It's important to remember that a ball python is made up of a LOT of different genes all working together--different genes code for different parts of the colors and patterns and other traits that make a ball python what it is.
So, when we talk about a 'normal gene', we mean that the gene in question is similar to what ordinary-looking ball pythons have--it's not mutated.
Our morphs have mutant genes--genes that have changed and become different.
Genes always come in pairs.
It's not always the same gene that has mutated. A single gene mutation is responsible for amelanism, for example--a lack of the color black in the animal's skin. Melanin is not produced when this gene is altered. However, in order to produce melanin, the animal only needs one copy of the correct gene. As a result, you only get an animal with no black when both copies of the gene are mutated. When only one is mutated, you get a 'het'--a heterozygous animal that looks normal, but carries a copy of the mutant gene. In a het, the other copy of the gene is normal.
In a homozygous animal, because both copies of the gene are mutant, and there only ARE two copies of any given gene, there is no normal copy of the gene.
I hope this was coherent and helped.
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