$1500, which route would you go?

< If you just want to make money (which is kind of how it sounds) - ball pythons are the hottest market.>

It's not just about the money. But I do see my animal as an investment - or otherwise I would have gone with a normal. I will enjoy the female I have, and future male, as pets and displays, but they should also be able to "pay their way" a little bit. That's all I see, not big $$, but enough to MAYBE cover the cost of the hobby and a little extra here and there - and the enjoyment of creating some nice looking babies.

I worked with some boas at the Louisville Zoo when I was a teenager - and after that kept some wild-caught snakes. And have always been a rep-lover. I also rode horses all my life. Two of the horses I have now are "money makers" but I also ride and enjoy them. I feel I'm a responsible horse owner/breeder and want to do the same thing with my herps.

As for there is no thing as het hypo? I don't get it?? I understand hypo is dominant - say "H" for hypo. If your snake is Hh - then that is het hypo, correct? and it shows as a phenotypic trait - its viewable on the outside of the animal vs genotypic like het albino which you can't see.

I didn't know that "het" was used just for recessive traits?? I guess you mean, if an animal could be HH and/or Hh you wouldn't know always by looking. But if only one parent was hypo - and you get a hypo offspring - then you know that hypo offspring is Hh. or het hypo. But anyways, what I'm getting is a snake that looks hypo and is hypo het albino - produced from one albino parent and a hypo het for albino as the other parent.

PS, I'm not restricted to the $1500 for buying the male

Donna

Originally Posted by snakehorse

As for there is no thing as het hypo? I don't get it?? I understand hypo is dominant - say "H" for hypo. If your snake is Hh - then that is het hypo, correct? and it shows as a phenotypic trait - its viewable on the outside of the animal vs genotypic like het albino which you can't see.

I didn't know that "het" was used just for recessive traits?? I guess you mean, if an animal could be HH and/or Hh you wouldn't know always by looking. But if only one parent was hypo - and you get a hypo offspring - then you know that hypo offspring is Hh. or het hypo. But anyways, what I'm getting is a snake that looks hypo and is hypo het albino - produced from one albino parent and a hypo het for albino as the other parent.

PS, I'm not restricted to the $1500 for buying the male

Donna

Just wanted to make sure someone didn't sell you something as het hypo hypo is a dominant gene, meaning, Hh looks like HH. The phenotype is Hypo, the genotype is Hh. You could call it het for hypo and people would probably know what you mean, but het is typically used for recessive traits.

Good luck!

<Just wanted to make sure someone didn't sell you something as het hypo >

Luckily I took animal genetics in college - and passed. I also breed horses and have made an effort to understand color genetics - unlike a lot of breeders who think it just comes from "somewhere"...

It was a little difficult at first making sense of the short-cut names for snake color, phenotypes and genotypes. Took a few days to learn the basics. Had to memorize what traits were dominant, recessive, etc. Wrote them down as I learned them. Then took a look at classified ads to see if I could make sense of the genetics. Still have more learning to do.

I guess you are s... out of luck if you're new to the morph game and can't do a punnet square.

Donna

Originally Posted by paulh

The amount of genetics misinformation I see on the web sites is terrifying. For example, the true statement that there are no heterozygous salmon boas that look normal has somehow gotten changed into the false statement that there are no heterozygous salmon boas.

I added the bold type for emphasis, but the message is the same.

Originally Posted by snakehorse

while you're giving out investment advice, what about this scenario? I'm buying a hypo het albino baby female this year. Next year I assume I'll want to purchase maybe a yearling male? albino? and some other known trait, possibly homozygous for stripe or something like that and het for salmon. How long before the two of them can mate? and see return on investment? how much would I have to spend to get an albino male with other certain traits?

Welcome to the wild and wooley world of genetics outside academe. If you buy a hypo het albino this year, you will not need a salmon down the road because most of the hypos on the market are salmons. Two names for the same mutant gene. It makes me crazy.

I'm getting a hypo - and its the same as salmon I believe , not orange-tail which is another type of hypomelanistic snake. at least I think so? I'm getting a hypomelanistic snake that is heterozygous for hypo because one of the parents was not hypo so it can't be homozygous. And it's heterozygous for albino (Kahl strain I think) because it's not an albino or else it would be homozygous for albino. And I'd like to get a salmon (in other words a hypo) down the road so I can make sunglows which are albinos that also are hypomelanistic.
confused? nah
Donna

OK, since you have a hypo het albino, all you need to make sunglows is another het albino or albino! Hypo is dominant, so you don't need another hypo.

Although hypo may be dominant, if I don't use a hypo or even better a super salmon (homozygous hypo) male - not all the babies will have color.
IE.

where H = Hypo and h = not hypo and A = not albino and a = albino

Breed hypo het albino HhAa (double het for sunglow) to normal albino hhaa and you get - only 1/4th of your animals would be sunglow and 1/4 of them would look normal.

ha
HA HhAa - 25% hypo het albino
Ha Hhaa - 25% sunglow
hA hhAa - 25% normal het albino
ha hhaa - 25% albino


If you bred HhAa to hypo het albino HhAa - you would get mostly colored animals

HA Ha hA ha
HA HHAA HHAa HhAa HhAa
Ha HHAa HHaa HhAa Hhaa
hA HhAA HhAa hhAA hhaa
ha HhAa Hhaa hhAa hhaa

12 of the 16 get hypo
2 of the 16 are only albino
1 of the 16 is het albino
and 1 of the 16 is normal

If you bred HhAa to super salmon het albino HHaa - you would get all colored animals

Ha
HA HHAa super salmon het albino
Ha HHaa - super sunglow ??
hA HhAa - hypo het albino
ha Hhaa - sunglow

all of your animals would be colored - half sunglow, half hypo

If you invest more into color, you get more color.