Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I bought a female boa last month which is Salmon 50% het albino
Does that mean that if bred to a 100% het albino i could still end up having no albinos. And if so does that mean she could never prove out or is there always that 50% chance?
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1.1 Columbian common boas (Zeus, Athena)
1.0 BCC 50% het albino salmon (Aprodite)
1.1 Corn snakes (Appolo, Boreas)
0.1 King snake tri striped cal morph (Helios)

Its really pretty simple the 50% het means that only 1 of her parents were het albino,therefore she had a 50% chance of acquiring the gene from the het parent.She either got it or she didnt period.So if you breed her to an Albino and she drops a good healthy litter and there are Abinos Sunglows etc.in the litter then she is a proven 100% het albino therefore removing the 50%of doubt.Same goes if she has a good litter with no visual albinos,then she is proven not to be het at all.Hope this helps.JOHN

I was told her parents were an albino salmon to a high pink normal. Now would i have to breed her to an albino to find out or could i breed her to a 100% het albino and get the same results? thanks for your help i am still trying to grasp the genetics portion of breeding.
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1.1 Columbian common boas (Zeus, Athena)
1.0 BCC 50% het albino salmon (Aprodite)
1.1 Corn snakes (Appolo, Boreas)
0.1 King snake tri striped cal morph (Helios)

An "albino Salmon" is also called a Sunglow. If her parents were represented correctly, than she is a salmon 100% het for albino, or Double-het Sunglow and should produce albinos or sunglows if bred to any male carrying the albino gene (keep in mind there are two strains of albino, and they are thus far not compatible). It is possible for two 100% hets to breed and not produce any albinos, but unlikely. That would depend on the size of the litter. If she produced 10 babies, for example, than she may or may not be carrying the gene. However, if she produces 30 and there are no albinos, than she is NOT a het albino. The odds would be astronomical. If you are not certain, the best test to to breed her to an albino male.

K. Royer

>>I was told her parents were an albino salmon to a high pink normal. Now would i have to breed her to an albino to find out or could i breed her to a 100% het albino and get the same results? thanks for your help i am still trying to grasp the genetics portion of breeding.
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>>1.1 Columbian common boas (Zeus, Athena)
>>1.0 BCC 50% het albino salmon (Aprodite)
>>1.1 Corn snakes (Appolo, Boreas)
>>0.1 King snake tri striped cal morph (Helios)

It's really very simple, Albinism in Boas is a recessive trait. For it to express or show, the offspring has to get one albino gene from each of it's parents.

Your 50% is called so because one parent was a het and half of it's offspring statistically would get an albino gene. The other parent had no albino genes and could not pass one on.

So, 50% het simply means it has a 50/50 chance of being het. It is either het or not het, just not known without breeding trials.

If it is het, then if bred to a albino...1/2 of the babies should be albino

If bred to another het, then 1/4 of the babies would be albino. You'd need a good number for the statistics to prove out, about 8 for the het to albino breeding adn about twice that for the het to het breeding. There is always the remote possibility that no albinos could be produced even if both parents each had an albino gene if the litter is small.

P.S. Even a stillborn albino would prove the parental genetics.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
10.22 BRB
10.15 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

I am finally starting to grasp the concept thank you all
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1.1 Columbian common boas (Zeus, Athena)
1.0 BCC 50% het albino salmon (Aprodite)
1.1 Corn snakes (Appolo, Boreas)
0.1 King snake tri striped cal morph (Helios)

I am finally starting to grasp the concept thank you all. 1 more thing tho is there such tings as 33% or 66% het?
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1.1 Columbian common boas (Zeus, Athena)
1.0 BCC 50% het albino salmon (Aprodite)
1.1 Corn snakes (Appolo, Boreas)
0.1 King snake tri striped cal morph (Helios)

Yes, 66% comes from het to het breeding:

1/4 albino's
1/2 hets
1/4 normals

Since you can't visually tell the normals from the hets, 2/3 probability het

A 66% not proven het bred to a normal...1/2 babies woudl get the possible het gene 2/3 x 1/2 = 1/3
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
10.22 BRB
10.15 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

sunglow (albino plus hypo) or was it a het albino hypo?

As stated above, a babies from a sunglow would have to have a albino gene since the sunglow had two.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
10.22 BRB
10.15 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

sorry. I am pretty sure she was a super like you said. I have no clue what hypo means yet. The breeder said she was a albino salmon mother bred to a high pink normal male.

Now my question is if i bred my female salmon 50% het albino to a high pink normal would i get any albinos or do both parents have to contribute a gene and also would i get any salmons or is that also a recessive trait?
Thanks again
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1.1 Columbian common boas (Zeus, Athena)
1.0 BCC 50% het albino salmon (Aprodite)
1.1 Corn snakes (Appolo, Boreas)
0.1 King snake tri striped cal morph (Helios)

First off, if the mother was a albino hypo, then the baby has to be het for albino, if she was het albino, then the baby is 50% het.

I put this together a while back, more info than you're asking for but???

Terms:
Gene = the basic unit of genetics, Genes come in pairs, one supplied from each parent. Each gene pair determines one specific trait. There are thousands of gene pairs in each strand of DNA.

Mutant gene = any gene that is different from the corresponding normal gene. Not necessarily a visual mutation.

Wild type or normal = A snake that looks like most of the snakes found in the wild. Also used to describe any individual gene that when paired up with a similar gene would produce a snake that, for that individual gene trait, would look like most of the snakes found in the wild.

Heterozygous (slang - heterozygous) = having two different genes within a gene pair. Most commonly one normal and one mutant but could be two different mutant genes.

Homozygous (slang - Homo) = having both genes within a gene pair the same. Can be normal or mutant.

Super = Slang term commonly used when a snake has a gene pair that is Homozygous for either a dominant or a codominant mutant gene.

Trait = Physical appearance that it distinguishable from the normal physical appearance.

Recessive mutant gene = Trait is only expressed when the gene pair is Homozygous for the specific mutant gene.

Dominant mutant gene = A mutant gene that has it trait expressed when the gene pair is either heterozygous or Homozygous for that specific mutant gene. Heterozygous and homozygous specimens are not 100% distinguishable from each other. Note, with some dominant traits some of the specimens can be visually identified as heterozygous or homozygous.

Codominant = Similar to "dominant mutant gene" except a Homozygous specimen can be distinguished from a heterozygous specimen 100% of the time.

Double heterozygous = Has two gene pairs where one gene in each pair is normal and the second gene is a mutant gene. I.e. double heterozygous for snow would have a normal gene paired with an albino gene and a normal gene paired with an anerythristic gene.

Triple heterozygous = same as double heterozygous except applies to three gene pairs.

Color mutations in boas:

Albino (AKA Amelanistic) - Two independent mutant genes: both recessive - a lack of melanin (black pigmentation) Kahl and Sharp strains.

Anerythristic - Two independent mutant genes; both recessive - a lack of red pigmentation. Two known strains (type I and type II)

Salmon (AKA Hypo) - Dominant - a reduction in the black pigmentation and often some increase in the yellow pigmentation.

Caramel Albino (AKA Tyrosinase positive albino) - believed to be at least two independent mutant genes; both recessive - has less than the normal amount of black pigmentation. Colombian and Nicaraguan strains

Caramel Hypo (Boawoman Hypo) - recessive - has leas than the normal amount of black pigmentation, similar to Colombian T-plus Albinos and Pastels.

Pastel (AKA Hypo) - Polygenic - A line of boas selectively bred for less than normal black pigment, not caused by a single mutant gene.

Blood - Recessive - A Hypererythristic mutation.

Named Color mutation combinations:

Ghost – homozygous anerythristic / heterozygous hypomelanistic
Super Ghost - homozygous anerythristic / homozygous hypomelanistic
Snow – homozygous anerythristic / homozygous albino
Sunglow – homozygous albino / heterozygous hypomelanistic
Super Sunglow - homozygous albino / homozygous hypomelanistic
Bloody Salmon – homozygous blood / heterozygous hypomelanistic
Moonglow – homozygous anerythristic / homozygous albino / heterozygous hypomelanistic
Super Moonglow – homozygous anerythristic / homozygous albino / homozygous hypomelanistic
Pewter - homozygous type II anerythristic / homozygous blood

Locale Related Color Mutations:

Sunset – homozygous hypomelanistic having 50% Hog Island Boa blood
Salmontine – heterozygous hypomelanistic having 50% Argentine Boa blood

Pattern Mutations:
Arabesque – Dominant? - A genetic circle-back boa with a ladder-tail, Typically highly speckled and often having a very brown color with some specimens tinted pink.
Jungle – Codominant - Originally identified in Sweden,
Motley – Codominant
Stripe – Recessive
Reverse Stripe – Recessive?
Leopard – Recessive - dark color, a mix of underlying tones and marbled pattern.
European Square tail - Recessive - long list of variable characteristics.
Scoria - Recessive? - Pink pattern-less with two parallel lines down back.
Aztec - Dominant?
Gray pattern-less - unknown
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
10.22 BRB
10.15 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Alright, I'll tackle this one. We need to work through some things in order to help you understand what you have.

Your signature line says 1.0 BCC Salmon 50% het albino. That translates into a MALE Boa constrictor constrictor Salmon that is possible het for albino. The first problem there, assuming that you just made a mistake in putting 1.0 instead of 0.1 which would indicate a female, is that there are no salmon Boa constrictor constrictors.

Salmon is a strain of hypomelanism found in Boa constrictor imperator.

Another flag that goes up is that the breeder told you he/she bred a Sunglow female to a high pink normal male. A Sunglow female, or even a Double het sunglow female would be very valuable as a breeding animal. I can barely conceptualize a situation in which a breeder would choose to breed her to a normal male. The only one that even approaches logic is that she was bred to a Bcc male, which would make her an intergrade (mix of two subspecies of Boa constrictor), and might explain why you describe her as Bcc.

Who did you buy her from, or at least how much did you pay. A price range may help us with the likelihood of her het status.

K. Royer

Basically it means she has a 50% chance of being het for Albino by her first and definitely her second litter you will know one way or the other. If she produces Albinos or Sunglows when bred to an albino or definite het she is a het if not she isn't. Hope this helps Vinnie