So I would really like to know how many of the people on this site that say that have a Redtail, really and truly have a Redtail.
I keep reading about and seeing pictures of people's "redtails", and then wonder why no one gets on them about it not really being a redtail.
I myself don't really know the exact differences, so I can't say if they are or aren't really redtails.
So what are the differences? Are they really noticeable, as to where you could tell from just a picture?

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0.0.2 painted turtles (Mo and Squirt)
1.0.0 yellow bellied slider (Jebidiah)
0.1.0 Amelanistic corn snake (Rose)
1.0.0 Hog Island/Colombian Boa (Kah)
0.2.1 Colombian Boa (Jasmine) and her babies
1.0.0 Suriname? Boa (Kayne)
0.2.0 Cats (Lilly and Reese)

there are different types depending on regions...some are bred with different regions ..some are kept with the same type in the areA they are from...the normal boa's are kinda darker..and more in the central american area I think

Great question and heres my best at an answer, so here goes. It really comes down to a mater of genetics and how a species is classified. The main differences across all of the Boa constrictor complex is scale count, mainly the vental and dorsal pairs.

Boa constrictor constrictor has a very high dorsal count compared to other boas (80 or more pairs) though cross breeding with other subspecies can make this hard to go by. But with pure breed boas it's a good method.

Some boas might be narrowed down to a area or subspecies by a well taken photo. Some as in the case of Colombian boas as both boa constrictor constrictor and boa constrictor imperator live are found in this location they can look very much alike and breeding records, gene test, and scale count can come in very handy. though mainly boa constrictor imperator (common boa) is found central america while boa constrictor constrictor (red tail boa) is in south america

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nice info there titus.... you can also generally tell by the saddle shapes too...not always but in many cases.

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can anybody give specific pictures?

I bought a columbian boa recently, told it was a red tail, and it actually does have dark red patches on its tail, but more info on this would be appreciated

the majority of what you see in petshops sold as redtails are common boas.

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boa constrictor imperator Colombia http://www.serpentes-mannheim.de/Bil...boas/4a_tn.jpg

boa constrictor constrictor Colombia http://www.serpentes-mannheim.de/Bil...boas/3a_tn.jpg

As you can see in the links pictures aren't going to tell you much with Colombians, both the boa constrictor constrictor and boa constrictor imperator from this area can be very variable and look very much alike. I agree with nicole most sold are boa constrictor imperator or hybrid. You'll have to ask yourself how much you trust the seller and their distributer. Or resort to scale count and genetic testing if you really need to know for sure.

The pictures are from a friend of mines website. He runs a snake shop and is a animal biologist, sorry their not larger but you should tell theres very little visible diffrence if any.

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"Tonights forcast..... Dark." Al Sleet, the hippy dippy weather man, George Carlin. You will be missed.
http://schlange-titus.de
http://dght.de