"Het" questions.....

[LocoKen]

I'm pretty sure I have this figured out. But to make sure, can someone tell me if I'm getting this right?

If I breed a male bumble bee to say an axanthic female (not a female het for axanthic), I will still only get offspring that are het for axanthic if the bumble bee is not het, correct? Both the male and female at least have to be het for axanthic to produce the visual axanthic, right? The reason I ask this is that when I use the Genetic wizard on "wobp" and put in a male bumble bee, and an axanthic or het axanthic female, I will always come up with some offspring being het axanthic, but no axanthic bees. Since it has the axanthic gene (if both parents are at least het for the axanthic), it may or may not be visual, correct? Hopefully I'm making some sense here. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Also, does it matter much when breeding bp's if the male or female carries the dom/co-dom/rec gene(s) to give more chances on seeing offspring with the different genes?
Example: Will you have better chances if your female is the bumble bee and your male is a pastel/spider/whatever to create more bumble bees, or the other way around?
Sorry for being long-winded.

Also, sorry for the noob questions.

Thanks.

[BHReptiles]

Yes, you are correct! If you breed a bumblebee male with an axanthic female, all your babies will be het for axanthic (they will not express the axanthic gene). If the male was het axanthic and the female was axanthic, you would get a mixture of axanthic and het axanthic babies. In order to get axanthic babies, both parents need to donate an axanthic gene to the baby.

As for the question on genes in general, it doesn't matter if the male or female carries them. If you were to breed a bumblebee male to a normal female, you would have the same chances of getting pastels, spiders, normals, and bumblebees as you would if you breed a pastel to a spider. With co-dom/dom genes, it doesn't matter who carries it! This is why you often time find people invest in 4 or more gene males and will breed them to one or 2 gene (sometimes to normals) females. It's cheaper and you get the same odds. That said, if you want a variety of babies in your clutches, you want to throw as many genes into the mix as you can to get some variable gene combinations.

[RoseyReps]

Male:	Bumblebee
Female:	Axanthic (VPI)
Percent	Fraction	Traits
25%	1/4	Bumblebee, Het Axanthic (VPI)
25%	1/4	Pastel, Het Axanthic (VPI)
25%	1/4	Spider, Het Axanthic (VPI)
25%	1/4	Het Axanthic (VPI)
View Results Page

Male:	Bumblebee, Het Axanthic (VPI)
Female:	Axanthic (VPI)
Percent	Fraction	Traits
12.5%	1/8	Axanthic (VPI), Bumblebee
12.5%	1/8	Bumblebee, Het Axanthic (VPI)
12.5%	1/8	Axanthic (VPI), Pastel
12.5%	1/8	Pastel, Het Axanthic (VPI)
12.5%	1/8	Spider, Axanthic (VPI)
12.5%	1/8	Spider, Het Axanthic (VPI)
12.5%	1/8	Axanthic (VPI)
12.5%	1/8	Het Axanthic (VPI)
View Results Page

Visual tables are fun Notice, in the first pairing, you have 0 chance of visible Axanthics (But all would be Hets), while in the second, you have a 12.5% chance for each axanthic bumblebee, axanthic pastel, axanthic spider, and axanthic.

[LocoKen]

Thank you for your quick replies, ladies! I appreciate it very much.

I have one more question for you. What is the difference between a snake that is advertised 100/66/50% het vs. one that is just described as het. Axanthic/Albino/etc. or possible het? Do they not know what percentage the snake is het for a particular gene, and just advertising it as such, or is there another explanation?

[RoseyReps]

When you breed a 100% het to a 100% het, each baby has a 66% chance of being "het" those are advertised as 66%, or poss het. 100% means they have the gene, and were either proven out, or came directly from a visual parent. (Albino x normal for example) 50% het comes from breeding a 100% het to a non het.

Hope that helps! Hets can be confusing sometimes

[paulh]

I have one more question for you. What is the difference between a snake that is advertised 100/66/50% het vs. one that is just described as het. Axanthic/Albino/etc. or possible het? Do they not know what percentage the snake is het for a particular gene, and just advertising it as such, or is there another explanation?

100% het albino is a long way of writing het albino.

Possible het albino means that the seller does not know the probability. The probability could be 66% or 50%. Or perhaps the snake could come from a 66% probability het albino x normal mating or from a 50% probability het albino x normal mating. Best to ask the seller what sort of mating the snake came from.

[LLLReptile]

Simply put, the percents mean the percent chance that the snake could be het for that trait. 100% chance of being het, 66% chance of being het, etc. So anything less than 100% is a gamble. You get the possible hets (66% or 50% and so on) when you cross hets together.

BTW for what it's worth, I just wrote an article on this stuff that'll be in the next Reptile Times issue... Comes out in 5 days, might help you out.

-Jen