Reptile & Amphibian Forums

.... many types of Hypomelanistic BPs are not compatible with each other....how come I have NEVER seen a BP that is DBL het for 2 kinds of Ghosts? If its proven that lines aren't compatible.....these snakes MUST exist....where are they?
Just wonderin...
Mike Martin

I'm not convinced that there are any proven genetic lines of what we now call ghosts that aren't compatible.

The initial reported case of incompatibility involved what we now call ghost bred to a different sort of animal described as having odd scale shape that ironically was the original namesake for "ghost" in ball pythons. I'm not sure if that line was actually proven and if it is still around.

The only other case where I knew a little of the background involved a bunch of imported "ghost". My concern there is that any import hasn't yet been line bred and proven to be a genetic ghost. What if there are some non-genetic causes of ghost like looking animals?

So, if anyone has a detailed report of two proven genetic ghosts not producing ghosts I'd like to hear it.

I know of 2 instances in which animals that "seemed" to be Hypomelanistic were bred together to produce normal offspring. Dan and Collette Sutherland mentioned it to me years ago in conversation as did Greg Graziani. I am not sure if all snakes involved proved out to be inheritable on their own. They probably have not since it would take several years to breed a "Hypo" to a normal and then the progeny back to the original "Hypo."

Personally I think that almost ALL inheritable Hypomelanism is compatible. I bred a 2002 CH Hypo from Ghanan origin to a 2001 "Bell Line" Hypo and produced all Hypos. Joe Compel produced many Hypos from his stock which are (I believe) unrelated CH specimens. Of the offspring I produced from my "Bell" x "Wild" pairing I could call some of them "Orange", "Yellow" & "Butterscotch."

While these names can be descriptive of the animal that the time they are given, they may mature into a different "color type" altogether. I found that my "Bell Line" male from 2001 was a Butterscotch then an Orange and finally a Green?!? So what's in a name?

Thanks... Take it easy!

-----
Sean Bradley
Owner : EbN
www.ExoticsByNature.com
www.BallPythonMorphs.com
www.CornSnakeMorphs.com

Thanks for the feedback.

The Graziani case was one that I was following via his website at the time. I believe that each pair that didn't produce ghosts included at least one imported animal but I also don't know if any of those imported animals ever proved genetic.

Maybe the Sutherlands can speak up and let us know if their breeding that didn't produce ghosts as expected involved unproven lines or not. I think I've read that NERD also had some normal babies but again I don't know if both sides where proven genetic. The other case I've heard of was VPI with the namesake "ghost" that is different from what we call ghost today and which I'm not sure was ever proven either.

On the other side, I did see a beautiful local ghost female that reportedly came in ch (and was sold as a normal) that proved compatible with a proven line once she grew up and was recognized as a ghost.

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