Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have a friend whos a breeder and he swears his mojave has produced lessers when bred to normals. he said all the big breeders know it but it's a touchy subject. could someone please give me some info on this. im in the market for a lesser but i don't know if i need one if i can get a mojave for cheaper and produce lessers as well. thanks so much

I'll answer you with a question. If Mojaves throw Lessers than why haven't the smaller breeders figured it out yet? Furthermore, why do they produce different supers? These may not answer your question but hopefully they give you some food for thought.
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"yeah, eagles have feathers hanging off of them too and I don't smoke --- out of them!" PS it was a dream catcher!

I've produced over 100 mojaves, with no lessers.

Eric

No true.

I'd be pissed off if I produced Mojaves from my Lessers...... Very convenient that it is the other way around.....

Corey

The two seem to be linked somehow genetically, since when crossed they produce an even whiter snake than the super mojave. However I have not and I know of no one who has produced a lesser from a mojave.

no .unless you breed a mojave to a lesser .Then you might get some of each and hopefully a white snake in the same clutch !!
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Kenny Scott .
Spud-
www.Spudsballpythons.com

It sure sounds like mojaves consistently produce mojave looking animals and lessers consistently produce lesser looking animals and the homozygous versions of each seen so far also consistently look different. Given that they are dominant type mutations and constantly being outbred this would tend to rule out the continued differences being due to other genes that just happened to be in the founders. If there are consistent differences still it pretty much has to be due to real differences in the mojave and lesser mutations.

That being said there probably are other genes that contribute to how light or dark an individual mojave or lesser looks. The lightest mojaves may be lighter than the darkest lessers which could be causing confusion but doesn't necessarily mean they aren't separate mutations.

I do however believe they are DIFFERENT mutations of the SAME gene (a multiple mutant allele situation). From what I've heard all the white snakes produced by crossing two lines produce only the two lines (at about a 50/50 split) when bred to normals and don't produce any normals or leucistics from this cross. This is fundamentally different than a combination of two DIFFERENT mutations of DIFFERENT genes like bumblebee which can produce normals and bees mixed in with spiders and pastels when crossed with a normal.

A mojave doesn't create lessers. They are different traits but located on the same allele.
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Nita Hamilton
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Ball Pythons
ballpythonworld.com

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Forever Trust in what we are,and nothing else Matters