This is one of the more frequently asked questions on the forum, so I'll jump in with an answer. Pastel is neither dominant nor recessive, because it is not one of the recognized single gene traits. The term was coined by Ronne for his line of boas which he selectively bred for color. He believes they look lighter and more colorful not because of having more color but instead less black. It is not the same as hypo, which is a recognized single gene trait in boas which is co-dominant. Selectively bred traits might include more or less speckles, thicker or thinner saddles, larger or smaller size, darker or lighter background color, more or less yellow or pink color, etc. For these type of things, you don't get a defined ratio in a litter, you get varying degrees of the trait you are looking for. If cross a pastel with a non-pastel you'll get a mixture of varying degrees of "pastelism", or however you see that trait in the animals. For this reason, it isn't even black and white what is a Pastel, it's open to individual interpretation. Mark

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• pastel gen - milki, Sun Jun 12 04:28:07 2005
• RE: pastel gen - whitneywee, Sun Jun 12 08:11:16 2005