Reptile & Amphibian Forums

With the popularity of ball python morphs on the rise and the lack of any big breeders in my area (at least I haven't found any yet, well except for one several hours drive away) I am considering getting into breeding ball pythons.

First off, I have none, so learning everything I can about ball python morphs and how the genetics work is my first step. From my reading here, books and discussions I know about the basic care and keeping of ball pythons so that part is covered.

My main question is how can you tell when a snake is 100%, 66% or 50% het besides from growing it up and breeding it? Or is that the only way to prove a het? From my understanding hets look like normals without any distinquishing external markings/tags saying it's a het. Or are all hets just possible hets with no guarentees (unless it is 2-3 years old and bred to prove it).

Also, how can something be 100% het yet not actually display the morph characteristics externally (ie a 100% albino lacking any melanine(?)on the outside)

Another thing that I would find useful is knowing how many recessive pairs are needed for certain morphs? I beleive albinos only need one pair, but what about spiders, pastels etc?

heterozygus...........in plain talk..to carry a "hidden" gene.....meaning it is het for amel and doesn't show it.it has half of what it needs to be an albino..but is normal colored...

albinos are homozygus.......

.......only way to tell..like you said..prove it yourself.

100% hets only way is to trust the person you get it from......

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spiders and pastels are not recessive..need only one to make more when mixed with normals.......

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Check out the NERD website they have a real good introduction to the whole genetics thing. Pretty straight forward, easy to understand and will answer most of your questions.

As for telling what % hets are no real visible way - reputation of the breeder.
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Tosha

1.1.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy)
0.1.0 Siberian Husky (Kita)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Dessert Tortoise (Pope)
5.4.2 Fish (1,2,3,4...)
0.0.1 Frog rescued from pool skimmer
0.0.2 Lizards rescued from pool skimmer

Punnett Square, Make friends with it.
Learn the terms, Homozy., het. etc.
Know what mutations are which:I.E;
Albino=simple recessive requires 1.1 100% hets to produce albinos
Pastel-codom or dom you need one male to breed to 2-3 females and half of each cluth should be pastel.
Understand the market around you, Maybe theres a reason why big breeders aren't there.
Also, there are a million other people doing exactly what your doing, Anticipate the market failing within the next couple of years, as did the corn snake market with all those morphs and even the burm, it only had a few but there was enough and it was there for a while.
And project your overhead costs and the price to sell the babies at if you buy a pair of albinos for $3k and the market drops, you lose money instead of make it in the long run, Anticipate the sell of babies and the rate your adults will put back on the weight.

There are hidden aspects here at work, ask any big breeder (that only breeds snakes or any animal and doesn't do anything else work wise) Just remember its not hard to control Temps and through two small snakes together and get nice babies as long as you have the upfront cash, There is no money to be made or no new morphs for you to create the ball market is run by giants with huge bank accounts and a lot better connections in Africa for new morphs then anyone.No this is not a slam against Bob Clark, NERD, Ralph or anyone its just a simple fact.

Also when breeding baby's if its not a morph PLEASE LABEL IT AS NORMAL give us sane people a break from normal ball now being something new.