Living Gems Holdbacks: Litter 2014-B

[snakesitter]

As the rainbow community revels in baby season, we wanted to update our readers on some of our past holdbacks.

Hailing from our 2014 “B” litter, we have #09, #11, and #12. These babies were born on October 13 to Franklin, a golden yellow-orange male, and Jadeite, an orange female with slightly thicker black borders

Baby #09 had a high contrast color scheme that stood as “wow” from her siblings. Here is Baby #09 as of her most recent photo shoot:






She weighed 73 grams of her last weigh-in.

Baby #11 had a heightened border black border pattern suggestive of her sister #12, but not nearly as intense, and after some pondering was kept as a backup to her sister. Here is Baby #11 as of her most recent photo shoot (note she was in shed):





She weighed 91 grams of her last weigh-in.

Baby #12 had one of the thickest black border patterns I have to see on a rainbow, and will be key to working on the illusive but eventual all-black rainbow. (We profiled Baby #11 earlier this week, and Baby #09 last week.) Here is Baby #12 as of her most recent photo shoot:





She weighed 114 grams of her last weigh-in.

As always, thank you for reading.

Cliff Earle
Living Gems Reptiles
Premium Brazilian Rainbow Boas from a disease-tested facility

[Pandorasdad]

Re: Living Gems Holdbacks: Litter 2014-B

Welcome to the forums!!!

I really do love the BRBs! I love the bright orange on #9.

Killer babies!

[gamptff]

Re: Living Gems Holdbacks: Litter 2014-B

Beautiful boas!

[Joba1972]

Re: Living Gems Holdbacks: Litter 2014-B

#9 is a real beauty.

[zamora]

Re: Living Gems Holdbacks: Litter 2014-B

I have always ooohed and aahhhed over the BRBs and one day will add one to the collection, you have some stunners. Not knowing much about them though, I have a question. You kept back a couple based upon their thicker borders which will eventually (hopefully) lead to an all black boa. That will be very interesting especially if they keep the iridescence. Is there a movement to get rid of the borders as well and have an all one color snake? Like I said, I haven't followed the BRBs but thought an all bright snake with the shine they are known for would be insane.

Thanks for the pictures!

[bebowebb]

Re: Living Gems Holdbacks: Litter 2014-B

Welcome to RTB!

You have some beautiful holdbacks!

[snakesitter]

Re: Living Gems Holdbacks: Litter 2014-B

Thank you all for the kind words. As several of you surmised, these holdbacks were chosen for very different reasons. Baby #09 was chosen for her vivid color, and Baby #12 (and #11 as a backup) were chosen for their pattern. (please pretend this is a new paragraph, as the editor will not let me do that) Zomora, all Brazilians show the iridescence, but it is clearer on darker animals. Thus, if I can pull off increasingly thick black borders on the way to a "black Brazilian," the iridescence should be impressive. I am not aware of any movement to either enhance or eliminate the borders, but as with any reptile, breeders pursue projects as the opportunity arises. Eliminating borders, however, would not lead to a solid-color snake, as rainbows' highlight (within the borders) and background (outside the borders) colors are often very different shades. I hope that makes sense?

[Pandorasdad]

Re: Living Gems Holdbacks: Litter 2014-B

I hope that makes sense?

It does. Personally, I'd be interested to see both the full black and pattern-less BRBs. But then, they're pretty spectacular the way they come!

[snakesitter]

Re: Living Gems Holdbacks: Litter 2014-B

Few species are as lucky as rainbows when it comes to normals. ;-)