Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey guys, im kind of new to the boa world and was wandering what is hyp and he and also how can i tell? thanx guys

Here is a couple of links

http://www.ralphdavisreptiles.com/matrix/ralphs_words.asp

what is a het part 1 and 2

http://www.theboaforum.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=boapics1;action=display;num=1014309917

for history of hypo
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www.BallPython.Us

Unfortunately, Ralph Davis only defined het for recessive mutant genes.

Het is short for "heterozygous". Genes come in pairs. If the two members of the pair are the same, the snake is homozygous for that pair of genes. If the two members of the pair of genes are not the same, then the snake is heterozygous for that pair of genes.

If a mutant gene is recessive to the wild type or normal gene, then the heterozygous individual looks like a normal individual. Albino is a recessive mutant gene. A heterozygous albino snake has one albino mutant gene paired with a normal gene and looks normal.

Here's where standard genetics goes beyond Ralph:

If a mutant gene is dominant to the wild type or normal gene, then the heterozygous individual looks like a homozygous mutant individual. I'm not positive of any dominant mutants in boas, but striped in California kings is dominant to normal (banded).

If a mutant gene is codominant to the wild type or normal gene, then the heterozygous individual does not look normal and does not look like a homozygous mutant individual. Some people say that salmon (AKA hypo) is a codominant mutant gene. And some people say that homozygous salmon boas (having two salmon mutant genes) and heterozygous salmons (having one salmon mutant gene and one normal gene) can look enough alike that the gene should be called a dominant mutant. I'm not convinced either way, yet.

Clear as mud?

Paul Hollander