Genes come in pairs, like socks. A het is a creature that has a heterozygous gene pair. All gene pairs are either homozygous or heterozygous.Originally Posted by jessica87
what is a het by the way?
A homozygous gene pair has two copies of the same gene; the two genes are the same. Examples: two normal genes, two albino genes, two pinstripe genes, two mojave genes.
A heterozygous gene pair has one copy each of two slightly different genes; the two genes are NOT the same. Examples: a normal gene and an albino gene, a normal gene and a pinstripe gene, a normal gene and a mojave gene, a lesser gene and a mojave gene.
Herpers most commonly use "het" when a recessive mutant gene is paired with a normal gene. However, the word can be applied to any creature with a heterozygous gene pair, such a blue-eyed leucistic ball python with a gene pair made up of a lesser gene and a mojave gene. Or a creature with a dominant mutant gene paired with a normal gene. Such hets look like a creature with two copies of the dominant mutant gene. The restriction is due to there being very few dominant mutant genes known in ball pythons.
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