It's "het" (short for heterozygous), not "heat".

Heterozygous is a genetics term meaning that a the two genes in a gene pair are not alike. As the ads are referring to het for albino, they mean that one gene in the gene pair is an albino gene and the other gene is a normal gene. Boas that have an albino mutant gene paired with a normal gene look normal, like boas that have two normal genes in the gene pair.

If an animal that has a mutant gene paired with a normal gene looks normal, then the mutant gene is recessive to the normal gene. If an animal that has a mutant gene paired with a normal gene does no look normal, then the mutant gene is dominant to the normal gene. Most (but not all) mutant genes are recessive to the normal version of the gene.

Boas that are het for albino do not change their color. But they can produce albino babies if mated to an albino or a het albino.

Boas that are 66% het albino have a 66% (2/3) chance of being heterozygous albino and a 33% (1/3) chance of having two normal genes instead. Such snakes are generally less expensive than a het albino.

A 100% het albino is a long way of saying het albino. These are known for certain to be het albino.

Hope that helps.

Paul Hollander

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