Dude looks like a lady + Question about inheritable behaviors

[LLLReptile]

I tentatively suggest that yes, to a certain extent, personality and feeding response are inheritable. It's just not inherited as simply as color or pattern mutations are, and as their generational gaps are so wide, people can't see as quick of a result from breeding as in mammal breeding projects, such as rats.

For example, I have spiders and normals fathered by the same spider father, who was frankly, kind of a butt. Always active when handled, never settled down, not necessarily mean just not the typical laid back kind of ball python. His offspring are the same way, but offspring from the same mothers, with different fathers, are not.
I have a female that is exceptionally large; her offspring consistently get larger, faster, than offspring from other females. Never anything that I would say is over the top, but the holdbacks I've kept have growth rates similar to unrelated spiders (notorious for faster growth). When selecting my holdbacks, if the prettiest baby took longer to start feeding, I will sometimes skip that baby and hold back one that fed right from the start instead. We'll see if that has any impact later on, but I prefer keeping easy feeders personally!

I think the focus has always primarily been on colors, and less so on other behavioral traits, and since they take longer (multiple generations - which in ball pythons, can be 9 years + for 2 or 3 generations) it is less sought after.

-Jen