Intro & Possible Het Questions

I'm surprised no one has mentioned this yet....breeding backwards (inbreeding) is a bad idea. We don't quite understand all snake illnesses yet, and herp genetics are taking off rapidly, but we still don't know nearly everything about them. I wouldn't take the risk of passing on a disease or weakness from the father/daughter cross to the babies.

As cheep as 100% het males are for most recessive morphs now days I'll agree that possible het males aren't as appealing. Seems like it's been a while since we came up with any new recessive morphs but there was a time when het males where thousands of dollars (stripe, pied, etc.). That's when I started most of my projects with possible het males. Now I have my own "possible possible" het females grown up with very little initial investment. Sure some of the projects will bomb but odds are I'll hit some too. It makes sense for me to switch to known het males for the next generation now that they are cheaper since it will hedge my bet on the possible hets and also decrease inbreeding. However in the case of the pied project I have a lot of confidence in the marker even though all hets don't have it. It's just so unusual and seen passed down to half the offspring so often.

I guess the only time it makes sense to start off new projects today with possible het males is if you are so broke you would otherwise be breeding normal males or it's one of the few recessive morphs where het males are still expensive (lavender albino?). You should be on the lookout for markers though just in case there is one that would allow odds to be skewed up or down depending on if you know about it or not. Now I'm going to have to pull out my known and possible het albinos and check for this yellow belly edge thing I hadn't heard of before.

Really good intro to snake genetics is on the NERD site at www.newenglandreptile.com/genetics_intro.html . Gives definition of terms, how the gene pairs work together, and the different pairings and probable outcomes. Very interesting reading. I, too, got bit bad when I started into having balls, and had a 'normal' female, when I came across a steal for two 50% het pied males (2 @ $100!!) Yes, if you are looking to make an investment, and raise snakes for a living, the 100% het is smart. If you, (I) just figure if have a snake, and you want her to make babies, and if she is going to have babies, lets see if it could be something a little different, then why not go with a good deal when it comes your way?? We are doing this 'cause we enjoy it, and are having a good time, right? :wink:
That was a long one for me. Think I'll go curl up in a warm spot for a while.

Just to clarify... Being new to BPs, I don't know what the going rate for a normal cb male is, but I believe I paid normal BP price for my possible pied het male. I do like knowing for a fact that he is cb, and who his parents are. I don't think I know enough now to breed BPs, but maybe by the time Kali (my normal female) is ready I will be. :wink: