Honduran Genetics

I'm just studying the art of breeding Hondurans. Soon I will buy some snakes and get started.

It's probably easiest to start with one or more pairs of double or triple hets. Those would likely be hatchlings though, not ready to breed for 2-3 years.

So I'll probably get a few affordable yearlings/2 yr olds (or adults), so I can begin to gain some firsthand experience before my double/triple hets are ready to breed. It would be nice to do some breeding next year.

I may get an Albino and an Anery to make my own double het for snows.

There's a lot of options. For example, what if I bred a triple het to a regular which is 100% het hypo and 66% het albino?

I think that would yield some hypos and some regulars, all of which would be 100% het for hypo. What I'm trying to figure out is what percentage het albino would they be, etc...

Would they be 25% possible het for anery, and 33% het for albino, or what?

Thanks for reading my post and sharing your knowledge.

If you breed a triple het to a 100% het hypo 66% het albino, you should get the following results:

25% of your babies SHOULD be hypo. If the 66% het albino proves to be het albino, you should get some albinos (again 25%). If both of those traits show up in the same snake, you will have some hybinos.

As for the normal babies, they will be 66% het hypo and 50% het anery. If you do produce at least one albino, then your babies will be 66% het albino. If you do not produce any albinos, your 66% het albino is likely not het albino, and I would call your babies 50% het albino.

Keep in mind that by 66% het, this means that there is a 66% chance that the snake is het for albino. It either is or is not a het. That can only be discovered by breeding it to test the genetics. Also, keep in mind that these are only expected averages, and real life doesn't always match the numbers exactly.

Hopefully this was helpful and not too confusing. If you have more questions or need clarification, let me know, and I'll do my best to answer.

Wow, that would be neat to get a hybino from that pairing.

And 50% (approx) of the babies being het for anery is pretty cool too.

On one level, it may be more satisfying to start with a pairing like this, or to make your own double hets. Then you could begin to produce the more exotic morphs from those.

However, this stuff does take 2-3 years per generation, so buying double hets or an Anery het albino x Albino het anery pair can get you there a lot quicker.

As a beginner, I'm a bit reluctant to invest over $1,000 for a snow/het combo, or a yearling triple het pair. I suppose if I just wanted to make money I'd get pairs of snows, ghosts, etc....

But it seems like it might be more fun to start at a lower level and develop your own lines. Plus I don't have thousands to invest in breeders at the moment.

Thanks for the reply, it helps a lot. I'll keep you all posted on which snakes I decide to start with. Any suggestions are welcome.

I always thought that the best way to go would be a anery het albino and an albino het anery. That way, you know what you are getting for sure. You will get albinos, anerys, snows and normals that are definite double hets. There is no 50% or 66%. Of course, finances didn't allow us to start out with that type of a pairing, but I would have if I could have!

Definitely keep us posted on what you're doing!

Yes, that's one of the pairings I'm thinking about (Albino het anery x Anery het albino). One breeder feels that Albino het anery x Albino het anery is a better pairing.

He says that by breeding 2 Albino het anerys, you'll get 75% Albinos het snow, and 25% Snows. The Albinos are easier to sell and worth more money than the Anerys.

He also said that the double hets are difficult to sell. I'll just be doing this in a bedroom for now, so I don't have room to keep a ton of snakes.

Starting with a Snow x Albino het anery or Albino het anery x Albino het anery pair would eliminate the possible excess double hets. Plus the Albino het snow should be easy to sell, so I won't end up with too many snakes.

So if I have to wait an extra year to breed them, it might be worth it.

Breeding a pair of albino het anerys is a good idea, too. The nice thing about that pairing is that you would not get any normals. Your albinos will only be 66% het for snow, not definite hets. However, I agree that the clutch would be worth more overall if you do it that way. Albinos are gorgeous animals and sell for a pretty good price.

If you bred a snow with an albino het anery, then you should get 50% albino definite het snow and 50% snow. Definitely the best return on your money if you have the cash up front.

On another note, this is probably common sense, but if you're going to go for the snow, make it a male. That way you can put him with more than one female het and get more snows!

I can get a pair of yearling snows for $950. They don't sell singles, but that's a great price on a pair. Another breeder wants that much for just one.

So if I wanted to start producing snows the easy way, I guess I could just save up for a pair. That would eliminate years of breeding.

Ultimately it would be more satisfying to breed my own line(s). I can't decide, though it's not a problem, because I don't have the money right now anyway.

Maybe I'll just get a pair of cheaper Hondies for now. There's that 2004 Triple Het male for $150, and a few nice yearling females for between $150 and $225. One of the females is a pinbanded tangerine hypo, so that could be a nice potential pairing.

A pinbanded ghost line would be another cool one to produce, but like the snows, a bit expensive for me at the moment.

$950 for a pair of yearling snows is a great deal! The pinbanded ghosts are one of my favorites. Honestly, I don't really even like the snows. They're cool snakes, but I like the black/white/grey coloration better. However, I would like to produce a leucistic honduran someday.

There is something to be said for breeding your own line, though. I love putting the hets together and watching and wondering what the babies will turn out to be. It's a little more nervewracking, but more exciting, too. It's not as financially rewarding at first, but it's more fun, and the day I stop having fun is the day I stop raising reptiles. I don't think the financial rewards will ever justifying doing this if I don't enjoy it. Besides, it's always fun to sell a snake to somebody and be able to tell them that it is the offspring of 2 or 3 generations of my own snakes.

Here's a pic of a nice yearling female Tangerine Pinbanded Hypo that's available.

Obviouslly a nice male Anery mating would produce the double hets for Ghost. If I bred her to a Ghost, would I get some Ghosts from that mating, or just hets?

That's a beautiful snake! If you bred her to a ghost, you should get all hypos that are het for ghost. The only way you would get a ghost would be if she was het for anery, but hypos are very nice snakes that should sell quite well, especially when they are het for ghost.