Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have been seeing normal ball pythons claiming to be het for lucy......I thought the only way to get a lucy was with mojaves, lessers, butters, fires, ect. Wouldn't a "het" lucy BE one of those??? Can these so called hets make lucys without the other ingrediants??? If so HOW?? The mojave is a co-dom, and the super form (lucistic) is a dom, so how can you have hets????

and so are several others, mochas, Vin Russo

Using standard genetics definitions, a mojave ball python is heterozygous for a codominant mutant gene named mojave. And the super mojave is homozygous for a codominant mutant gene named mojave.

Standard genetics definitions:

Homozygous = the two genes in a gene pair are the same.

Heterozygous = the two genes in a gene pair are not the same.

"Het" is not reserved for recessive mutant genes. All gene pairs are either heterozygous or homozygous. By extension, an animal with a gene pair that fits the appropriate definition is homozygous or heterozygous.

A mojave ball python has a gene pair with a normal gene and a mojave mutant gene. The mojave mutant gene is not the same as the normal gene. Therefore, a mojave ball python is heterozygous.

A super mojave ball python has a gene pair with two mojave mutant gene. The two mojave mutant genes are the same. Therefore, a super mojave ball python is homozygous.

What if a leucistic ball python has a lesser platinum and a mojave mutant gene in its gene pair? The lesser gene is not the same as the mojave gene. Therefore, that ball python is also heterozygous.

In the Texas rat snake, leucistic is a recessive mutant gene. So het leucistic Texas rats look normal. As far as I know, none of the mutant genes involved in making leucistic ball pythons are recessives. The most cheritable explanation for the normal ball pythons claiming to be het lucy is that the seller does not understand the genetics. There are also less cheritable explanations. Whatever the explanation, I would not pay more for such a snake than for a normal.

I think I see what you are asking. If a BP is Het for Leucistic, it would be a morph, not a normal, which is what you are seeing.

So the question would be, are there any Normal ball pythons (not a morph) that are Het for any kind of Leucistic?

I was under the impression that they were all morphs (Mojave, Fire, Russo, etc). All of these are Het for leucistic AND morphs in their own right because the gene is CoDominant.
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1.0 normal ball python
0.1 greyband hybrid kingsnake
0.2 crazy cats
1.0 husband