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Probably the most sought after and bred
boa on the world market today is the Albino Boa. Back in 1970
Dr. Bernard Bechtel published his opinion that it would be
better to call albino snakes "Amelanistic" rather than
"Albino". Amelanism meaning "lacking melanin"
or black pigment. In his 1995 book however, Dr. Bechtel,
after further research and breeding revised his previous
definition of Albino from Amelanistic to "having absent or
deficient melanin" There are two distinct forms of
Albino Boa. The T+ and the T- or caramel albino. It is a common
mistake to think that an albino animal is pure white in
coloration. Actually an albino animal can be multi-colored
including some shades of black and gray (T+ albino). In the T-
albino the base color is normally a shade of yellow,
sometimes with red or pink included.The saddles usually appear
to be reduced in size owing to the missing black
pigment that is now white. The tail blotches are either a shade
of red or white depending on the parental stock. The T+ albino
can vary considerably in coloration. As mentioned earlier
this form of albino can have some shades of black due to another
enzyme "dopaquinone" (more on this latter).
At the time of this writing there are three unique and
distinct forms of Albino Boa Constrictor Imperator on the
World Market today. The first one to be recognized was the
"Original or Kahl Strain". This was first
produced by Pete Kahl and makes up the majority of albino boas
on the market and in captivity. The second strain is known
as the "Sharp Strain" and was produced by Brian Sharp. Even though
these are both T- forms of amelanism they are evidently
linked to different genes or alleles. When both forms are bred
together, normal looking boas are the result. The third
form of albino boa is the "T+" or "Caramel
Albino". These are the newest form to enter the
market. They were originally produced, unintentionally at
a pet store in Texas, in 1997, by crossing two seemingly normal
animals.
Confused yet? (T+ or T-) The T stands for Tyrosinase, an enzyme
needed for the production of melanin. It catalyzes the first two
steps in the production of melanin. In step one the amino acid
"tyrosine" is turned into a compound called "dopa".
Step two turns "dopa" into "dopaquinone".
The dopaquinone then goes through a multi-step
process to produce melanin. The T- albino, not having Tyrosinase
can't initiate the first two steps toward the production of
melanin. Therefore it has no black pigment whatever.
T+ or caramel albino creates Tyrosinase and therefore starts the
first two steps in the production of melanin. After that the
process breaks down for lack of an enzyme. Each step in the
dopaquinone multi-step to melanin process requires a
different enzyme but which enzyme is lacking is not known. It's
been discovered that dopaquinone is also a precursor in the
production of other pigments as well. Dark gray, lavender gray,
dark yellow, red, brown, a nd even black are a few of the
tyrosine-based melanin-related pigments. Dopaquinone is itself
black, this is why a T+ or caramel albino can have shades of
black while producing no melanin at all.
Brian Sharp has produced a Surinam/Columbian or Boa Constrictor
Constrictor/Boa Constrictor Imperator Albino Boa cross. Brian is
asking twice as much for this new morph as his "Sharp
Strain". We believe the original or Kahl strain was
used in this cross. Most of the Albino crosses have been created
using the Kahl strain albino. This leaves all of these crosses
awaiting creation with the "Sharp Strain Albino".
If a sunglow boa is beautiful, how much more beautiful using the
Sharp Strain Albino? Very little has been done with the
Sharp strain, but we see this situation changed in the very
near future. The only question now is, will you be a part
of this or just sitting on the side lines watching it all happen.
We
are one of the few making available to the world this highly
prized and sought after form of the Albino Boa Constrictor. We
anticipate this morph to hold it's market price for years to
come.
Text by Steve Ori of A
Forgotten Realm
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