I don't know of any sex linked mutations in ball pythons.



I'm not up on the Calico Retics, have they been proven genetic and if so how is it inherited?



With snakes the sex chromosomes are W and Z and the females are WZ and the males are ZZ. Since it's the female that has the unmatched pair it's her contribution that determines the gender of the offspring and not the father's as in humans.



Someone once told me that in humans the male Y chromosome doesn't have information on it (except in the case of some porcupine guy who's sons where all porcupine guys). I vaguely remember someone mentioning that this might be the case with one of the snake chromosomes but I don't remember the details (i.e. was it “W” or “Z” or neither).



Presumably if there where a mutation on the W chromosomes (if this is possible) then it would only be seen in females. If it were on the Z chromosome then you would probably have different rules for how it shows up in a female that can only have up to one copy vs. a male that can have either one or two copies. It might be that only male snakes could be calico.

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