So I got off my butt and read the NERD page on calico retics.



Could the male calico's be a different mutation than the female ones? What was the mother of the male calico who's father was also a calico?



On theory is that the female white phase calicos could be a mutation on the W gene and if so then a mother would pass it to all of her daughters but none of her sons (no male could even be a carrier, but the daughter to daughter passing would continue indefinitely each generation regardless of what father was used).



The male retic might be a completely different line with a mutation on the Z chromosome, perhaps rationalized (displayed in some spots and not in others). In this theory the original male calico caries one copy of the mutant Z and one normal Z. He passes the mutant Z to half of his offspring (both male and female). However, it might look different in the males that get it than in the females. Perhaps the females will be all odd colored and not just in spots. Alternatively, perhaps the W has a corresponding gene that will cover it over in the females so the best you can hope for in the females is an invisible het with the ability to produce about 50% calico sons. Eventually you could breed one of those het females to a male line calico male and produce a 25% chance male homozygous for the mutant Z (both of his Z genes having the male line calico mutation). Maybe this snake would be all white or whatever color the spots are in the male line calico and all of his sons would be calicos and all of his daughter’s carriers.

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