I don't think there's any way at the current time to, without a doubt, say that an animal is a het unless you know it came from a homozygous parent. Until we've mapped the ball python genome and know where all the alleles for these crazy morphs are found, it won't be possible.



On that thought, I actually had the idea, because my roommate is a biology teacher this year and has access to gel electrophoresis equipment, to see about taking blood samples from my het albino, albino, and normal balls, using the restriction enzymes to 'cut' the same bits of DNA from each animal, and comparing them. Of course, I'd have to luck out and hope I cut the right section of DNA where the alleles for melanin production are found, but there are a few different enzymes I could use which could cut different sections. Eh, it's a long shot, but if I saw three different discrepencies between the three different snakes, it might be something.
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Chance Duncan

www.rivervalleyexotics.com

[ Hide Replies ]

• prove it - officert, Tue Aug 15 01:54:58 2006
• to put it simple... - gmherps, Tue Aug 15 04:52:54 2006
• RE: prove it - Chance, Tue Aug 15 11:22:46 2006