I was just wondering how to improve a line of ball python?

[cj2]

I was just wondering how to improve a line of ball python. We all have that one person to go to for certain morph lines. It could be black pastels, pastels, there's always 1 line you like the most when it comes to different morphs. I personally like citrus pastels or lemon, blonde, or any other pastels. I have been going by the statement that goes something like "look for what you want in a morph and choose the best looking one to your eye" and the support for that was, the offspring will take after the parent. Therefore, boom, you like yellowbellies in which there is yellow that bleeds to the checkering and even the belly? Get it, breed it, and the offspring will take after it. So in that case, you don't need a specific line when thinking like that, because all you have to do is get exactly what it is you want and of course the offspring will inherit the traits. I've heard Brian's gold blush was just a really yellow normal and he breed it to a mojave and he got really yellow mojaves. So my question is, how to I take a normal and influence a morph? Is it really that simple? I have a reduced dinker, it is so reduced that I refuse to think of it as a normal, even its dorsal is suspect. But let's say it proved to be a normal. Say I want to make a line of reduced pinstripes? I take the best looking pinstripe I have and breed it to this normal reduced ball. Will it, in fact, make reduced pinstripes? I've watch clutch cutting where guys had reduced normals (they were not as reduced as mine, mine has at most 4 breaks on either side) but yeah they bred the reduced normals to things like spinner blasts and enchis and I couldn't believe it looked like only 1 snake if that looked somewhat reduced? I looked at other clutch videos where they breed reduced normals or reduced dinkers and the offspring doesn't take the reduced look. That was just an example scenario. Here's my question again, how can I influence a line of morph? With or without a normal.

[dr del]

The simple fact is that not all "looks" are the result of only one gene or will be passed on reliably.

Finding a snake that does pass its look on is a godsend in the type of projects you mention.

[cj2]

Well, you didn't actually answer my question. How to improve a line of ball python. Maybe the example I gave was wrong but can toy supply me with an extended answer?

[Sauzo]

Pastel is a bad example as most pastels brown out as they age. So I'm not really aware of a way of "improving" that. And you do realize that just because a parent looks like X, it doesn't mane the offspring will look exactly like that. They might or might not inherit the trait but that's not to say it will look exactly like the parent. Like for example, if you bred 2 completely unbroken dorsal line clowns together, there is no guarantee the offsprings will all be unbroken line clowns, heck none might be unbroken. Each snake is unique and no two snakes will ever look exactly the same. I really don't understand your question though, what exactly are you trying to breed and achieve? Breeding a normal without knowing if it is 66% het or 100% or anything is imo a waste unless its the female. Breeding a normal male who could be some het or no het to a female who is a known het or visual would be just a waste of that female for the year since you will probably just end up with all hets and no visuals. Remember, to make money here you need to invest good money. You start with top notch stock and you will produce top notch. Ball python market is so saturated imo. Of course if you were like me and maybe planned on breeding just to make your own morphs of what you want, like for me clown pieds or candy pieds, then the cash doesn't matter as you are doing it purely for the fun of it.

And as for you having a dinker, you wont know until you actually just breed it to a normal and see if any offspring come out with the same reduced pattern. There is no way of "improving" it, heck you don't even know yet if it just an interesting pattern or if it is actually genetic.

And to answer your last question, the best way to influence a morph line is to breed 2 visuals of that line like 2 visual pieds. That will give you a 100% chance of getting pieds as an example, this is for recessive btw.

[cj2]

That was just a big example I gave. My question was how to improve a line of ball python. I don't think you would know how to answer it in the way that I want because you went in a whole different direction.

[Albert Clark]

That was just a big example I gave. My question was how to improve a line of ball python. I don't think you would know how to answer it in the way that I want because you went in a whole different direction.

Sauzo definitely answered your question on "how to improve" a line of bp! It can't be helped that you feel like your question wasn't answered the way you want it answered. Genetics is not a exact science when you are talking about offspring production. A lot of possibilities exist in the allelic, chromosomal, non allelic gene pools and much of what is produced in the end is a surprise or unexpected. That is why a lot of breeders cut their clutches early in hopes of producing a particular morph and in some cases are disappointed. Hope this helped. Good luck.

[Alicia]

I think the OP is talking about selective breeding, a bit like what has been done in carpet pythons, dogs, cat, horses . . . Really anything where just breeding for simple mutations isn't the point, but playing with the polygenetic side of inheritance, as well.

Unless I mis-read the initial post, it kinda looked like you answered your own question. If not, I apologize. It's quite late here. Really, it's just a long, patient, generational process. Breed what looks best, what's 'typiest' in each generation to each other, looking for improvements and dropping animals that don't improve the look from the breeding program. Pastels are actually a great example, as they suffered from a deficit in selective breeding when they became super popular; pastels were thrown to any old female and the resulting babies were often dark and browned out quickly, whereas pastels from brighter normals tend to hold color much better.

Also in pastels, if we're running with that, they have the tendency to brown out with age. About how bad they will brown out is fairly predictable looking at babies, as babies with more orange turn more brown . . . meaning less orange and more yellow in a hatchy is something to select for. Also waiting longer to breed pastels, for a better idea of how individuals look as adults, can be a way to select a more moderate brown-out. But it's still polygenetic, with an unknown number of modifiers, and takes a lot of time, and a lot of work. Folks do it, though. It can definitely be worth it.