Reduced pattern clowns? Is this genetic?

[Mettle]

Hi everyone,

This past weekend was the first ever Canadian Reptile Breeders Expo in Toronto. An awesome time. Attended by hundreds. Tons of vendors. A plethora of stunning animals and of course a wide assortment of top notch ball pythons.

One that really struck me as being a stand out and totally amazing was a reduced pattern male clown at Simon Hamelin's table. (Check him out: http://www.shreptiles.ca )

I took these pics of the snake:





Does anyone know if when it comes to clowns their patterning is at all genetic? Like a busy clown will most likely produce busy clowns while a reduced pattern clown will throw the same?

Thanks for any help.

[omnibus2]

not sure, but it looks awesome

[mainbutter]

Imagine reduced patterns being like height in humans.

Tall parents have generally tall children. Can you tell exactly how tall a kid will be by the parents? Not always, but you can make educated guesses. It is "genetic", but more complicated than just tracing the passing of a single mutated gene.

I imagine that a reduced pattern clown is just an animal expressing the clown mutation along with being REALLY REALLY tall (reduced in pattern)

[J.Vandegrift]

I think it's genetic. I also think using banded het may have something to do with making more reduced clowns. This is my most reduced one this season but all of the ones I produced this year were at least somewhat reduced:

[mainbutter]

I think it's genetic. I also think using banded het may have something to do with making more reduced clowns. This is my most reduced one this season but all of the ones I produced this year were at least somewhat reduced:

could you post a pic of the parents please? I'd love to get an idea of what kind of parents throw offspring like that!

[Ladydragon]

holy smokes.. that last one is amazing (I was gonna use another word but that would be a no no ) yes please post the parents.. I really would like to see this as well.

[americangypsy]

holy smokes.. that last one is amazing (I was gonna use another word but that would be a no no ) yes please post the parents.. I really would like to see this as well.

i agree please do show

[J.Vandegrift]

Here are the parents that produced all of my het females. The het female that actually produced this clown looks very similar to it's Dam, but I don't have a pic of her.

[Bruce Whitehead]

Honestly Stephan I do not think it has been proven yet, but I would put some faith in it, like with any other aspect of selective breeding.

I know I had this same conversation with two breeders at the last Mtl show. One that waited several years to import what he thought was the perfect clown and another that believes that all hets have equal chance of producing similar offspring... luck of the draw, as there is a range within any morph that can be expressed.

Take pastels... selective breeding can go a really long way to producing killer pastels, while a low grade pastel can also throw stellar babes.

I would always err on the side of selective breeding, and would aim for offspring from the nicest animals you can find, and if I was working on a combo I would pair that reduced clown with another reduced animal (pastel for example).

But clowns are tricky. The hets I have are normal looking busy patterned BPs but the sire was a hugely reduced clown. So what effect the female had in it, I have no idea. She may have been a nice reduced normal or just a normal normal...

...if that made sense?

Bruce

[rabernet]

What little I know about the reduced line clowns, because I happen to love the reduced clowns (who woulda thunk it? LOL) is that BHB has an extreme reduced pattern line of clowns.

Sean Bradley acquired one of his clowns and has selectively bred that animal to reduced pattern females (if I'm remembering the story correctly) and then raised up those hets and went on to produce some killer looking reduced clown offspring.

The hets from this particular line tend to be reduced patterned themselves, and very light in color. Heck, I think I love the hets as much as the morph itself. They're sexy!!!