Quote Originally Posted by JLC View Post
I have to disagree with this statement. I thought about getting into it with my previous post, but that post was already all over the map and I didn't want to confuse things any further.

It would NOT be accurate to call a lesser a "het lesser". It would be accurate to call it a "het BEL", though.

As applied to ball python morph names, the term "het" means that the animal is expressing ONE HALF of the morph's genetic pair. A "het albino" means the animals has one half of the pair of genes needed to make up an albino.

A "het ivory" has one half of the genetic pair that makes an ivory. It's also known as a "yellow belly". But if you refer to an animal as "het yellow belly" it implies that the animal is carrying one half of the genetics needed to make a yellow belly.

There IS a difference between "het BEL" and "het lesser". ...at least in the very casual genetic language of ball python morphs. There's no such thing as a "het lesser".
Het just means a pair of mismatched genes, not half a morph. Het bel and het lesser are the same thing. You basically have two names for the same gene in that sense. Your dealing with the heterozygous form of the gene. But if im looking at a at the alleles sitting there i call them lesser genes not het bel. While there technically nothing incorrect about besides we have many ways to make a bel, so i see it as less accurate.