HETs

Can someone please explain the way hets are used for breeding you have a 100% a 66% and a 50% ok if i have a 66% male het albino and breed him to a normal female i have a 66% chance to get what 1 albino ball???? :shock: :?: :?:

Check this post for some help on that topic: http://www.ball-pythons.net/index.ph...ight=het#18026

100% het means it is definitely heterozygous for the trait, in this case albinism, which means either one parent was albino and one was normal or het OR it's been bred to another snake and one or more albino hatchlings resulted.

66% het means that both parents were 100% het and this one is normal-looking rather than albino, so you have a 66% chance of its carrying a gene for albinism.

You stated that Albino x albino = albino,
I thought if you breed albino to ablino they don't hatch.

I don't have any idea where you got that from, but you can definitely breed albinos together. Every now and again, snakes, like humans, will be infertile or just lay duds, but I don't know of any morph that is specifically associated with being infertile.

Blink may be thinking of a small number of clutches from regular albino X lavender albino which I understand have yet to produce a good egg. The sample size is so small that we can't be sure this isn't just bad luck. It might turn out that these two different looking morphs are some how incompatible but it's just too early to say. Regular albino x regular albino is done all the time but lavender albino is still quite rare.

Back to the original question. Since albino is recessive a baby must get the albino gene from both parents in order to be albino. So the 66% chance het albino male has to hit his chance and turn out to be a het AND the female also has to be a het albino. Maybe she is a possible het (I had a 66% chance het male X 50% chance het female produce albino babies proving both hets) or maybe she is just a random unknown het (it's happened a few times) but the only way to produce albinos is if both parents are at least het if not outright homozygous albinos.

Even if you breed two that both turn out to be hets you still need some luck as from a het X het breeding each baby still only has a 25% chance of getting the albino gene from both parents. The more eggs you have from het X het the better chance that at least one will be albino.

So if you take two Albinos and breed them, all the babies will come out albino?

Yes, assuming that they're both the same type of albino.

So why don't breeders just take two albinos and make them have babies?!
Everytime I see a "breeding project" theres an albino male and a female het ... I haven't seen one breeder use two albinos yet.

Because you can buy possible het albinos for about $75-$200, definite het for $750-$900, or albinos for $2000+. It's all about the finances. Plus, males can impregnate multiple females per season, so 1 albino male + 6 possible het females = up to 36 or so albinos or hets for an investment of $3000 or so, versus $3600+ for a pair from a breeder resulting in 4-8 albino babies if breeding and incubation go well.

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Originally Posted by Marla

Because you can buy possible het albinos for about $75-$200, definite het for $750-$900, or albinos for $2000+. It's all about the finances. Plus, males can impregnate multiple females per season, so 1 albino male + 6 possible het females = up to 36 or so albinos or hets for an investment of $3000 or so, versus $3600+ for a pair from a breeder resulting in 4-8 albino babies if breeding and incubation go well.

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:shock: Thanks for clearing it up for me! 8)