Recessive Genetics - Het Percentages

I just don't understand the hostility towards efforts to educate outside of a personal business relationship. Is information to be reserved as a marketing tool only?

Sure sellers can choose whether or not to burden themselves with educating buyers and apparently the good ones make the effort at some point but what's wrong with starting the effort in the initial ad? Maybe from the marketing perspective it is better to reserve information but obviously I care less than nothing for marketing.

I'm curious to know who the purchasers of possible het albinos are in the real world. Maybe I was too hasty to assume a bias toward newbies. I still think that would be the case with males (most of which probably aren't even marketed as possible hets anymore). But what about possible het albino females? I suppose there aren't even many big breeders producing them any more but are they buying them? I'd worry about if the people SELLING possible het albinos understand the concept as I know I've seen possible hets I've sold relisted with the label truncated further to just "het". Maybe they where outright crooks or maybe I didn't do a good enough job of educating them on the concept of possible hets. Or maybe it was just a clever marketing strategy in the ad and they would have explained it fully in person to a serious potential buyer.

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Originally Posted by RandyRemington

I know I've seen possible hets I've sold relisted with the label truncated further to just "het".

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Sounds like all that educating didn't work?

-adam

Personally Randy I don't see any "hostility" in all this. What I've learned from this thread and others on similar topics is that especially when dealing with the breeding/selling of hets or possible hets both the breeder/seller and the buyer need to be honest, educated and responsible. That's pretty much a simple way of seeing it but I tend to go with the K.I.S.S. theory (grandpa always said most folks overthink everything till they understand nothing LOL).

As far as our future sales of hets I figure I'm not only marketing a snake, in the end I'm marketing me so I need to be the same high quality as the snakes I offer to people. If part of that is educating a potential buyer about hets, fine and dandy but on the other hand I'm not into spoonfeeding people. I do feel that a buyer of a het or possible het does need to self-educate and lord knows the information is out there easily accessible to anyone with a computer. Especially with non-visible genetics, if a purchaser doesn't do the work, someone is going to come along and take advantage of them. But that's just life and happens all the time (go visit your local used car salesman and see that theory at work LOL)

As far as someone buying a possible het from you and reselling it simply as "het for" whatever...that's not about being uneducated....that's about being downright dishonest. No candy coating there. Unless that person took that possible het and spent the time to prove it out through breeding, then they are flat out lying. Again though as a purchaser, one has to remember they are buying reputations not only snakes, so know where your hets come from, who bred them, documentation and ask hard questions about why someone is reselling a het.

Smart buyers are wonderful and I bet the good breeders out there love em!

Great thread! Its contains information, humor, sarcasm. I laughed, I cried, I nearly crapped myself (not an uncommon occurence). In the end, I have nothing to add except my usual post whoring.

Rock on!! :)

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Originally Posted by RandyRemington

Also, the newbies are the ones most likely to buy a possible het.

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I would like to respectfully disagree with you there.

Most of the "newbies", as you're labeling them, are getting in the business to get rich quick. Some of the "newbies" are actually planning on being around for a while. I think the statement that "newbies" are most likely to buy a poss het is not entirely accurate.

New people entering the hobby, I think, are most likely to buy a normal, or a 100% het. I'll qualify my statement by asking you to look on the pictures forum for the last few "new additions" pictures. I honestly don't remember the last person to post a thread saying they purchased a poss het.

My theory for this is because most people dealing with poss hets are buying them in numbers. People who have more time than money buy poss hets in numbers and more snakes means more commitment and time to clean/feed/etc..

I think for the casual hobbyist or newcomer, buying a 100% het makes more sense. Less effort, guaranteed results, and less space.

Now.... to contribute to the actual OP's question, and this thread, I would like to just point out that if we're getting all technical about all of this, then a 100% het, should just be labeled a het. A true heterozygous animal doesn't have a "100% chance" of being a het, while a 50% or 66% does. So, in using that theory, I would say that it would be perfectly acceptable to use the term "66% het albino" or "50% het albino" OR "50% possible het albino". It's all about the genetics... not the wording. :)

Maybe there are very few possible het albinos of either gender being produced and sold as such any more so no one is buying them! You've got a point about newbies going with normals or hets. I think the whole possible het thing confuses them to the point that they would rather by a normal for the same price. But I still think there is plenty of genetic confusion to go around and it extends beyond the newbies.

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Originally Posted by RandyRemington

But I still think there is plenty of genetic confusion to go around and it extends beyond the newbies.

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I wholeheartedly agree with you, Randy. There's too many people making the easiest of questions turn into the most complicated of biology lessons.

Sometimes the "KISS" (keep it simple stupid) method is the best one.

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Originally Posted by RandyRemington

Maybe there are very few possible het albinos of either gender being produced and sold as such any more so no one is buying them!

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As someone that is actively selling ball pythons every day, I can tell you for sure that there are a lot of people out there buying possible hets.

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Originally Posted by RandyRemington

I think the whole possible het thing confuses them to the point that they would rather by a normal for the same price.

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The vast majority of "newbies" that I deal with are extremely self educated and know the difference between homozygous, heterozygous, possible het, etc ... no confusion at all. You are really not giving people enough credit.

-adam

Just wanted to pop in and thank everyone for keeping this thread on topic and polite. Some of these issues can be a bit complex and "hot button" but it's always nice to see spirited discussions that stay sane. :) This Mod appreciates you all making my day that much easier so a big thank you to all contributors to this thread!

i bought a clutch of poss. albino bp's 2 yrs ago. i will be proving 3 girls out this winter. i can't wait to see if i hit the lottery! lol i also have a poss. pied girl going this winter, and a poss. hypo girl i'm raising up. POSS/50% whatever ROCKS!




vaughn