Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Are dominant trait morphs commonly displayed in the region where they originate? For instance, the Enchi morph came from that region of Africa (reason it has that name…I think) anyway, would most of the balls from that region display that characteristic? What about other dominant morphs? I would tend to believe that the spider would likely not be commonly found due to its wobble issue. What about others such as Het Red, Pinstripe, Mojave/Lesser? Since many of their patterns aren’t to wildly different from the normal pattern/coloration I would assume that they might. I’m guessing the BEL would likely be picked off in the wild since its coloration would not be environmentally favored.

Both Dominant and simple recessive traits are displayed quite frequently in the wild of some animals.

California Kingsnakes have the "Striped" morph which is dominant. In some areas it is more common than the Ringed or Normal type that is recessive.

The Melanistic Garter snakes of the Great Lakes regions are very common. The melanistic gene is simple recessive, but it apparently has become advantagious in those areas.

The same goes for color and pattern morphs in moths, shrews, deer mice, hawks, and squirrels. In my area there are black, red, and two-toned Fox squirrels. All the same species, all intermate, and all seem to do just fine.
-----
Lincoln, NE
0.1 Pastel, 1.0 Pastel het Pied, 0.1 Pied, 0.1 Cinn, 1.0 Black Pewter, 1.0 Woma (hidden gene?), 0.1 Yellowbelly
2.1 Normals, 1.0 Thayeri, 0.1 Thayeri X Alterna, 0.1 Whitesided P. catenifer sayi, 0.1 crazy cat, 1.0 husband

Thanks for the reply.

Yeah, I could imagine that a dark garter snake in northern habitats would be able to absorb more heat than a lighter colored snake...this might be a reason it is environmentally favored and could be the most frequently encountered phenotype in the area.

The same is true for scorpions in the gulf coast area of the US that are rather dark colored while the same species is lighter colored in west Texas and New Mexico.

I've noticed pigeon coloration can vary wildly too. Sometimes it seems the aberrant patterned can be relatively common in some populations around here.

I guess my question is how frequent are these morphs encountered where they were discovered? Are they: truly unique/one of; or represented by only a few individuals; or relatively common; or the predominate phenotype in the area?

Additionally, are the ball pythons breeding groups, that contain the "morph" trait isolated from other ball python populations?

Thanks,

W. Smith

I guess my question is how frequent are these morphs encountered where they were discovered? Are they: truly unique/one of; or represented by only a few individuals; or relatively common; or the predominate phenotype in the area?

Additionally, are the ball pythons breeding groups, that contain the "morph" trait isolated from other ball python populations?

I am not sure as to the frequency but I am sure it is virtually nil for most morphs. I have only ever herd of one Spider ever having been imported. I know that some of the other morphs are found on occasion such as Pieds and albinos. I would say that most morphs are truly unique and are represented by a "few individuals" and are not commonly found in the wild.

I do not think that the ball python morphs would be affected to much by there apparent defects, as they are nocturnal animals and stay in burrows for much of their lives.

To my knowledge ball python "breeding groups" are found in isolated populations (areas). Enchis are found in certain areas as are Pieds, Albinos and Hypos, etc, etc. All have a location that they are generally found in.