Ball Python Breeding

[stef]

Hi Guys. Question? If i breed a Het Ghost Male to a Het Ghost Female the offsprig would be - 1/4 normal, 2/4 Het Ghost and 1/4 Ghost correct? How do you identify between the Het Ghost and normal babies?

[Westley Price]

I am not sure about the Ball python morphs specifically, but with traditional recessive morphs there is not sure way to ID hets.

Some traits have "markers" that indicate that the animals is most likely a het, but I am not sure how accurate those are.

What typically happens in the hobby is that all the Normal hatchlings are sold as 66% possible hets because there is a 66% chance that each Normald is a het.

Hope that makes sense.

[johan]

Hi Stef. To answer your QUESTION yes you are correct. You sure didn't ask how to see if your snakes are het or not. There is a genetic calculator that will answer all your questions "Genetic wizard world of ball pythons" Hope that will help you. Thanks to Westley for answering the question that make a lot of sense

[Tarka]

Hi Stef'! In theory, you are correct. Just remember that if the odds are 1/4...it does NOT mean that 1 of the 4 eggs WILL be Ghost. The odds, as given by Genetic Wizzard...merely indicate that every egg has a 1 in 4 chance of being a Ghost. It often happens that 2 Hets breed for several seasons before producing the actual morph.

To improve the odds...rather breed Het with actual morph. As for identifying...look around on the interweb for those markers Westley refers to...I know there are markers...but do not know what they are. Maybe some of the older hands can guide you here