Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Is anybody doing paternity tests for snakes, I actually need one done on a boa, but figured corn snake people are way ahead of boa people in the genetics dept. Any help is appreciated. Craig Kade

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Darin Chappell
Hillbilly Herps
PO Box 254
Rogersville, MO 65742

n/p
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Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!

Define very expensive. The snake I need done is worth quite a bit, and which father produced it makes a pretty big difference. Do you have any contact info??

>>Define very expensive. The snake I need done is worth quite a bit, and which father produced it makes a pretty big difference. Do you have any contact info??
>>
I'm sorry I can't give you a specific cost of this procedure, but it would(as you know) take a genetic laboratory to do this, and would undoubtedly be VERY costly,..... UNLESS!!! you knew someone that worked in said laboratory.......I can understand you needing to find this out, as it would be paramount in certain situations to know the exact individuals that copulated.......I would do a "Google search" on genetic laboratories, to see what you come up with. I'm sure there will be MANY "hits" on the subject with contact information that will be helpful to you.......best regards,.....................Doug
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Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!

>>Define very expensive. The snake I need done is worth quite a bit, and which father produced it makes a pretty big difference. Do you have any contact info??
>>

I'm seriously confused.
If this is an "expensive" boa why in the heck wouldn't the breeder have records of what snakes he or she paired up?
And If you are the breeder why wouldn't you know?
Do you just keep a bunch of boas together and wait to see what happens?
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Corn snakes and rat snakes..No one can have just one.
"Resistance is futile"
Jimmy Johnson
(Draybar)
Draybars Snakes

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I am the breeder, and bred a young male, then backed him up with an older proven male. Boas are a little more complicated then corns, I often back up young males with older proven males, usually there is no problem figuring out which the father is by the results, however with this thing popping out I am not sure. Craig

>>I am the breeder, and bred a young male, then backed him up with an older proven male. Boas are a little more complicated then corns, I often back up young males with older proven males, usually there is no problem figuring out which the father is by the results, however with this thing popping out I am not sure. Craig

well that answered that...lol
Unfortunately it will probably just take more breeding tials.
Good luck
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Corn snakes and rat snakes..No one can have just one.
"Resistance is futile"
Jimmy Johnson
(Draybar)
Draybars Snakes

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just breed one of the males back to the female
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jake

my addiction:
0.2 normal ball pythons (lazlo and izzy)
0.1 amelenistic corn snake (maizy)
0.1 blizzard corn (blizz)
1.0 albino cal king (zeus)
0.0.1 wc garter (zim)
hybrid breeders association
hybrid haven

Again, breeding one of the males back would be great, but with a female boa they only go every other year sometimes, so knowing which male could save me 4 years, not to mention this may be a one in a million freak that does not repeat itself even if the right male is bred.

>>Again, breeding one of the males back would be great, but with a female boa they only go every other year sometimes, so knowing which male could save me 4 years, not to mention this may be a one in a million freak that does not repeat itself even if the right male is bred.

E-mail Kjun
he seems to think testing wouldn't be very expensive.
If he knows this, then maybe he will have an idea where you can have it done.
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Corn snakes and rat snakes..No one can have just one.
"Resistance is futile"
Jimmy Johnson
(Draybar)
Draybars Snakes

_____

A quick google search brought up the following....

Animal DNA Services
http://www.vetdnacenter.com/canine-parentage-test.html

Biogenetic Services, Inc.
http://www.biogeneticservices.com/human.htm

Genetic Technologies Limited
http://www.gtg.com.au/AnimalDNATesting/index.asp

That last one specifically notes that in addition to commonly tested animals, they can also do DNA paternity testing on exotic/zoo animals:
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PHWyvern

If I had a goat I would be all set, lol. They do not do snakes, but thank you very much. Craig Kade

Many univeristies are doing this type of work. I know it is possible to use the sheds to do genetic mark up. It may be that maturnity testing is easier than paternity testing.

Maturnity testing is easier, he already knows who the mother is.
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"I'll be back at 6 if not 7. 8 the very latest but definatly no later than 9...ish...Moscow time."

Since you seek the genetic identity of the father, you're relegated to nDNA testing (nuclear). Mitachondrial DNA (mtDNA) only has genetic material from the mother. I will be watching this thread to see if someone mentions where and how expensive nDNA would be. The good part is that you have the father for profile comparison.

Let us know.

Don
South Mountain Reptiles

Drop me an email at wbooth@nscu.edu. I am sure I can help you out.

Warren
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Dr Warren Booth
North Carolina State University
Department of Entomology
3309 Gardner Hall
Raleigh, NC 27695-7613

Check out this article.

http://www.wbaltv.com/family/10879284/detail.htm

This company will test your mut dog for what breeds are in it for $50. I'm sure they would do snakes.

What alot of people here do not realise is that testing paternity requires the use of molecular markers. Now, for dogs, agricultural animals, horses, etc, these have been developed and optimised. This, however, is not a common practice for snakes.
One of the best molecular markers for studying individual idendity and relatedness to other individuals within a population are microsatellites. These are short, tandem repeated sequences of DNA. They are generally found in the non coding region of the DNA and have a sufficiently high mutation rate that enables, over time, polymorphism to be generated. Now, to develope microsatellites can be a costly process, and a time consuming one at that. Also, they are generally species specific, so a marker for a Corn snake is unlikely to amplify and yield polymorphism in a Boa. So, if someone wants a paterity test carried out on a boa, as microsatellite markers are currently unavailable for this species, they would have to fork out somewhere in the region of $5k for the supplies to develope these, not including technician time and synthesis of the microsatellite primers.
Now, there are other methods available, however, I am unaware of people trying them. One method is a rather cheap and dirty ISSR method. The other is the screening for AFLP's. Both, I am unaware of being used on boas and both would therefore require time to optimise.
If anyone wants to contact me about paternity testing of any snake species, drop me an email to the address in my previous post above.
Thanks
Warren
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Dr Warren Booth
North Carolina State University
Department of Entomology
3309 Gardner Hall
Raleigh, NC 27695-7613

I have tried emailing you, and I get this

This Message was undeliverable due to the following reason:

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Host nscu.edu not found.

The following recipients did not receive this message:

Sorry. That should have been wbooth@ncsu.edu . Trying to type too fast.
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Dr Warren Booth
North Carolina State University
Department of Entomology
3309 Gardner Hall
Raleigh, NC 27695-7613