2 Questions

[BigKenjDogg]

#1: When people talk about a ball python in relation to the word "Het," what does that mean?

#2: Can someone explain the difference between captive bred and captive hatched/farm? I think it means, they went out and got the eggs from the wild (?) How does this affect the snakes demeanor? Does it?

[Kane]

* Het stands for heterozygous. Means that a snake carries a gene for the particular trait but looks normal. Here's a pretty good explanation of morph terminology in this care sheet: http://www.reptilerooms.com/Sections...59-page-1.html

* Captive hatched... occurs when wild females are captured, they are put into big tubs & the babies are taken when they are hatched. They didn't become gravid in captivity or they would be called CB (captive bred.)

[JLC]

When a pair of genes is required to produce a certain trait (such as pied), and only one gene is present, the snake is "het" for that trait. It CAN be something other than "normal" looking though. A pastel bp is "het for super-pastel"...but since we can look at the snake and SEE that it's a pastel, we don't usually call it a het.

When a snake is referred to as a "possible het" that means at least one parent or grandparent in its lineage carried the gene being referred to, but there is no way to tell if the normal-looking snake inherited that gene or not.

[hhw]

The best overall explanation I've seen so far of genetics is from NERD (New England Reptile Distributors)
You can find it under "Intro to Herp Genetics" here http://www.newenglandreptile.com/care.html
or directly jump to it here http://www.newenglandreptile.com/genetics_intro.html

[Kane]

------