How Do You Breed For Hets?

[SnakeLady1990]

I'm learning about genetics and breeding, slowly...haha.

How do you breed for hets? How do you know if something is het or not?

[Kyle@theHeathertoft]

Het stands for heterozygous, meaning one copy of a gene. Each parent can contribute only one copy of a gene to it's offspring for each morph. Let's take Mojaves, my favourite. They are co-dominant, so a heterozygous Mojave is a Mojave visually...and a homozygous (two copies of the gene) Mojave is the blue-eyed white-bodied Super Mojave.

Now for recessive traits...a snake needs two copies of the Clown gene to look like a Clown. If they only have one copy of the gene, they look like any other normal snake...except if you breed them to a Clown, you have a 50% chance of getting another Clown in the offspring. Breeding for hets is easy...breed a homozygous animal to a normal and bam, hets.

Since recessive traits are not visually expressed you need to trust your breeder about what you are getting, obviously.

[Jsh]

Hi,

This is a excellent post by Judy.

A Lesson in Basic Genetics
http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=52847

[SnakeLady1990]

Is it possible to get something that is 'het' spider?

[A.VinczeBPs]

Is it possible to get something that is 'het' spider?

No, the spider morph is Dominant.

So you either have a spider, or you have a normal, no hets.

[OhhWatALoser]

No, the spider morph is Dominant.

So you either have a spider, or you have a normal, no hets.

ehhh... no exactly

all spiders are hets, het is short for hetrozygous, there is no known homozygous spider.

[Kyle@theHeathertoft]

To my knowledge all Spiders ARE "het spider." Just like how all Mojaves are "het Mojave." Spider is a dominant trait meaning it needs only one copy of the gene to be expressed.

[SnakeLady1990]

Oh ok. So something that is just 'dominate' is a het...a het you can see. So what are the hets that you cannot see? How do you breed for those?

[SnakeLady1990]

Like, for example. I see a lot of things that say "100% het for..."

If I wanted to breed to make a "het" how would I do that, and what can that be done with?

And what does 66% het mean?

[Kyle@theHeathertoft]

Like, for example. I see a lot of things that say "100% het for..."

"100% het" means that one parent was for sure a whatever. Like say...Clown. Breed a Clown to a Normal, all offspring are 100% het Clown. They just LOOK like normals.

If I wanted to breed to make a "het" how would I do that, and what can that be done with?

Uhhh, breed a Normal to whatever homozygous snake you want. Bear in mind that recessive morphs are NOT VISIBLE in the het form, like Clowns. A het Clown looks like any old Normal. With recessives you cannot visually prove them to be het...they can only truly be proven by breeding them to another snake who is heterozygous or homozygous for that gene and producing homozygous offspring.

Of course you can also get a het from a trusted, reputable breeder who provides documentation.

Now...co-dominant morphs are visually expressed in both heterozygous and homozygous forms. The het form of Pastel is...well...a Pastel. The homozygous form of a Pastel is a Super Pastel. Thus, if someone tries to sell you a Normal-phase Ball claiming it's het Pastel, you know they are lying or ignorant of what they have.

And what does 66% het mean?

It means it might be het for whatever, but it isn't a guarantee. If you breed a het Clown to another het Clown, some of the offspring might be Clowns...some might be Normals who are het for Clown...and some are just Normals who didn't inherit the Clown gene at all. When one or both parents are het for something and the other parent (if applicable) is not het for that gene, it is POSSIBLE the offspring are het but you won't know for sure until you prove it by breeding the homozygous form from them.