Line breeding for non genetic traits.

[brad760]

Do people breed for non-genetic traits in ball pythons. I am talking about traits like Tangerine in Leopard Geckos. All I seem to come by in Balls are proven genetic traits not polygenic traits.

[CORBIN911]

That's how people create new morphs quicker/ and accentuate on certain morphs like Low pattern clowns.. Thought BP's are Polygenic like Leopard Geckos, but it helps with traits.

[Jabberwocky Dragons]

They are all genetic traits. I think you mean simple genetic traits such as recessive, dom, codom. Polygenic are controlled by multiple genes.

There are many breeders who line breed for polygenic traits. Breeding for lighter or darker colors is one example. It's not X + X= Y, but you'll have lighter or darker clutches on average that becomes more pronounced as you refine your line over time. Normals all look different and such traits can be a factor when deciding which normal to pair up a with certain morphs.

It would be difficult for a bp breeder to market such a polygenic trait as a named morph though they are pretty common descriptors. Many of the different lines present for some morphs are probably the influence of polygenic traits.

[Daigga]

I think that due to the overwhelming number of non-polygenic traits in bps it would be very difficult to breed with that as your goal. Breeding for polygenic traits takes many generations and extreme patience, which is hard to come by in a market where every new gene is slammed into as many receptive females as possible until the gene is everywhere, crazy underpriced, and replaced in craze by the latest greatest out of Africa.

[ajmreptiles]

I can think of 2 examples with pieds line bred by Justin Kobylka and Brian Gundy.

Since the amount of white in any given piebald is a polygenic trait, Justin line breeds his pieds for low white so that the patterns in his pied combos are more visual. Brian on the other hand goes for a more 50/50 ratio and line bred his animals to have a very distinct dorsal stripe pattern.