What would happen if two pattern traits are bred together. My girlfriend and I were talking about that on our way to visit Linda and see her Super Motleys. Since the Motleys are actually Het for Motley and Normal and Salmons are Het for Salmon and Normal, at two different loci, who is to say that the Salmon gene did not mask the Motley gene.



The Motley genes phenotype is actually the Super Motley. The Motleys, as they have been know for years, are actually a co-dominant phenotype between Normal and Motley. In the case of the Salmons, they are dominant over normal and could mask another morph at a different locus.



I don’t really know the answer to this question, but Linda mentioned that she thought she heard that the Orange Tail Hypo and the Salmon Hypo may have originated from different locals. Do we know that the Orange Tail Hypo and the Salmon Hypo gene is genetically compatible or located at the same locus? It would be extremely difficult to determine this by breeding them together if they are both dominant. If the two phenotypes look very similar but are located at a different locus, you really wouldn’t know if they were compatible or not since they would both show up in a clutch due to their dominance.



What if the Hypo Motleys we have seen in the past were produced by lets say the Orange Tail Hypo, and the Orange Tail Hypo gene did not mask the Motley gene and you got a combination of the two. In this case, if the Salmon gene is a different gene, then the combined outcome could be different. The Salmons gene could mask the Motley gene or partially mask it, to a point where the Motleys genes influence could not be easily identified. There may in fact be more that two hypo genes that have very similar phenotypes but are located at different loci. If they are all dominant to normal, it would be practically impossible to separate them out.



A breeding of a Motley X Jungle could show both genes influence in the same Boa or one of the genes could be dominant over the other. Since both of these genes are co-dominant to Normal at their respective loci, who is to say what the phenotype of a boa would be that is het for Motley and Jungle. A Boa that is homo for Motley and Jungle, or Homo for Super Motley and Super Jungle, as know in the Boa World, may or may not show influence from both Morphs. One may completely dominant the other or they may show an in-between Morph.



In the Corn Snake World, we have proven that there are 5 different hypo genes located at different loci and we may have just discovered the sixth. Since they are recessive, we have been able to isolate them out. Just how many dominant or co-dominant hypo genes are there in Boas and how can they be separated out? Their combined influence with other mutant Boas genes could be very different. One may have a combined effect, while another could dominate and mask another mutant gene.
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Joe Pierce

Snakes Alive!

"Home of the guaranteed feeders"

"If it won't eat, it is not worth a dime!"

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