Reptile & Amphibian Forums

If you have two boas, both Het for albino, and bred them... what would the offspring look like? Would that be "double Het", or would you have a percentage of the babies born albino? I have no idea how all of this works. But often see snakes at shows marked "66% Het for (whatever)", or just "Het for albino"... what does that mean?
Is there any good website that explains the different "Het"s, "Hypo"s, etc, and what the offspring of these would look like?

Thank you in advance,

Blkwido

Hello..

If you breed your 2 hets together your litter will consist of approximately 25% albinos, 50% het albinos, and 25% normals.
So all of the normal appearing neonates in your litter/clutch will be 66% het albino (since a heterozygous animal is not visually different from a normal animal, thus you will not be able to differientiate them from one another )

www.geneticswizard.com can help you figure out breeding scenarios, and also if I remember correctly has quite a bit of good info about genetics as well.

Later
-----
Randall L Turner Jr.
www.aircapitalconstrictors.com

You never experience life until you have kids..then you realize what you should have done rather then what you did do

>If you have two boas, both Het for albino, and bred them... what would the offspring look like? Would that be "double Het", or would you have a percentage of the babies born albino?

Randy T answered most of this. I just want to add that there are two strains of albino boas, the Kahl strain and Sharp strain. You should stick to one strain, as crossing them is reputed to produce normal looking babies. These would be "double het" -- heterozygous for Kahl strain albino and heterozygous for Sharp strain albino.

>I have no idea how all of this works. But often see snakes at shows marked "66% Het for (whatever)", or just "Het for albino"... what does that mean?

Het for albino usually means that one parent was an albino. The snake must have one albino gene paired with a normal gene.

66% het for albino generally means that both parents were het for albino. Statistically, 2/3 of the normal-looking babies are heterozygous for albino, but you don't know for sure which is which.

50% het for albino generally means that one parent was het for albino and the other parent was normal. All the babies look normal. Statistically, half of the babies are heterozygous for albino, but you don't know for sure which is which.

Sometimes you'll see a boa that is less than 50% possibility of being heterozygous albino. I wouldn't pay more than the price of a normal for such a snake because the odds are high that the snake is actually a normal.

>Is there any good website that explains the different "Het"s, "Hypo"s, etc, and what the offspring of these would look like?

Here are some quicky definitions:

Heterozygous (gene pair) - One gene is normal, and the other gene is a mutant or abnormal gene. The two genes are different.

Homozygous (gene pair) - The two members of the pair are alike. A pair of normal genes or a pair of identical mutant genes.

Recessive mutant gene - A heterozygous snake looks normal. The mutant appearance only shows up when homozygous. Example, albino in the boa constrictor.

Dominant mutant gene - The mutant appearance shows up whether the snake is homozygous or heterozygous for the mutant. The heterozygous individual looks like a homozygous mutant individual. There aren't any really good examples known yet in snakes, yet, though spider in the ball python may be one.

Codominant mutant gene - The homozygous mutant individual doesn't look like the heterozygous individual, and neither looks normal. Example, tiger in the reticulated python.

Possible matings of a snake that is heterozygous for a recessive mutant:
Heterozygous x normal --> all look normal. 50% probability hets.
Heterozygous x heterozygous --> 1/4 homozygous mutant, 3/4 look normal. The normal-looking babies are 66% probability hets.
Heterozygous x homozygous mutant --> 1/2 heterozygous mutant (looks normal), 1/2 homozygous mutant.

Possible matings of a snake that is heterozygous for a dominant mutant:
Heterozygous x normal --> 1/2 heterozygous (and show the mutant appearance), 1/2 normal (look normal)
Heterozygous x heterozygous --> 1/4 normal, 2/4 heterozygous for the mutant, 1/4 homozygous for the mutant. The mutant-looking babies are 66% probability hets.
Heterozygous x homozygous mutant --> All babies show the mutant appearance. 1/2 heterozygous mutant, 1/2 homozygous mutant.

Possible matings of a snake that is heterozygous for a codominant mutant:
Heterozygous x normal --> 1/2 heterozygous (and show the heterozygous mutant appearance), 1/2 normal (look normal)
Heterozygous x heterozygous --> 1/4 normal (look normal), 2/4 heterozygous for the mutant (show the heterozygous mutant appearance), 1/4 homozygous for the mutant (show the homozygous mutant appearance).
Heterozygous x homozygous mutant --> 1/2 heterozygous mutant, 1/2 homozygous mutant.

You might try Rich Ihle's site, salmonboa.com. There should be a link at the top of the boa forum. Just remember that while salmon is hypo, not all hypos are salmon boas. 8-)