Boas and such.
Morti: Good Morning Jeff. Thanks for taking the time to interview with us today and my compliments on your business! I have always been impressed by the variety of boas you offer.
Jeff Ronne: Thank you.
M: My first question is about the White Boas and the Ivories. Your site is the only place that I have seen either of these morphs. Are you the only one to produce these beautiful snakes?
JR: I’m sure other people have produced a White Boa or two as well as an Ivory or two. The Whites and Ivories are not what I would call morphs but merely selectively bred Boas I have developed looking for particular characteristics. I’m sure a "white" Boa has popped out here and there and an Ivory or Pastel Anerythristic as well. The difference is I have set out to "develop" these particular types of Boas through selective breeding over a period of many years. I produced babies that looked like they had something or other I hoped to see more and or better of and bred them to another animal that showed the same type of characteristic if possible. This is selective breeding. I have always kept the lightest babies I produced and bahda bing bahda bang- "White Colombians". These come primarily from my "Susie" bloodline. I also have several other really light Colombians I have acquired over the years.
White Colombian Boas are out there. I am not the only one that has them to be sure but I have a number of animals that started out as "white" babies that have a greater likelihood of producing really light or white offspring. The "White" Colombians start out white not because of what they have so much as because of what they do not have. 1. They show very little red pigmentation in their basic ground color or pattern. They often have nice red in the tail though, which is nice. 2. Baby Boas show very little yellow pigmentation. These are the reasons they appear "white". Their color is not in yet. Most "White" Colombians turn kind of a buckskin color with age starting at about 3-5’. The smaller you keep them the less the yellow comes in. I am working on producing white Colombians that show less yellow with age but that is a very long-term project. I have had no less than 250 people ask to be notified when and if I have more of those little lovelies. I am hoping next year is a good year for them. I have four or five females from those bloodlines that should be in good shape to breed next year. This year I have but one small female gravid and hope we see great thing from her around the middle of May.
The same is true with the Ivories except of course the simple recessive trait of anerythrism. All other points regarding the selective breeding of these animals are the same. I’ll explain more about them shortly.
M: What are the genetics that are involved in the production of ivory boas?
JR: Ivory Boas are of course Anerythristic. Anerythristic means they lack all red pigmentation. Anerythrism is known to be a simple recessive trait that works identically to Albinism. Where the Ivories come from is an interesting story. About nine years ago a fellow gave me two large female Boas that had been at a Zoo for some ten years or so since they were babies. One of the females had a huge stump tail. It looked like the end of a huge dill pickle. Really! If you haven’t seen this before it was very weird. Anyhow, both females were about 8’ and thirty lb. each. The female with the stumpy tail I named "Stumpy". Very creative I know. Anyhow I tried and was successful in breeding both females the following year. Since the female, I mean "Stumpy" had this very unusual gray color I thought I would breed her to a very light male I had produced from my very first litter named "Jamie". I don’t name all my Boas any more but some of those most special to me I do. Anyhow Jamie was really light and so was she. In fact both had very gray and not very well colored tails but I liked them. You have to keep in mind at this time what people liked most in Boas was contrast. I have found that the greater the contrast in a particular Boa, the darker it will end up as a large adult by the way. So anyhow Jamie was very light and washed out. I knew other people liked contrast but I didn’t. I liked my Boas as light as possible and loved the washed out pattern I had on a number of my animals. I tried to produce what I liked not what everyone else liked. So Jamie fathered 32 babies with "Stumpy". Now when these babies were born, they were pretty bland. Very little color, just like Jamie and especially Stumpy… but after they shed! Wow! There were some of the most washed out looking light colored babies I had ever seen. I loved those babies. I kept five pair for myself. I am "The Boa Black Hole" in case you didn’t know that. I am my own best customer.
It wasn’t until a couple years after these guys were born that I saw an Adult Anerythristic for the very first time and it hit me! I have one of those at home! STUMPY! She was an Anerythristic and I didn’t even realize it until long after those babies were born.
So anyhow, I bred these babies back to each other and had the Ivories last year. Turns out they all were Pastels, showing very little black pigmentation and that washed out appearance, but very little color. Most folks looking for Pastels want pinks and oranges not the gray ones. Well the parents of the Ivories were the gray pastels most people wouldn’t have wanted anyhow even if I had identified it at that time. I sure am glad I kept most of those animals till now. I hope to be breeding male Ivories to their Moms or Aunties next year! There should be some unBOAlievable animals in those litters!
M: Hisba of Redtailboa.net wants to know if you have tried breeding the whites and the anerys to make whiter anerys.
JR: I have not worked the "Whites" into the Ivory thing yet but that is a good idea.
M: It seems that you are also the source of pastels. Tell us a little about your pastels.
JR: Well the story on the Pastels is similar to the Ivory thing. Didn’t know what I would end up with exactly but knew that I liked the washed out animals that showed lots of color. Kept the best… sold the rest… and bahda bing bahda bang… Pastels. Actually identified them as unique when I received my first Hypos about five years ago. Many of my babies had the same washed out pattern while having far superior color to the hypos at that time. Now with Super Hypos you finally can get Hypos that look really good and seem to stay that way. Pastels look their best at 4-6’ normally.
I think the Pastel trait is far more common that most people realize. Pastels are Boas that have far less than the "normal" amount of black pigmentation throughout the entire animal. This is most evident in the side blotches, which can be very washed out or inconspicuous because of this lack of black color. What folks like most in the Pastels are the pinks and oranges that come through because the diminished black. Removing part of the black enables the color, which is already there, stand out better. The Pastel trait is much like skin color in humans. Darker colors are dominant over light colors and the same is true in Boas. The lighter color the parents of a litter of Boas is the lighter those babies will tend to be. There are a lot of Pastels out there now and more folks will be breeding them as the years go by. Doug Matuzak of the "Boa Basement" has bred one with a Hypo producing superior Hypos as he will tell you and Erich Gaertner, of "Strickly Boas" fame, has bred them as well for even better Pastels which I have five of myself. These get a little better with each generation. Can’t wait to see what I have next.
M: What do you do with the adults (both normal and het) once a morph line is established?
JR: I am "The Boa Black Hole" so mostly I keep my adults. It’s hard to part with animals. My obsession is alive and well. Keep in mind the Pastel trait does not produce "hets". It is a genetic trait to be sure but not what I would call a mutation.
M: What breeding project are you most excited about right now?
JR: Right now I have about 15 of the best Pastels and others that I have raised up slowly that will be breeding this next year. I have a bunch of "Screamer Hypos", which are Pastel and Hypo both I produced last year, that I plan on breeding next year to produce a ton of lovely babies. We will see what happens but I am very optimistic about next year. This year will be a good one but not like next year.
M: Is there anything that we can look forward too from the Boaphile Reptiles in the future?
JR: I am just about to decide to do the next video. This one will be on general care, genetics, sexing, setting up caging… etc… I will be breeding the next generation of "Fine Lines" next year as well. I get weak in the knees when I think about what sort of stuff might be coming next…
http://www.boaphileplastics.com
M: I have to admit, this is the section that I am most excited about… Finally, a cage that is lightweight, strong, and not too expensive. Where did you get the idea for the design of these cages?
JR: I am a Cabinetmaker and have been for 14 years. I was the most experienced guy at the shop where I worked for those 14 years and would "engineer" the structural design aspects of special cabinetry to ensure the long-term stability of that cabinetry. I have used these "engendering" skills in developing this lightweight beautiful functional cage I am constructing today. I could have gone into the melamine cage business any time I wanted to but never did so because I didn’t think melamine was or is a good material to use in cages. Considering the fact that I have well over 100 of them I ought to know. I would only go into a cage business I could be proud of and could stand four square behind.
A friend of mine in Iowa, Rob Tudehope, invented a cage using a special type of plastic a number of years ago and suggested that I think about making them and go into business. I never did it. He suggested to another fellow in Iowa who did and now has a large plastic cage company himself using the same material and basic design that Rob did.
This past summer, while on a long drive, I decided to think about the cage business. I wondered if there was another plastic I could use to make a cage unlike anything else available that would be everything I thought folks would like in a cage. I then, before then, and now did not want to be anything like anyone else. I love being different. Some would say weird. I would say unique. I have been blessed with a "Knack factor" way higher than average and developed the lightest weight cage available today in a wide range of colors! After hundreds of hours of trial and error and thousands of dollars in investment "Boaphile Plastics" is here!
M: What type of plastic are they made of?
JR: The plastic is a PVC type plastic.
M: Is that acrylic door anti glare like the acrylic glass you can get for picture framing?
JR: The acrylic is ¼" thick but I am not sure if it is "anti-glare" or not. I don’t think so. Seems pretty shiny to me just like glass.
M: If I ordered one of the cages that are too big to be readily shipped via UPS, what would shipping cost me (either to my door or to a neighboring business)?
JR: I am still working on a shipper to handle shipping larger boxes all over the country. This is a tough part of the business. It doesn’t matter how experienced I am at cabinet making or how high my "knack factor", I just don’t have any control over the shipping cost part of my business but I am working on it…
M: Do you need anyone to, err, test them a bit? I’d be glad to volunteer for that. I’d pay shipping and everything.
JR: Thanks Morti! There’ll be a huge "handling" charge on all those cages.
M: How long do you expect it to be before the big cages are ready for retail sale?
JR: I am planning on shipping my first larger cage within the month. I will post it on my web site when it is a go and will notify anyone who asks to be added to the email list as soon as I have things worked out.
M: Boaphile on the road. What shows do you plan to attend in the next few months with your cages and snakes?
JR: I have been to the "Lee Watson" Streamwood Ill swap a couple times recently but do not have any immediate plans to attend any of the larger yearly shows at this time. I may change my mind quickly but we will have to see.
JR: One last thing. I think all this should be fun. I don’t want to do anything that isn’t fun. My web sites are a little goofy or weird like me, and that is because I like to have fun. Never let it be said that "The Boaphile" was average. Never ever!
M: Thanks for you time, Jeff. Keep us posted on every aspect of your business!
JR: Thank you Morti!
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