>So, am I correct to assume that the lavender gene is part of a different chromosome than the normal albino?

I'm not as up on Cal king snake mutants as I'd like to be. However, as far as I know, the albino and lavender mutant genes are located on different chromosomes.

>And so, if the offspring did appear normal, they would most likely be striped, correct?

A normal Cal king has both dark (brown to black) and light (pale yellow to white) pigment arranged in bands around the body, two eyes, smooth scales, a single anal plate, 9 large scales on the top of the head, etc., etc.

A striped Cal king is not normal. It is like normal except that the light and dark pigment are arranged in stripes along the body rather than bands around the body.

Both lavenders and albinos are not normal, either. They are like normal Cal kings except that they have the dark pigment greatly reduced or absent.

>And if the offspring were normal looking striped, would they would be het for both normal and lavender albinism?

There are at least two and possibly three different mutant genes in this cross. So there are many possible outcomes.

If you have seven babies from this cross, then the odds are 99% that you will get at least one baby that is striped or some variation of striped. And all of the babies may be striped or some variation of striped.

If you get one or more babies that have the normal colors rather than being albino or lavender, then those babies are heterozygous for both lavender and albino. Those babies might be all striped, all normally patterned, or some striped and some normally patterned.

Unfortunately, I do not know of an easy, reliable way to distinguish lavender from albino.

Paul Hollander

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