that the following are homozygous conditions:
Caramel//Caramel
Sharp//Sharp
Caramel//Sharp

Agree that Caramel//Caramel and Sharp//Sharp are homozygous conditions.

Disagree that Caramel//Sharp is a homozygous condition.

Heterozygous conditions being:
Caramel//WT
Sharp//WT

Agree with this.

A lot of herpers are hung up on a heterozygous animal having to look normal. There is NO requirement for appearance in the definition of "heterozygous". The only requirement is for the two members of a gene pair to be different. If Caramel and Sharp were the same, then Caramel//Caramel and Sharp//Sharp snakes would look alike. But they look different, so they must be different mutant genes. That makes Caramel//Sharp a heterozygous gene pair. Consult the definitions on www.dictionary.com.

Rainbows-r-us:

Het Caramel//Sharp is good terminology. Het Caramel//normal is also good terminology and is synonymous with het Caramel. In het Caramel, the normal allele is assumed rather than stated. However, when messing with multiple alleles, stating both genes in the pair is better.

I prefer to use the "/" character instead of the "|" character because the "|" character requires hitting the shift key. But there is no law broken if you prefer the "|" character.

Paul Hollander

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