Questions about genectics/breeding of snakes?

[ANIMALMAN6]

i keep different types snakes, and im now interested in breeding them. i know how to breed them as of the process and requirements, i would like to know more about genetics.

for example how are certain morphs brought into existence ?

is it as simple as breeding this morph(A) to this morph(B) will create this morph(C) ?


or is a wild snake caught with a new/unusual morph then transported to a breeding center then breed to another morph normal or other morph ?


when breeding snakes with the same genes/morph, will i produce 100% off spring of the parents, or is it possible to get offspring of different morphs ? for example two albinos are breed, will the off spring be 100% albinos or will there be some normals as well.


for ball pythons ive heard there is a morph table or chart which tells you that breeding this morph to that morph will create this morph , im not sure what its actually called, but i would love to know what its called and where can i find it.

I want to find the same morph/gene requirement info for burmese pythons,ball pythons,carpet pythons, and green tree pythons. for example what morphs are needed to create a carmel burmese python ?

any help/advice will be appreciated, serious answers plz. no unessasy comments

[shaunyboy]

Designer Morphs
by John Berry

is a good book to get you started

i'm off to bed just now (its 2:30am),i will post a little on Carpet Python Morphs tomorrow mate

cheers shaun

[SnakeyJay]

It's quite confusing mate... The best bet is to buy a book with genetics in it... For boa's I'd advise "The complete boa constrictor" by Vin Russo.

[Rogue628]

For ball python morphs, go to worldofballpythons and there's a genetic wizard on there that will give you a basic rundown of the morphs and what you'll get when you breed cross morphs.

As far as any other species, I'm still learning myself. I have an idea of what main morphs in certain animals are dominant, co dominate, recessive, but I'm still learning how they interact with one another. Honestly it's all quite confusing.

As Shaun and Jay suggested, pick up whatever books the more experienced breeders suggest. It's all very confusing, especially at first but having a book that will explain certain species are sure to help.

I personally have no interest in breeding. I never have in the past or now so I doubt that I'll ever have an interest. What I do have an interest in is what morphs and genes can cause genetic defects as I'd like to know what I may be getting into if I get certain morphs.

You also have to realize with the more common bred animals, several new morphs are appearing every season. Some are proven, some are waiting to be proven, and some are just complete oddballs that may take several years to prove out.

[KORBIN5895]

So what kind of snakes do you currently have?

[ANIMALMAN6]

i currently have burmese pythons, 1 normal male, 1 albino female. a baby jungle carpet python, and 2 ball pythons, 1 male , 1 female .

Here is something else i want your opionions about, my burmese pythons came from a clutch which contained blizzards,platniums,black and blue eyed lusticts,albinos,normals and maybe some other morphs, as i was told by the breeder who produced and hatched them.and he does have some all white burms, some with blue, some with black eyes, some looked pale white with a grayish tint, normals and albinos and all from the same clutch. so this means my two burms carry those genes as well, the genes just aernt dominant but reccesive or hidden , right ?

[ANIMALMAN6]

i just checked with my breeder, he said that the parents were hypo platniums het for albino. either both or one was platnuim and the other was platnium het for albino. and i believe he said in order to produce the parents he crossed a ivory to a albino and got platnium, or something similar to that . i couldnt hear him clearly due to noise , i will check back later for full details.

[Sorraia]

I can't speak for snakes specifically, because I do not know enough about their genetics, but speaking from experience with other species (namely rats and horses), it really depends on the genetics of the animals involved. Colors and patterns may be created by the presence and interaction of different genes (sometimes environment can have an affect too). These genes may be dominant, recessive, co-dominant, incompletely dominant, sex-linked, sex-influenced, sex-limited, etc. All of this works together to create the color pattern you see. This means creating a certain color/pattern may be as simple as breeding two similar animals, or may be much more complicated. It may also mean two similar animals will produce an entire litter of similar animals or may produce a rainbow. Two different animals may produce an entire litter of a different color/pattern, or again produce a rainbow. It all depends. As an example, I used to breed rats. I had one bloodline from which I knew exactly what I would get every time, because I had selectively bred them to limit the number of color genes present. I could breed two individuals and the resulting litter would be all one color with one to three patterns. Another bloodline was a literal rainbow hodge-podge when I first started working with it. One litter I bred two different colored animals and the resulting litter had 6 different colors and 3 different patterns, resulting in 8 different varieties, with only one baby resembling the father and none resembling the mother!