You are thinking of a phenomenon that the geneticists call incomplete penetrance. In this case, due to other genes and/or environmental factors, an animal looks normal despite having the mutant gene. I understand that this sometimes occurs with at least one of the mutant genes causing extra fingers and toes in humans.



>Is there a small chance that a normal looking Ball Python that has a parent that is pastel (pastel is co-dom gene right?) have offspring from another normal and produce a pastel?



It's not zero, but it is perilously close in this case.



>The genetic are there and I am told that pastel is a co-dom so it seems that it could happen even if it is a slim chance.



First of all, the mutant gene must be there. In my opinion, the mutant gene is not there in 99.9% of the cases.



>What do you all think? Or know as a fact?



If you have a choice between a normal and a normal-looking baby from a pastel x normal, I think the baby from the pastel x normal mating is overpriced if it costs more than five cents (USA) over the price of the normal.



Paul Hollander

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