well, for some time now I've seen snakes for sale and depending on somethings which seem to be called, 'hypo','het','albino', etc... what are these used for and what do they mean? (I know what albino is) Thanks again for the info everyone. J
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Thanks, J
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What is What?
briggzer
Aug 25, 2003 05:56 PM
Replies (1)
chrish
Aug 25, 2003 11:29 PM
well, for some time now I've seen snakes for sale and depending on somethings which seem to be called, 'hypo','het','albino', etc... what are these used for and what do they mean? (I know what albino is) Thanks again for the info everyone. J
- albino refers to snakes lacking melanin (amelanistic)
- hypo is an abbreviation of either the word hypoerythristic or hypomelanistic. Hypoerythristic snakes have less red/orange than normal while hypomelanistic snakes have less melanin (black/brown) than normal
- het is an abbreviation for heterozygous, a basic genetic term. Heterozygous means that the animal carries one copy of the particular allele for the trait in question (such as albinism) and one copy of the normal allele. Heterozygous snakes are generally normal looking (because most traits bred in captive snakes are recessive).
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Chris Harrison
