (not the fault of the snakes! it's because of the thousands of wild-collected and farmed Guyana boas, many in very poor condition dumped in our market).. And in a larger sense, also because a boa of any known locality, Suriname, Guyana, Brazil, Costa Rica, Mexico, Colombia, et-al will practically always command a higher price than a similar one of unknown or mixed origin. This is the engine, so-to-speak that drives the un-ending debates. Boas of known origins do enter the country, many come in without that info. Ultimately perhaps the locality market is akin to the stock-market, it pays off because people play the game by the rules and believe in it's worth.
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Continuing; my favorite (but least popular) answer about the differences between boa locales is something like this; can't see any difference? look closer! To the readers who don't take me seriously I can point out that at the top of this Boa forum main page there is a post where in a short time nearly 1000 people have gone to find out if their boa is constrictor constrictor or constrictor imperator or contribute to the subject.. There are a lot of people who for whatever reason have not yet come to appreciate some of the more subtle differences between boas and that includes redtails of Guyana and Suriname. We are all still learning..
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There's an 'official' statement on the specific issue of Suriname and Guyana boa looks in my webpage. It won't satisfy the people who want an A,B,C, 1,2,3 formula for telling the two locales apart but here's that link:
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Rio Bravo Reptiles: Suriname Red-Tails
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By the way, that's Lampropeltis alterna in your avatar photo? There are serious and experienced people who value the info of what side of the highway those snakes may have originated from! .. wanting to keep Suriname boas and Guyana boas as seperate as possible is hardly a nutty or unique idea.

[Darryl Nagy]

I couldn't agree more about the alterna issue I think it's crazy because you can get both blairs and alterna phases out of one clutch. I had always held the oppinion that the market term Guyana & Suriname was merly a way to express different phenotype of the same boa. Like the with alternas its the same snake just a different look and want to get everyone elses oppinion on the idea.

[trendkill]

Originally Posted by RioBravoReptiles

Continuing; my favorite (but least popular) answer about the differences between boa locales is something like this; can't see any difference? look closer!

Amen to that.