>>is it common to end up with a totally black bellied western hognose hatchling?

Yes, black bellies are not that uncommon depending on the parents. What traits do your hatchling's parents exhibit?

I hatched out two clutches from two separate pairings of different mothers but the same father. One clutch was produced from a solid black bellied female and a homo Pink Pastel male with a speckled belly and had about 50% all black bellies, the other half speckled. This same female was bred to a different male last year who is also black bellied and produced all black bellied young.

The 2nd clutch was produced from a speckled belly WT Female and the same homo Pink Pastel male which delivered all speckled bellies.

I'm assuming right now it might be a heritable genetic trait, possibly co-dominant from my current studies of the few clutches I've hatched out so far. I would be interested in knowing if anybody else has studied and tried proving this out or not. Surely some of the big time breeders might have a better understanding of this than I do.


-----
Troy Rexroth
Rextiles

[ Show Entire Thread ]