Uh-oh....

[Crazy4Herps]

It's happened, the very thing I was afraid of...

I caught the breeding bug.

The only problem is that I don't remember much of anything about genetics from the little I learned in my bio class. I know how to do punnet squares. I under stand about dominant and reccessive traits, but I'm still a bit confused about co-dom traits. What is the difference between dominant and co-dom? Is it possible to have co-dom hets?

[Jason Bowden]

Paste is codominant. There is a super form.
Spider and pinstripe are two very common dominant genes/morphs. There is no super form.

[Crazy4Herps]

Is normal dominant or co-dom? If I bred a spider to a normal, what % of the offspring would be spiders?

[matt71915]

some people say that a co-dom is a het for the super form
the one i mainly hear is that the Yellow belly morph is het for ivory

i guess you could also say that pastel is het for a super pastel...etc

[Bleepr]

Dominant means that that one traight is expressed no matter what. Co-dom means that both are expressed. IE spider x pastel = bumblebee. Both the spider gene and the pastel gene are expressed in 1 snake. Spider is a dominat, while the pastel is co-dom

An example of another dominant morph is basically any super. A super pastel is homozygous (PP) for the pastel gene, meaning no matter what its bred to, the pastel gene will be passed on.

There is alot more to it, because there a genotypical and phenotpyical. Geno refers to its genetics, pheno is how it looks.

A pastel is genotypically a het (Pp), but phenotypically expressed the pastel trait because its a co-dom morph. Co-doms usually have a super form, and a phenotypically expressed (meaning they are het for the gene, but show the pattern/color change)

Another definition is that dominats have a super form, but is not phenotypically different from thier het form (spiders) while a co-doms have a super form that is phenotypicall different from thier het forms. (IE pastels and super pastels)

Oh, and by super, I mean homozygous, just incase =D

[matt71915]

in a perfect world you would get 50% spiders and 50% normals

im pretty sure that a spider is dom not co-dom

[Jason Bowden]

Normal is dominant. I guess they have the most success in surviving in the wild. In other words, the spiders and pinstripes(and other pattern and color morphs) are easier for predators to find and eat.

P.S.: Paste=Pastel in my first reply.

If a spider is bred to a normal the odds are: 50% spider, 50% normal

[West Coast Jungle]

In a nutshell co-doms are like recessives only the hets are visible.
A pastel is het for a super pastel.
A mojave is het for a BEL.
A cinamon is het for a super cinny.

The gentics are basically the same only a het for recessive is not visible or any different from a normal and a codom has a visible het for the super. The odds are the same.

Thats how I look at it

[Crazy4Herps]

Thanks everybody!! You've all been a lot of help.


Here is what I have decided. I'm so excited!!!!

I have an adult female (I think... I'll have to double-check on that) normal right now. I'll get an 08 male spider that will be ready to breed next season and a female pastel that will also be ready to breed next season. That means 2 clutches - norm x spider and pastel x spider (bumblebees!!!!). That is, if I can find the money for two more snakes.