In 2009, Atomic Animals was the first in the world to obtain a band new morph of Boa constrictor longicauda that were uniformly grey.
This was a big surprise for us and a great joy to find these babies so special among their "normal" brothers and sisters.
Indeed, there was no warning of this possibility because the parents are typical "pure strain", and show no special markers, except maybe the mother.

Obviously, following these births, I made a closer inspection of the breeding pair. It found that the male, very black and white, is a splendid specimen representing what I find to be the finest specimens of this subspecies, free from other notable features.
The female, meanwhile, bears a less contrasted color and pattern. Its overall appearance is much clearer. This is particularly visible on the head and neck that are bluish gray with a pattern blurred or virtually absent. The bands that pass through the eyes have almost disappeared.

"Special" babies are a uniform gray without spots. Some specimens are more or less marked with a darker color on the tail and sometimes on the outside of the back, forming two dark bands. The 2009 litter also included babies with aberrant patterns as well as animals that were hypomelanistic.

After a winter rest, the same parents were bred back together. A few weeks later, the swollen belly of the female did not leave any doubt, she was indeed pregnant again.
Would 2010 babies be like their 2009 brothers and sisters? How many would there be? What would be the ratio ?
They were long, those months of waiting, especially as, like many other female boa, this one ate up to parturition. I was very nervous.
It took me until August 11, 2010, the day of parturition of the female, to once again see babies born plain gray. There were two of the 11 babies were born. The other 9 were rather normal looking, although some of them are looking hypomelanistic.
On August 11, 2010, genetics side of this new mutation was finally proved !

The 2009 litter has been quite heterogeneous in terms of colors and patterns obtained. As in 2010, it has been rather homogeneous, I remain torn between a gene type co-dominant and a recessive one. Most breeders who have seen these animals and being aware of the ratio of these fantastic gray boas have thought that this mutation was recessive.
That's also what John Berry wrote in the chapter he has devoted to them in his Morphs Designer bestseller published in 2010. On my side, the conclusion was the same even though we will have an answer to this question only after breeding babies together, or a patternless male on the original female.
Anyway, the important thing for me was to confirm the transmissible side of the gene. Now it's done !

John Berry writes in his book about the naming : "Most new mutations are usually named by the first breeder to have produced them".
As the scoop of this new mutation belongs to Atomic Animals, we have chosen to name our boas: Atomic Patternless Tumbes Boas (APTB).

Boa constrictor longicauda is changing a lot during the first 6 months of his life. From fairly clear in the beginning, it turns black and white with great contrasts. As the 2009 babies are now over a year, it is possible to have an idea of the evolution of these snakes.
The APTB remained gray strengthening their black pigmentation when it was present. Hypo specimens continued to evolve in the same direction and the difference with the "normal" ones is now obvious. One of the babies, with a very strong yellow, high-contrast, has continued to evolve in the right direction. It is in fact more and more yellow, bearing a general light color.
Among the two subjects with an aberrant pattern, one was hypo while the other had the rather darker color, classical to Tumbes boas. The darker specimen became even more darker while his sister, which also has an aberrant pattern, remained very clear. As this difference increased over time, it makes me feel that the Hypomelanistic side is not due to the young age of snakes involved.