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I picked up a female tangerine Honduran a few days ago and absolutely fell in love. I'm a boidea guy and have been breeding boas and pythons for years, so milks are an entirely new adventure for me. Since I have acquired her I have been surfing the forums and classifieds. Now my wish list has doubled in length. I plan on picking up some black milks in the near future, as well as oreo peublans, and various ratsnakes and kingsnakes. Needless to say, this one small female Hondo has changed my life forever.
I really want to breed her, but I don't know what type of male I should pair her with. I'm curious about hondo genetics. Are the hypo and vanishing pattern traits recessive or dominant? I really like the ghost Hondos but I'm not sure of her genetic profile. I can't be certain she's het for anything. So, my question for all the milksnake pro's and hobbyists is: What type of male should I pair her with?

Welcome to the world of awesome milksnakes!..

The hypo trait is indeed a simple recessive gene, but the vanished trait is a line-bred trait that reduces the ring patterning, especially on the sides.

Well, if you pair her up with a ghost(anery x hypo) or anery/het for hypo, etc..., you will get some hypos het anery's, and if you get any ghosts, you will then know your hypo was also het anery at the same time. The possibilities are virtually endless with all the possible genetic combinations in the hobby now. The more traits you bred her to that the male has, the more you will know what she might also have as well. For example, a hybino(amel x hypo)that is het for anery, or a snow(amel x aner) that is het for hypo, or a ghost(hypo x anery)that is het for amel, etc...

You could get almost anything under the sun depending on what you paired her with, and what SHE might actually be heterozygous for herself.

~Doug

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

Thanks so much for the quick response. Awesome pics! I am now in the market for a Ghost VP female and a Snow male. I think that'll start things off just right. Why buy one, when I can buy two for twice the price, right? I'll post pics when I get my trio together.

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

>>... if you pair her up with a ghost(anery x hypo) or anery/het for hypo, etc..., you will get some hypos het anery's

hey doug, your answer re: offspring assumes the female's hypo. I didn't see anything in the original post suggesting that, just that she's a tangerine. Am I not reading carefully enough?

Your right Terry!..LOL!,...guess I sort of automatically thought "hypo" tangerine from reading it a bit too quickly....D'OH!!

~Doug

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

Geeez...I bet you made their mind up with those ugly pics...LOL
now their list got longer.....HA!...now...they'll like red stuff also....and patternless oranges...and extreme hypos....

...good luck

good stuff.....!!
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........JY

HAHAA!!,.....thanks man!..

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

>>I picked up a female tangerine Honduran a few days ago ... What type of male should I pair her with?

Well, if you could find a triple homozygous (amel, anery and hypo) male, all the babies would be at a minimum triple hets, so you'd have a great group that could produce almost all the morphs in the future. AND by using a triple-homo you'd know immediately if your female's het for any of those morphs. Use a male that's simply het for some of the morphs and you'll not necessarily get babies proving anything...but the absence of morph babies won't prove anything either.

Also, if you get a premium male like that i'd recommend you get at least several more females. An ideal breeding group is maybe 2.4 to 2.6, with the second male perhaps being a less useful genotype but available as backup should something happen to your primary male. That way you don't run the risk of having 4-6 females go to waste for want of a mate.

Here's an ideal list of Hondos in my opinion:

Males:
Triple Homo (Pearl)
Ghost het Amel
Hybino het Anery

Females:
Tricolor Hypo het Snow
Tangerine Hypo het Snow
Ghost het Amel
Hybino het Anery

You can mix up the pairings and produce potentially every morph, each year!

Fun stuff!