If the special snk

[bterrill]

I'm not breeding and do not plan to for atleast another 1 1/2 - 2 years (unless I buy an adult from someone), and I do not know which type of snake I'll breed out of the ones I have, but my question is more on the morphs.

I know most people pick and choose the parent snakes for desired results but are there any base probabilities for producing a certain type of snake from a 'normal snake'.

Let me make an example. How likely is it to get one of those "monster tails" from two normal boas? How about a "ghost" or "salmon" -- is it even possible to get one of them out of a litter of 30 or 40 or do you have to really know genetics and stuff like that? I am just curious if I match average snakes what the likely hood of getting a few "eye catchers" out of the mix.

I apologize for my title I hit enter or clicked the button while making it.

[bebowebb]

Re: If the special snk

When you talk about morphs, you are talking about genetics. If you want a ghost, a motley, an albino, etc... then the parents have to have the specific genetics to produce those babies.

When you talk about a Monster Tail, it is actually a specific bloodline produced by Jeff Ronne, Sr.

When breeding 'normal' boas, you will end up with 'normal' babies. There is always a possiblity that a 'normal' boa is heterozygous for something a specific trait, but it is relatively rare. The only way to figure it out would be to breed it, but breeding it with another normal boa will decrease your chance of producing anything special to almost zero.

For instance, if you were to breed a het. albino boa to a normal, you will not produce any albino boas. To produce an albino boa, both parents will have to have the albino gene, either homozygously or heterozygously.

Genetics are by no means something simple to explain or to understand for that matter.

I guess (all of my rambling aside) the answer to your ultimate question of producing something 'special' from two normals. It can happen, but it is very rarely done.

[b3napoleon]

Re: If the special snk

A ghost is actually 2 homozygous traits, anery and hypo. Anery and albino are recessive traits, hypo is a co-dominant trait. If you breed a hypo to a normal, you will get appox 50% hypos, 50% normals. If you breed an albino to a normal, you will get all hets for albino. If you breed an albino to a het albino, you will get 50% hets, 50% albinos.

In regards to the question you're asking, no you can't get an albino, hypo etc from breeding 2 normals together. The monster tail name is only given to a snake coming out of that bloodline. It's kind of like dog breeding, you wouldn't be able to get a Watchdog pitbull from 2 non-Watchdog bloodline parents. You might get a couple nice looking normals when you breed your normals together, but you won't get any hypos, ghosts, or anything like that.

[JLTerry]

Re: If the special snk

Actually, you can have ghost that are het, not homozygous, for hypomelanism but have to be homozygous for the anery gene. Basically a ghost is showing both anery and hypo genes but hypo is visual in the het form. You can also have a super ghost if the animal is homozygous for both genes. Like already stated the monster tails are a part of a bloodline just like cherry salmons, EBV, or inferno pastels. Basically, unless your boas are het for a recessive trait that you don't know about then there will only be normal boas produced in such a pairing.

[bterrill]

Re: If the special snk

Yeah I saw the monster tails on Jeff's site when buying my caging and they looked sweet, but those "salmons" are stunning as well.

Morph breeding sounds complex so I plan to start with my "normal" bci/bccs but ever since seeing a lot of the pictures here I've been curious how some of these are made or if they just pop out rarely in flukes.

I barely know the names and what they mean of most things I see here so I don't really know what het for x means or anything , but I got loads of time to read and research.

I think I'll be making pretty standard babies to start, as my oldest boas are all pretty 'standard' looking, but maybe down the road I can try making something super cool.

Last question in regards to the pattern/morphs. Are "super stripes" and such also all genetics? I am in the middle of purchasing 2 bloods + 2 borneo short tail pythons from Kara @ BloodPythons.com and the two borneos have pretty good stripes on their lower backs -- will these make mostly stripes or is that all luck?

Thanks for all the replies!

[bebowebb]

Re: If the special snk

Are "super stripes" and such also all genetics?

Yes, there are genetic striped boas. However, there are also boas with stripes that are not genetic.

When you talk to the person you're buying them from, ask about the stripes. They should be able to tell you the parents information.

Good luck!

[bterrill]

Re: If the special snk

Alright bebowebb thanks for all the information. I'll read up heavily on things over the next months. Like I said, got nothing but time for atleast a year but I don't think the first litter or two, assuming I'm successful, I'll care one bit about what pops out. It will just be an experience either way.

Thanks again everyone, this forum is really full of helpful people.