Twins - genetic in BPs like in humans?

So I've seen a few cases of twin bps being hatched... (multiple snakes in the same egg)... what I am wondering is if this is genetic - like frequently humans who have twins in their family will be more likely to produce twins themselves (and I've heard it skips generations..?) Anyway, any big breeders know if this has proved out to be true?? I'm curious...

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Originally Posted by sparticus

So I've seen a few cases of twin bps being hatched... (multiple snakes in the same egg)... what I am wondering is if this is genetic - like frequently humans who have twins in their family will be more likely to produce twins themselves (and I've heard it skips generations..?) Anyway, any big breeders know if this has proved out to be true?? I'm curious...

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I think breeders would have to breed generations upon generations of twin ball pythons to figure that one out. As some breeders are lucky to pair ball pythons that have had twin births in there background to even produce twins. It's really mere luck because what if a breeder sells one of the twins, there's really no way of keeping that kind of record. When 1) they don't sell for more $ because they are twins and 2) it's not likely to happen again. But I too wonder if there is someone working on figuring that out.

I have produced twins twice. The first set were both female normals. I did keep them, and are raising them with the intent to brred them to find out if they are more likely to produce twins. They are three years old now, but are very small animals, and aren't the best feeders.

The secoind set I produced this past year, and both are male Mojave Het Hypos. I have them both for sale, and thus, may never get to breed them. Although I have thought of keeping one to breed to one of the twin normals, to see if it ups the likelihood of getting twins, if both parents were twins.

As stated above, it may be a couple years before I get eggs, but I will post updates when it does happen.

p.s. Great question.

I am interested as well. I own one twin hatchling, we were given her from the breeder I like to deal with. She is a bit of a special needs animal, she was born very very small, and could not feed on her own the breeder spent a monster amount of time working with her (pinky pump as she was so small a pinky was too large a food item) She has a malformed skull, one eye and the most deprementel is the unbelievably short tongue it barely clears the rostral scales. She is now a year and a half old eating (and is a great feeder) on her own, although she seems to misjudge size all the time she will simply not take a rat over 22 gms so we give her 2 or 3 small fuzzes. She is currently 330 gm (yes ting when she was born) has a great personality and seems to take comfort in human touch. Hard to explain but she will come to hand when the cage is open and will stay with my partner on her belly with out moving for ages (many hours)

Her twin was a completely normal ball python. Judging on this experience I am not sure that twins would be a great idea if they are small and have growth issues.

Her good side...
http://images109.fotki.com/v146/phot...D7_1540-vi.jpgHosted on Fotki

Her not so good side.

http://images54.fotki.com/v1615/phot...7b_8151-vi.jpgHosted on Fotki

I have produced two sets of twins. Both from the same hypo female 2 years in a row. Could still be a fluke at this point, but if she produces twins again this season I would have to assume their is something gentic about it. She is an 07 and those are her only two clutches so far. I has worked out pretty sweet though. I hit 2 pastel hypos in 09 and two double het for caramel glow females in 2010.

wow very interesting... is she gravid right now? if so what is the pairing? I would be very interested to see as well... but like the previous post sometimes there are deformities etc ... what made me start this whole thread was I was watching J. Kobyika's video on his twin fire bumblebees fire x pastel x spider :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhOnp...er_profilepage

when he put their sibling next to them to see the size difference it was amazing.... but if this is genetic, do these grow up to be happy healthy full-sized snakes? Or as a breeder, do you see it as a positive or negative thing to have twins? because yeah you may get two sweet snakes but if they are bad feeders and super small and slow to start that can be a pain- Is that something you would advertise to potential buyers? Just curious... this fascinates me!!

Jay Brewer seems to produce copious retic twins when he breeds, but I've never picked up on whether or not this is specific to certain females.

I personally have never seen a ball python that consistently threw twins.

I have produced a few sets of twins, and I know of a customer who is purchasing one of them to breed to another twin baby to see if it is genetic.

Should be a very interesting project!

I didn't keep any of the twins so far, but both pairs were produced by my Pied male to Hets.

So we shall see..

heather, keep us updated on your client's results!! I am very interested in this!!

I've never heard that twinning in humans (be it fraternal or identical) was predictable based on genetics and family history.. anywhere I can read up on that?