Chapter 5

A guide to hobbyist locality bloodlines and their places of origin

This chapter discusses all of the locality names you are likely to see in the hobbyist world of Rosy Boa cultivation. Over 60 localities are discussed from throughout the Rosy Boas range with a description of each habitat type and multiple color images of specimens and habitats from each locality. Also included is a map for quick location of the localities discussed.

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"Part of the allure of Rosy Boas is their tendency to have a unique local appearance. Rosy Boas found more than 20 miles apart seldom look alike to the well initiated. This has led to the desire of breeders to maintain genetically pure lines of these unique locality based types. These animals and the offspring produced through matching parents from the same general vicinity are known as locality pure animals. Any Boa can be locality pure assuming the collection location of the animal or its locality matched parents is known. Some of the more common locality matched pairings that have become available through herpetoculture are referred to by the name of their location. Hence a Boa from the Harcuvar Mountains, while being one of many members of the Arizonae pattern class, is more specifically called a Harcuvar Boa.

These very specific geographical names popularized by hobbyists are known simply as localities and have been put in place to help maintain genetically pure lines. There has been much discussion among Rosy Breeders as to what exactly constitutes a locality or what makes one locality worthy of designation and another not. There is no simple answer to this question because some breeders are more specific about what they call a locality than others. There are very specific localities such as Homewood Canyon, and very general localities such as the Hualapais. Any place a Rosy Boa is found can end up being a locality name at the discretion of the finder, however it may occasionally be beneficial, especially for pairing up future matings, if animals caught very near to or within the other known localities are assimilated under those already well known names. For instance, a Boa captured on Boriana Mine Road in the Hualapai Mountains could certainly be called a Boriana Mine Boa but might be better referred to as a Hualapai Boa because the later name is already well established in the hobby and encompasses the Boriana Mine locality. Of course how specific one chooses to be with locality names is a reflection of ones interest in Rosy Boas and being specific is not discouraged here in any way.

In this chapter is a discussion of many of the localities that have been available in the hobbyist world and additional localities that are currently residing in collections that could be available soon. Most of the locality names used here are already recognized among Rosy Boa hobbyist circles but some may be less known and are mentioned here due to a uniqueness that stems from the animals themselves, or the isolation of the location. No attempt here is made to be all inclusive and if the reader comes to the conclusion that these localities are some how more “official” than other localities not listed then they have misunderstood what is meant by the word locality."