Day 112 !!! They are here!!!

[The_Boaphile]

Well at least I could just stop once this next litter comes.

I have been trying to breed the best Pastel I have for years. Here she is:

http://theboaphile.com/uploads/8ftpastel.JPG

She is a full 8' and 35 lbs. She is 10 years old and I have been trying to breed her forever it seems like. Except for the last two years, she had a mysterious skin ailment, she has had the absolute best of the best work her over for years. Five years ago she had an Albino all over her when she looked like she was just about to ovulate, but then she shrank back down. Well, who should I have bred her with this year? The absolute best most intensely red male Pastel of course. He has been the one I used with her in the past whenever he was willing. The trouble is he hasn't wanted to breed every year. He too is 10 years old and has never produced a single baby. He has courted about half of his last 8 years but never gotten the job done. This year he was relentless. All over her day and night since the middle of December. He climbed off about two weeks ago. She has been huge in the back end for a month. I have been biting my nails forever it seems like, and... finally! Tonight! Her first ovulation! I can't believe it! Somebody pinch me! I just hope everything goes textbook and we have those babies in four months. Now the waiting begins!

Here is another picture I took of her about three years ago:

http://theboaphile.com/uploads/bigcornerpastel6.JPG

Wish me luck!

Jeff Ronne
The Nearly Retired Boaphile

[ratman]

Good luck! And don't scare the crap out of me like that ever again! I thought there had been some type of tradgedy! And we ALL know you could never quit!:'(

[denny_rimes]

Well at least "the streak" has not ended for you this year.....What is it for you now....at least one litter of boas every year for the past 20 years? Now THAT is going to be a tough record to beat.

I hope you have your camera ready when that girl delivers.......those babies will be a sight to behold!

Denny ;D

[goofykid87]

holy crap Jeff...lol i was worried for a sec too...lol. Now, i've seen the female (and she is gorgeous)...but may we see the male too? ;D

[coldjoe]

I wish you the best of luck Jeff :'( and she is awesome :'(

[Randy_T.]

Thats some awesome news.. So are you just trying to gloat and show us the potential momma to be that you won't share the babies from? lol. If she throws they should all be awesome..


Good luck. :'(

[germ]

Best of luck on her breeding and like the ohters said.............
............Don`t scare me like that. I still have the hope that someday I will be able to buy at least on epastel from you :'(
Germ :P

[Boamatic]

Jeff... lol... You scared me too man! I was so worried when I opened the post but now I am extremely happy for you... Congrats and Good Luck! I will keep my fingers crossed for you!!!

So, there might actually be a couple kids from that litter available in 2007...lol!
I hope your patience pays off huge with that one!!
Good luck!
It's just my opinion, but from the pictures I've seen, the mother of the scarlet hypos looks better than that girl...

[najt]

*grrr*

i just wondering what happens? i thought you got a nuclear bomb or something in you snakeroom...

but you got a FAT girl :) she is big like a nuclear explosion...


GOOD LUCK! Keep us updated!


regards

// andreas
www.reptilia.tk

[Unas-TheSlayer]

Good Luck Jeff.  That girl looks amazing... a totally pink face and intense undertone.  I was hoping you were going to say that special little pastel dreams albino male you have with the intense color bred her.  Hows that guy developing?  Id love to see update pics of him.  

[The_Boaphile]

P.O.S.: 4/4/05
Due Date: 7/18/05

[Dr._Klopson]

Sweet stuff!!!! Good work boss.

[The_Boaphile]

Update!

She is holding the right temps but so far is not very large at all. I just hope I don't loose her. She is loosing a lot of weight, which is normally a good sign, but she isn't getting larger like she should be. She won't eat either. Bummer. It is still possible that we could get a good litter from her but I am not sure at this point. You can't always know for sure. I'll just hope for the best.

[Panama_Red]

Good luck with her Jeff, maybe she just isn't showing as much because she's so big already..

[E.S._Tropicals]

Jeff..she is gorgeous, if she never produced and I had her, I would just love keeping such a gorgeous animal, I do hope you get some babies from her sooner or later, especially bred by another nice looking pastel, those babies will be killers.

Amelia

[denny_rimes]

Since this was her first ovulation, hopefully she is merely carrying a smaller litter. As big as she is, a smaller litter might not show quite as much.

I bet she has just a few really healthy babies for you! Good luck with her Jeff!

Denny ;D

[The_Boaphile]

Well here we are at day 87 and she looks just about dead. Not really but she is so skinny it's very sad. She is doing everything right though. Sitting in the heat conservation position and collecting all the heat she can all the time. I don't know though. Over the years I have lost, I believe, four gravid females. Each one just about 1-2 weeks before they were due. They all died I believe due to exhaustion. The refusal to eat and the loss of weight through the gestation period was just too much for them. I had not tried to breed this female for the last two years because she had a skin condition and was not eating regularly. Then she started eating like crazy again and her skin was perfect. She was nice and plump ready to have a wonderful litter of little ones. So I figured I'd give her a try finally. She is about 12 years old. Well she just looks terrible now. She is skin and bones in the front half and still pretty round in the rear half. I think the fact that it has taken so much out of her must mean a litter of babies but will she make it? I don't know. I am really really hoping she will as she is one of the best Pastels I have ever seen. The male that bred her is the second best male Pastel I have ever seen. Really really pink. Time will tell and if those babies do come out, I will be one really really happy boy. Then I just hope she eats again like a champ so I can get some weight on her. She is just such and awesome animal and really one of the very best I have ever produced. Time will tell...

[Unas-TheSlayer]

Good luck with her Jeff! I'll keep my fingers crossed for ya (and her).

[Paradigmboas]

Jeff can't you tube feed her a raw egg mixture or something similar to keep her alive and strengh up? I wouldn't be worried about the babies right now I would be worried about keeping this beautiful 12 year old girl alive. If you can get some liquid food down her that should keep her going until she gives birth...after that chances are she will start eating on her own. What do you think? I know that tube feeding gravid wild imports have helped keep a few alive and going until birth....why wouldn't this work for her? I wish her well.

[Paradigmboas]

A B-12 shot would also be a good idea.

[Trueredtails]

Hey Jeff if you think your going to loose her may I suggest tubing some amino acids into her. I have been using amino acids for a few years now with boas that will not eat and that are thin. It started with a female suri that had not eaten for 6 months, I thought every day when I opened the snake room I would find her dead. I forced a 1800mg amino acid down her throat and within a week she had ate a small rat. Her skin got shiny and her color improved by the second day. She was so thin that you could see her ribs and her spine, she looked so bad but today she is one of my best boas, eats every time and never has any problems.

I have used amino acids on a few boas now with no ill effect and every time I have used it the boa would gain weight, appitite would increase, over all energy of the boa would increase, and there skin would lighten up and get shiny.

Good luck with your girl Jeff, I hope she makes it.

-Dylan Keays

[Dr._Klopson]

Shes gonna pull threw Jeff! I cant FEEL it man! :'(

[thunder]

I've actually also had great success using amino acids on snakes with a whole variety of problems, from really sickly animals that won't eat and just need to get some fuel to fight infection, to picky eaters who are otherwise healthy and fresh imports who start slow.

[son_of_the_serpent]

its so kool wen u wake up in the morning and smell the sweet sweet smell of fresh hypo babies :'(

[Boamatic]

Like Dr_Klopson said... She is going to pull through... I to can feel it... I wish you and her the best of luck jeff...

[The_Boaphile]

Today is day 100. So far so good.

[ratman]

Oh yeah! We should be looking at pics within the week! :'(

[MissAddicted]

Mr. Ronne, I sincerely hope & pray she'll pull through it for you & not only give you some beautiful babies, but get fat n' sassy again quick.

[louie]

One more day Jeff!!How is she doing?

[The_Boaphile]

You are correct. Day 104 after the P.O.S. and she is on the move. Looking good so far. She is going to look terrible after having these puppies. I'll have to take a photo of her so you can see how skinny she had gotten. I am still hoping for the best Pastels of my career!

[louie]

Best of luck to you.I hope to see Momma and babies doing well in the next few days.

Good lucky Jeff.Hope every thing works out for you.Off the topic I got one of your male Ivory Pastel Dream Anerythristic from you from your 2003 litter.He is doing great.I love him.His name is Lennox.I will post photos of him soon.

[najt]

Iam very curious to see some killer babies :)


Good luck!

// andreas
www.reptilia.tk

[louie]

How`s she doing Jeff?

[The_Boaphile]

Day 107 today and still nothing. She is moving around a lot and keeps going under the paper making me worry. Time will tell...

[najt]

WOOW :) Tonight something going to happen i think :)

// andreas
www.reptilia.tk

[dberes]

Whats the weather forecast saying out there? Any rain???????? ;D

Later,
Drenton

[najt]

Much rain and thunder here in sweden tonight ::)

// andreas
www.reptilia.tk

[The_Boaphile]

I couldn't take the wait any longer. I just soaked her cage down. I hope she has them soon. She looks terrible!

[MissAddicted]

ok, this isn't even MY boa and I'm checking this thread everyday for updates, chewing my fingernails & feeling antsy.
http://tinypic.com/97thg8.gif

Just remember to breathe in and out.I hope she goes soon for you and ever thing goes smooth.

[ratman]

I hope she goes soon Boss! :'(

[justsnakes]

Hope both her and you are doing well Jeff. Hope she has a great big pile of babies for ya

[najt]

I guess 39 babies :)

[The_Boaphile]

I guess zero babies or 25 babies. One or the other. I really don't know what to expect she looks so drawn out.

[denny_rimes]

Anything today?

[The_Boaphile]

No. She still moves around a lot but just isn't finding that ideal spot I guess. I have had females before that have ovulated for sure and never delivered anything. I really really hope she isn't going to do that to me. She has lost a lot of weight and is too active to be sick. She has been doing all the right stuff and hiding under the paper just like she is supposed to. I am going to be depressed if we don't get those babies from her. Time will tell. I am going to look at her again right now. We just had a wicked storm blow through here!

I am going to check her again right now...

[The_Boaphile]

Still nothing.

[najt]

I hope she will give you a bunch of babies..

Good luck Jeff!

// andreas
www.reptilia.tk

[boxingboa]

I hope she pops soon for you and realy hope she will ok.Thank for keeing us updated.

[Sojourn]

Good luck boss! We are keeping our fingers and toes crossed for you! Keep us posted.... ;D

Jesse

[najt]

How many days now?! ???

// andreas
www.reptilia.tk

[The_Boaphile]

Day 108 and still the same. I just found this picture of her from 1998 when she was much smaller. Her color was mind boggling!

http://theboaphile.com/Uploads-7-24-05/pf32.jpg

[boxingboa]

My O My she was a hottie back in the day too.

[The_Boaphile]

I just pulled her from her cage, removed all the soggy newspaper, wiped the cage out good and replaced everything with Aspen. She has not been on Aspen for a couple of years. This should shake her up a bit. We shall see...

[najt]

hehe okey, she goes on newspaper otherwise or what?

// andreas
www.reptilia.tk

[denny_rimes]

Her color as a youngster is insane. Now I REALLY can't wait to see some babies!

Denny :'(

[beastie]

you & me both!!! makes me wish i had money... :-/

but i'll be investing in some ronne stock soon enough, i hope!

either way, i can't wait to see these babies!!!!


bc

[Dr._Klopson]

Should be any second now! Shes a special girl, that for sure!! :'(

[dberes]

Any chance of seeing a photo of what she looks like right now? I know you said she looks horrible, but I am curious. ;D

Later,
Drenton

[The_Boaphile]

Oh Baby!


Finally, day 112 after the P.O.S. she gave me this! :P :P :P

[The_Boaphile]

We were able to witness the entire birth, or at least my friend Jim was able to. He took a mess of slide photographs of the whole this too. I was busy with a guy who stopped by to give me an estimate on some work here.

Anyhow, this is what we were very very very fortunate to have.

18- slugs (and you know what? I don't care. The ten or eleven babies we had are off the chart!)

I mean off the chart! My head is absolutely spinning after these babies! I can hardly stand right now!

More pictures soon!

By the way... no, niether parent is a Hypo. They are both super duper unBOAlievable Pastels! Look at that baby! I can't believe that thing! Holy CRAP!!! :P :P :P

[ratman]

Don't tease! If that isn't less than 15 minutes old we've been robbed! We need details and way more pics! Way to go Boss, congrats! I hope mom is doing alright. Let us know soon but wait until you quit drooling. We wouldn't want you to ruin your keyboard! BTW That one is gorgeous!:'(

[denny_rimes]

How about a big BOA-GRATULATIONS
to you Jeff!

That kid is incredible! ::) ::) ::)

It almost looks like a hypo....except BETTER!!!!

Hats off to you my friend!

Denny

[ratman]

We were posting at the same time apparently. That is awesome Jeff! I can't believe that isn't a hypo! UnBOAliveable! Truely! :'(

[ratman]

Now all you have to do is raise up the best male and female from the litter you had today and breed them with the best male and female from the litter you had on the 20th and the entire boa world will bow down to you! :'(

[The_Boaphile]

Here is a second baby just as it was busting out of it's sack:

[The_Boaphile]

Another baby:

[The_Boaphile]

The difference between the second one on this page and these others is profound. Something really funky is going on here and now I can't wait till they shed!

[The_Boaphile]

ANother little one:

[The_Boaphile]

Last one for now:

[MissAddicted]

WOWZERS!Talk about some color on that 1st baby pic...!  I've never seen a pastel baby that clean before!

[Paradigmboas]

STUNNING! MIND BOGGLEING! FANTASTIC! AWESOME! BEST EVER!
Those are certainly the bests pastels ever by a long shot! Certainly could be called pastel hypos. I know others will shoot me for saying this but you should keep everyone of them....I certainly would.
OK...now you can retire and give me all your boas.

I can't beleive you said Holy crap. LOL

[justsnakes]

Congrats, Jeff!! I bet the wait was pure torture but it looks like it was also well worth the wait ;D

[Paradigmboas]

When you first started your Pastel project all those years ago did you ever envision you would someday produce such awesome babies? All those years of work and selective breeding just paid off in a HUGE way. Congrats again to you Jeff...good job.

[The_Boaphile]

Thanks for the congratulations! These babies are absolutely mind boggling but this is even more unBOAlievable! Notice anything weird about these babies? There are ten babies. Five that are absolute freaks! The other five, that are no doubt going to be fantastic Pastels, but they are not freaks. You have seen the five freaks posted earlier. The second baby is a "normal" looking one. All the other normals look like that one with normal dark pigment in the pattern etc. The five freaks? The pictures speak for themselves. I do not know what is going on here yet but there aren't any babies in between. I think I may have stumbled onto another brand new morph of some sort! I don't know what yet but, you know what this means don't you? Looks like these will all be going into the Boa Black Hole! Now I have to do is really really feed their Momma so I can breed her next year! That is going to be a tall order indeed. I will post some post birth pictures of her next.

Someone pinch me. Am I only dreaming?

Look at this group shot! Freaks on the right. Normals on the left:

[The_Boaphile]

Remember, these are not Hypos. Neither parent is a Hypo. Now I guess some won't believe that but there isn't anything I can do about that. My reputation for honesty will have to tell if I am telling the truth or not. Both are Pastels. Both parents were produced by me Both are about 12 years old now. Neither have ever produced before. Here is another shot of most of the babies. Freaks on the right, for the most part. Normals on the left including one still in his sack.

I absolutely can't believe this!

I can't wait till they all shed so I can get some really clean post shed shots! Now I am not going to be able to sleep AGAIN!

[The_Boaphile]

Here is their Mom this afternoon with part of her tail held up kind of weird. She was all over the cage this morning looking to have those mostly slugs but babies too. She had the babies just about two hours after I took this photo.

[The_Boaphile]

Here she is after having the babies with the babies in the back of the cage. I had already pulled all the slugs when she started trying to strike at me earlier. I let her finish giving birth and then took this shot.

[The_Boaphile]

Remember I had posted that she had some weird skin thing? You can see a dry spot on her side that had developed while gravid. Right up high behind the seventh saddle.

You have to see these babies in real life to appreciate the definite contrast in them. Five look like unbelievably washed out funky mind blowing Hypos. The other five just look like regular Boas. Now they are going to be great Pastels for sure but regular in comparison to these freaks.

[The_Boaphile]

Here is a long shot of the litter still in the back of the cage up close and personal.

[Sojourn]

Holy crap is right!!! ;D

Superduperwuper Boa-gratulations, Jeff!!!

Holy crap! ::)

The freakies absolutely look like hypos to me. I was floored when you stated that dad was not. Has she ever been bred by a hypo? Those kids are just insane..... or rather......

SAHWEEEET!

Congrats Jeff! Keep them all! I surely would..... :'(

Jesse

[tatdaddy]

I must have one! ::) I have been waiteing to see the out come of this breeding. I must say that I now have hope for my upcomeing Dubay pastel breeding this year. Congrats Mr. Ronne

[tatdaddy]

The above Boa is my 02 Dubay female that I got from Clay. She was his hold back of the litter. The boa below was from the same litter and was allso the hold back from the litter. I am so Jazzed right now. I I I OH MAN CONGRATS Mr. Ronne

[goofykid87]

sojourn might have something there, could it be sperm retention from a past breeding attempt? either way they are stunning

[boxingboa]

WOW They are mind BLOWING.Some of them look like hypos .WOW talk about Amazing.I know they would look hot but not TORCH Hot.Your hard work and determination really really paid off here.Super Super Great Breeding.JEFF!!!!!!!!!!!

[The_Boaphile]

She has had two males in with her since the day she was born. In 1999 and 2000 she had an Albino male in with her. She was enormous but alas, she did not produce anything. No slugs, nothing. This year several of the slugs were obviously old ones too by the way. The other male is, for those who have seen my 1998 video, the pinkest male Pastel I have ever produced. He is the animal in the video that I say something to this effect, "Look at that! Can that be real !?" Then he flicks his tongue. Yes he was and is real. A real awesome Pastel animal. A grandson of my original male Jose and of the little known "Louise". I only kept a few of her really pink babies from 1998, but his Mother and Father were two of them. I can assure you, those are the only two males that have ever been with her. After 2000, I think I posted in this thread, that she was battling that skin ailment that took a couple years to clear up. It was finally this past year I was able to get it cleared up and felt comfortable trying to breed her again and then BOOM! She does this to me!

You know she was a spectacular baby in her own right. I produced her before I had ever even heard of a Hypo Boa. She may be a visual for the same thing these babies have. I don't know for sure. It may or may not be a dominant or co-dominant trait. It may be a simple recessive trait. It may not be genetic. That seems highly unlikely given the fact that we have five very clear examples of this wonderful thing that happened. But we do not know for sure. But you know what? I will be happy to spend as much time as it takes to figure it out. In a way I am glad there were so many slugs. If there would have been 28 babies, I would have to be keeping the whole litter again! I can't keep doing that...

[dberes]

Beautiful boas Jeff!! ::) It will be interesting to see what they look like after their first shed. It is possible you developed your own line of hypos with so much selective breeding. Hypo type 3 maybe? ;D

Later,
Drenton

[Gabor_Kaminski]

VERY cool looking babys. Gongratulation Jeff. :'( :'( :'(

[Dr._Klopson]

Your right about something different going on with this litter Jeff! I'm wondering already if this is our next co-dom / dom. trait with the boas. They look a little ghostly, hypoish, jungled out to me?? Time will tell! Congrats! :'(

[coldjoe]

Hi Jeff
Congratulations on the outstanding babies Jeff ! :'( I was just watching the 98 video, she was female #2, $2500
Congratulations again Jeff ;D

Joseph

[beastie]

that's awesome!!! now the hard part is growing them up to see what's going on...

now we wait...

which, i guess, is half the fun, but i like the other half better. (that's BOA BABIES!!!)

can't wait to watch these guys grow up! you know we're expecting pics!!! :'(


bc

[Bushbaby]

Congrats!! Those are stunning babies. That very first pic you posted of a baby, is by far my favorite!!! This is defenitly a project worth proving. If it is a new morph, what will you be calling them?? Super-Duper Pastels??? It was defenitly worth the wait!!!!

They are truely awesome!!!!!

[bcijoe]

Wow Jeff.... what can I say! Outstanding work!

Who knows what happened there...
you could have the new morph
you could have stumbled on the way to make hypos
you could have uncovered something much deeper....

One thing, considering the meaning of hypos, those are the only true colombians in existence as far as I have heard!

You thought you were going to be abe to quit this year Jeff, well, guess you just got started again huh!?!?!?!


Take care, Joe Rollo - Bci Joe

[The_Boaphile]

Baby post shed

[The_Boaphile]

Another one...

[boxingboa]

Some one help me close my mouth.Man Jeff Wow.

[Jarylo]

Amazing... so Jeff, are you keeping the whole lot? I wonder if this mutation just occured, or if the genes have miraculously filtered down from somewhere up above in the family tree? Would you mind dropping a pic of some of the anti-normal normal pastels?

~Jay

[bcijoe]

in definition, yes, but in regards to the same 'morph', same inheritance, etc.. more than likely not.

There may be different genes or alleles working in different ways to do this..

There is still TOO MUCH to be learned from this to say anything definitive.

From the way this breeding has been going, breeding one of these hypo-looking animals back to an unrelated normal would probably yield mostly outrageous pastels and not hypo-loking animals, atleast IMO.

Then again, only time, and the Big Boa Daddy, will tell.


Later! -Joe

Here's one of MY latest and greatest pastels :)

[Jarylo]

Yes, time will definitely be the tell all... because who knows what happened here? It could be that this is simply the next step, and Jeff lucked out with offspring that brought together just the right combination of alleles to produce these beauties... OR maybe Jeff had a true mutation occur. An anomaly of sorts... maybe even a translocation (oooh aaah :()... that little genetic dance performed by only the wildest homologous chromosomal pairs, the break and bind. :P Any way you slice it, an opportunity has definitely shown itself. Hat's off to you, Jeff... I am sure we will all enjoy the years of discovery this litter will provide... >:(

[McCarthyBoas]

Hi Jeff,

The new babies look awesome!!! Maybe this is what a "Super Pastel" should look like? Or you can make up a new name you like that everyone will copy in a few years. LOL Anyway congratulations I like the way these guys look very much.

Take care
Tom McCarthy

[McCarthyBoas]

Hi Jeff,

I will trade you 6 of these Salmon's for one of the new babies in Tinley Park this year. LOL Just joking thought I would just try that just incase you are not in the right state of mind yet. LOL I will stop by your booth and BS with you at Tinley. I should also have some new Salmon pics as I will be fishing the week before the show if you want to see them.

http://www.mccarthyboas.com/FTTomSalmonOnStringer2003.JPG

Take care
Tom

[dberes]

Tom,

Either you're 4 feet tall or those are some huge salmon! ::) Great catches!

Later,
Drenton

[louie]

Nice Salmons Tom!Bet you had fun with them.

[Jarylo]

Those aren't huge salmon... there SUPER-Salmons! ;D ~Jay