Proof that it's a het

Other than the breeding of the het for proof, how do we actually know a het is what we are told it is? I've been thinking about it and it boils down to a persons reputation and trusting that individual. That is scary.

Picture identification is great and a written guarantee is fine, but any unscrupulous jerk can crank one of those out. Thank God for the BOI. I personally don't think I could buy a het from an unknown. I may not necessarily need to personally know the individual, but I want to see nothing but praise and songs resulting from a BOI search.

Any thoughts?

I agree that you need to be really cautious when dealing with hets(if that is what you are buying them for), the BOI has saved me the stress of not knowing if the person I purchased from can be trusted.

Markus Jane has some good information on het markers for ball pythons as does Next World Exotics. My 100% het albino boas are orange which is a good marker for them. BUT, a Big BUT, there are also false markers. I have heard of many wc ball pythons that have markings similar to het markers(like het pied markers) that were sold at a crazy price with a 100% het tag attached. I have a pastel boa that is as orange as my 100% het albinos.

Sure makes a person think, doesn't it?

Originally Posted by Junkyard

My 100% het albino boas are orange which is a good marker for them.

Hmmm. I heard that the speckles were a good indicator that they were hets for albinism (not kidding).
Pretty much short of having it happen at your own place, you can't be sure. But as has been said, the BOI is a great tool...if the person is listed. There are a lot of people just starting out, or that have been working on a small scale that haven't really built a name for themselves...I'm not opposed to giving people a chance but, for something like (expensive) recessive traits, I want some kind of evidence. The paperwork and guarantee is all nice, but who is to say that you will be able to locate that person in 3-5 years when the animal fails to prove out...not to mention that you have just spent that much time and money raising an animal to maturity that isn't going to meet it's intended function, and now will have to do it again. As Art said, anyone can crank out a piece of paper that says this snake is a het. Show me that it is real...copulation pictures, birth/hatching pictures...or at least look what I found this morning pics, new pictures of the parents that show the date (so you know that the other pics were legit).

I bet this topic comes up more often as more scammers looking for a quick buck pop into the herp community. Not to mention sometimes its just an honest mistake on genetics of a particular animal. There are so many people (including me) who do not know enough about genetics to really predict the genetics of the offspring their animals produce to be accurate. I know I have racked my brains trying to keep up with Rich and all the morphs of corns he cranks out every year!

I can't even identify all the ball python morphs, and you wanna talk about corns??

Originally Posted by hhmoore

I can't even identify all the ball python morphs, and you wanna talk about corns??

LOL.... Think about poor Rich's overworked brain!!!!!!