"What are the odds that an albino is born from two wild caught snakes that may not be hets. Could a birth defect cause an albino to be born? "



Really horribly, horribly low. If we are just taling about a simple run of the mill albino like we normally see, then its a recessive trait. That means you could get an albino from the above results two ways. Either 1) one of the parents is het albino AND there is a new inactivating mutation to the gene when the non het parent is making sperm or eggs. Then you get a albino because one of the sperm/eggs has the new mutation and the little embryo got the other mutation from the het parent; or 2), Neither parents are het and there are 2 new inactivating mutations to the gene when both parents are making sperm and eggs. Normally, onle a single sperm or egg would carry the mutation out of all the sperm and eggs ever produced. So, on top of the odds that you get two new mutations in the sperm/egg of each parent you have the very low odds that that sperm and that egg carrying the mutant gene actually meet up. So the chance of that happening is almos zero.



"Humans can give birth to an albino baby, even though there is no history of it on either side for many generation."



That happens because you need two defective copies of the gene to get an albino. So, even though there is no history of an albino showing up in many generations of these people, some of them are still carrying the mutant gene. They are hets., so there is no visable effect. But should a couple of hets meet up, then albino.



Best,

Vinny
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“There is a grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that whilst this planet has gone on cycling according to the fixed laws of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.” -C. Darwin, 1859



Natural Selection Reptiles

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