People say they are, but I don't think anybody has done the necessary work.

Just crossing the lines does not prove anything. A breeder would have to cross the lines, pick out the animals that he believed got a pastel gene from both parents, and then mate those snakes to normal snakes. If the mutant genes are compatible, then all of the second generation babies would be pastels. If not compatible, then a quarter of the babies would be normals. If 10 possible super pastel snakes from the first generation produced 20 second generation babies each when mated to normal snakes, and all of the babies were pastel, then I'd say there was good evidence for compatibility. Doing it once could be an accident, and doing it twice could be a coincidence. Doing it 10 times is pretty convincing.

So far I haven't heard of anyone actually doing this. On the other hand, I'm out in the boonies, and most of what I know comes from these forums.

Paul Hollander

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