Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi.

My uncle's female just gave birth to 27 babies, 6 of which look like anerythristics. Can anyone confirm whether I'm right or not?

You can contact him at ottawapythons@hotmail.com.

Here is an anery from my last clutch along with one of it's normal siblings. Yours look a little different to me but I'd say that you definately have something going on. The question is what???? To figure it out, we need to know the history of the parents. 6 out of 27 is very close to 25%. If the gene is recessive and both of your uncle's adults are hets, this would account for 25% of the offspring being anery. However, I feel that this is by no means proof that the gene you have is recessive. In order to prove the dominant or recessive nature of the gene you must:

1) Cross two "anerys". If all of the babies are anery, this supports a recessive gene.

2) Produce and cross "hets". In other words, mate one or two of your anerys to one or two normal BRBs. If the gene is recessive, you will get no anerys from this cross but all offspring will carry the gene. If ANY of the animals from this cross are anery, then you are working with a dominant gene.

3) If all animals from above cross appear normal, cross them back to each other and count your results. If the gene is recessive, then 25% of thos offspring will be anery.

These are the steps I went through to prove the inheritance pattern of my hypomelanistic line. Sound like fun? I had a blast with it but it takes a long time (in my case, 12 years).

You could make your work easier by linking your animals to one of the other two lines of anerys in the US. If you can find common background then it may be the same gene.

Whatever the case, this must be very exciting for you. Congratulations. I will defiantely be contacting your uncle. This is one of those pieces of detective work that I just can't resist.

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Mike Lockwood
www.tooscaley.com