Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Greetings Burmese Lovers,

I have a few questions regarding the genetics of my baby Burmese which hatched out over Father's Day weekend.

Here is the scenario:

The father is a Labyrinth phenotype; mother is an Albino Granite phenotype.

Approximately half the babies are normal phenotype with the other half being albino phenotype.

Question #1 - Can I assume that the father is a Labyrinth het Albino?

Question #2 - Would all the normals would be triple hets for Albino, Labyrinth & Granite?

Question #3 - Would the Albinos be double hets for Labyrinth and Granite?

Question #4 - Breeding two triple hets together will produce Albinos, Labyrinths, Granites and combinations of the three?

Question #5 - Breeding two Albino double hets together will produce Albino Labyrinths and Albino Granites?

Thanks to all for helping me figure out this genetic puzzle!

-- Gary in Colorado

You are correct in all your assumptions. The only way you would produce any albino offspring from breeding a labyrinth to an albino granite is if the labyrinth was het for albino to begin with. And your calculations for breeding the offspring are somewhat correct too. If you bred two triple hets together you would get the following:
albino labyrinth granites
albino labyrinths 66% het for granite
albino granites 66% het for labyrinth
albinos 66% het for both granite and labyrinth
and normals that are 66% het for albino, labyrinth, and granite

Breeding albino double hets together woudl result in the following:
albino labyrinth granite
albino granites, 66% het for labyrinth
albino labyrinth, 66% het for granite
and albinos 66% het for granite and labyrinth

The only thing I would strongly suggest is to work the project in a way so that you can obtain unrelated offspring. You should try to avoid direct cross breeeding. From all I have researched the resulting offspring from siblnigs being bred together result in more slugs, stillborn and abnormalities as well as weaker animals that are more susceptible to diseases and ailments such as RI. Line breeding the offspring back to the parents is a little more effective then breeding clutch mates but once again should be avoided if at all possible. Hope this helps a little, and if anyone would like to add or correct anything feel free but I am pretty sure my calculations and information is correct. Todd

Thanks Todd for helping bring some clarity to the genetics issue as well as solid breeding advice.

Re breeding two triple hets together, wouldn't they also produce the following:

Granite 66% het for albino and labyrinth
Labyrinth 66% het for albino and granite

When dealing with triple hets, aren't there 64 possible genetic combinations in the Punnett Square. The odds of producing a phenotype albino granite labyrinth would be 1/64?

-- Gary in Colorado

lol...yeah you are correct I did miss a few there but you have the basic understanding down. Also if you go to http://geneticswizard.com/
it is a wonderfull site that breaks down the actual probability of up to three different traits. Hope this helps a little more...Todd

Thats cool. Hardly anyone dealves deep enough into the greek mythology to understand the Titans. I use Mythology names for all my snakes. Todd