This site could be of value in discovering parthenogenesis in hognose. A good indicator is viable eggs without copulation. Of course sperm retention is the first suspect. Next would be parthenogenesis.

When morph breeding, there is a easy casual indicator. When breeding a normal to a co-dom or het to recessive. normally visuals appear. If a second clutch without copulation occurs and all the neonates are normal. I would suspect parthenogenesis. Or the next years clutch without copulation.

This is fairly common in colubrids. If your interested, google up Gordon W Schuett Theres a list of publications of sperm retention and parthenogenesis.

What is interesting to me is, How and why is parthenogenesis expressed. I do not know why it occurs and at other times, non-copulation produces infertiles. If they have the ability and its proven they do(colubrids/crots) infertiles would seem to be a waste of energy.

in my case, I discovered parthenogenesis in kingsnakes in the seventies, by pattern breeding. I hatched and raised "normal" patterned females and only bred them to other morphs. When I ceased breeding them, they continued to produce viable eggs. The difference was, they only produced their "normal" pattern and did not express any males of other morphs they had copulated with. This occurred with a number of females, I would think that opportunity is here with hogs.

[ Reply To This Message ] [ Subscribe to this Thread ] [ Hide Replies ]