Is this a common practice?

[blue roses]

I'm sorry when we weaken a gene trait in dogs many of us call it watering or weakening the gene so there is less of a chance of it coming out. I guess it does not apply in snakes, especially since the spider gene is dominant. I guess what i mean is it will have less of a chance to come out. I do like the look of the spider, but don't want to chance having it come up too often. My goal is babies that are healthy, and have the best chance of a long life. I know we have the power to control just certain things, and its up to the universe to control the rest. My concern is i do the best in my power for my babies, because we certainly can't control mother nature.

[AntTheDestroyer]

From what I understand of the spider wobble is that every spider has some degree of wobble. Furthermore the amount of wobble seems to be random meaning a spider with little wobble can produce a snake with severe wobble. This also means that you can not necessarily reduce wobble by line breeding, but I have read some conflicting accounts on this. The wobble only affects spider ball pythons, so any non spider sibling will not have any wobble.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

I'm sorry when we weaken a gene trait in dogs many of us call it watering or weakening the gene so there is less of a chance of it coming out. I guess it does not apply in snakes, especially since the spider gene is dominant. I guess what i mean is it will have less of a chance to come out. I do like the look of the spider, but don't want to chance having it come up too often. My goal is babies that are healthy, and have the best chance of a long life. I know we have the power to control just certain things, and its up to the universe to control the rest. My concern is i do the best in my power for my babies, because we certainly can't control mother nature.

I assume what you want is to breed the wobble out? Well it cannot be done all offspring with the spider gene in them, will wobble to a degree (anyone saying they have spiders that do not, have not produced enough spiders or are not paying close attention)

Now the degree is from very mild (hardly noticeable to the untrained eye) to severe, it can be severe as hatchling and lessen as they grow, or the opposite, other things may increase or lessen the severity as well such as stress, tempertures...

Severe wobbler can produce mild wobbler and vice versa.

[JodanOrNoDan]

From what I understand of the spider wobble is that every spider has some degree of wobble. Furthermore the amount of wobble seems to be random meaning a spider with little wobble can produce a snake with severe wobble. This also means that you can not necessarily reduce wobble by line breeding, but I have read some conflicting accounts on this. The wobble only affects spider ball pythons, so any non spider sibling will not have any wobble.

Just to be clear, spiders are not the only morphs to wobble. See http://www.owalreptiles.com/issues.php (thank you mr owal). Any time one parent has the spider gene you have a 50% chance of the offspring being spider. And once again, the severity of the displayed wobble seems to have more to do with stress than anything else. Severe wobble can be reduced to minor one and a minor wobble can be increased to a severe one all in the same snake with the right triggers.

[AntTheDestroyer]

Just to be clear, spiders are not the only morphs to wobble. See http://www.owalreptiles.com/issues.php (thank you mr owal). Any time one parent has the spider gene you have a 50% chance of the offspring being spider. And once again, the severity of the displayed wobble seems to have more to do with stress than anything else. Severe wobble can be reduced to minor one and a minor wobble can be increased to a severe one all in the same snake with the right triggers.

You are right there are more genes that display the wobble, but I thought we specifically talking about the spider gene. I also assumed that op had a basic understanding of snakes morph heritability. I had not heard of the wobble being affected by stress, that is very interesting. Can you tell me where you read about this?

[blue roses]

My boy is not a visual spider, but carries spider. My girl carries no spider, the only gene in common is pastel, the both carry that. I was hoping that this combination would lessen the chance of visual spiders in a clutch. He has no wobble.

[Freakie_frog]

My boy is not a visual spider, but carries spider. My girl carries no spider, the only gene in common is pastel, the both carry that. I was hoping that this combination would lessen the chance of visual spiders in a clutch. He has no wobble.

Your boy either is a spider or he isn't.. A spinner blast (Spider pin pastel) shows the spider gene. So thus he is a visual spider.

[JodanOrNoDan]

You are right there are more genes that display the wobble, but I thought we specifically talking about the spider gene. I also assumed that op had a basic understanding of snakes morph heritability. I had not heard of the wobble being affected by stress, that is very interesting. Can you tell me where you read about this?

There are tons of articles on the spider gene. That said, working with the animals in my own collection has shown this to be true. I would need a greater sample size in order to be scientific however I have not seen any evidence that refutes this theory. Anyone that has first hand evidence to the contrary is very welcome to present it.

[AntTheDestroyer]

There are tons of articles on the spider gene. That said, working with the animals in my own collection has shown this to be true. I would need a greater sample size in order to be scientific however I have not seen any evidence that refutes this theory. Anyone that has first hand evidence to the contrary is very welcome to present it.

Oh I wasn't trying to argue, just genuinely curious. I do not have any experience with the spider gene as I made the choice not to work with them due to the genetic defect.

[JodanOrNoDan]

Oh I wasn't trying to argue, just genuinely curious. I do not have any experience with the spider gene as I made the choice not to work with them due to the genetic defect.

Nope, I'm not arguing either. Sorry it came across that way. I am honestly as interested in being proved wrong as I am in being proved right. There is also a physical conditioning aspect to this thing that was brought to my attention by a dr friend of mine. I'm not talking to much about it right now because I definitely need a larger sample size. I did not breed any spiders this year. Next season I am probably looking at hatching out at least 10. I have never had hatchling spiders before. It will be a interesting because all of the animals will be under my control from day 1. In the mix I have 2 spiders that were train wrecks when I got them and who would now be classified as having low symptoms and one that has has to be very, very upset before she displays any symptoms.