A question about "wobble"...

[serpenttongues]

Hi everyone!

This may be a silly question, but I was wondering if the "wobble" usually observed in the spider gene can be passed to other non-spider genes as well? I'm asking because my lesser occasionally shows a wobble, like that of spider who would be classified as "minor".
Her father was a lesserbee, and that's what makes me wonder!

[satomi325]

It's most likely a neurological issue involved with temperature or incubation and not with having a spider gene parent.
The spider wobble occurs only in snakes that carry the spider gene. So it cannot be genetically passed to it's non-spider offspring.

I wouldn't worry too much. My pinstripe has a little tiny wobble too that has gotten much better overtime. It's rather almost entirely gone.

[serpenttongues]

It's most likely a neurological issue involved with temperature or incubation and not with having a spider gene parent.
The spider wobble occurs only in snakes that carry the spider gene. So it cannot be genetically passed to it's non-spider offspring.

I wouldn't worry too much. My pinstripe has a little tiny wobble too that has gotten much better overtime. It's rather almost entirely gone.

Thanks for clearing it up! I suppose it is probably some sort of neurological thing. She is one-eyed due to an incubation issue (temp spike?), and the "wobble" isn't bad, she just has funny spider-like quirks. She is healthy and the best feeder I have, so I suppose there's no reason to worry.

[Pythonfriend]

oh, if it also has a missing eye and had an incubation issue, then its clearly that.

the spider wobble is really firmly connected to the spider morph.

[serpenttongues]

I figured it was that, but I was mainly curious as to if a wobble has ever been passed down to offspring without the visual spider gene.
Thanks to both of you for curing my curiosity!

[Ash]

Yes, it's entirely possible.

When gametes (sex cells with half of a parent's genetic information) are produced, a process called 'genetic recombination' occurs where homologous chromosomes randomly swap sections of genetic information. They do this by 'cutting' their genome at a specified location and swapping their chopped-off sections with each other. This is repeated several times. This means that the final product of meiosis, an egg or sperm cell, will have a random assortment of the parent's genetic information, meaning there are essentially limitless unique sets of genes that could be carried by a given egg or sperm.


Any two given heritable traits may be 'linked' to some degree based on how far apart they are physically located on the genome. Because the location where the homologous chromosomes 'cut and paste' their genetic code is essentially random, it's less likely that two genes located close together on the genome will be separated during genetic recombination. The result is that they will almost always occur together in offspring. It's apparent that whatever causes spider wobble is in very close proximity to whatever causes spider coloring, because we rarely see one without the other.


It's entirely plausible that genetic recombination CAN separate these two traits, but depending on how closely linked they are, it may be very highly unlikely. It can't even be said with any degree of certainty that they're caused by separate genes. Either way, the fact that your lesser has the wobble is very interesting, to say the least!

Edit: If it's got defects from a known incubation issue, odds are overwhelmingly high that it's an extension of that defect. Still, it's not impossible that it's the spider's influence. Which I think would be really cool, haha.