Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've aquired a pair of mexican milksnakes that are hets for spotteds, they are both 66% hets, what will be likely hood of a spotted hatching?

Also mine have pure black bellies and on has ornage bands and the other apricot coloured bands. Does this mean they are worth more than just normals with full rings around bellies?

Thanks in advance

Gaz

This a a good statistics question. If they both turn out to be het (the 66% chance is actually closer to 67%, so they also both have a 33% chance of being normal mexican milks.) Your likelyhood of them BOTH being het propagates to a .67 * .67 = .45 or 45% chance of them both being hets. When you breed two hets, there is a 25% chance (per egg) of getting spotteds. So your chances for each egg being a spotted would be .45 * .25 = .1125 or 11.25%.

Someone please correct me if I botched my math.

I don't know the answer to your belly question.

TA

Thanks for replying. So what your saying is that this will be a case of luck or chance. But as they are both 67% hets I have a better chance of hatching one than anyone who breeds normals.

So only time will tell.

Gaz

The whole possible het thing is kind of a scam unless you are the lucky one who actually gets two hets. To me, if a seller cannot guarantee that the animals he is selling are 100% hets, then the price should be the same as normals.

You may have 100% hets or you may have 100% normals, or you may have one het and one normal. You basically grabbed from a pile of babies where statistically 2 out of 3 are true hets, but in any one given clutch you never know.

BTW, Mexican milks are not high-dollar snakes (well, the spotteds can be but whether or not an annulata has orange bands or a bare belly does not make a large difference in price.) Don't get me wrong, they are fantastic little snakes that do great in captivity and don't demand much. You will find in this hobby that the snakes most suited to captivity are often the least expensive.