Quote Originally Posted by mamaofporter View Post
Ok.. so why does the guy I'm talking to say 100% het if there's only a 50% chance they'll be albino? Thanks for explaining.... So new to this.....
Sorry I missed this! The short answer is, no. There's a 0% chance of them looking albino - it'll look like a normal snake. HOWEVER, there's a 100% chance that it's carrying the albino gene. There's just a 50% chance it'll pass that albino gene along during breeding.

For a much longer answer, all morphs have two genes (alleles) for each trait. For the albino morph, we'll call this "aa" (we'll call normals "AA"; hets are therefore "Aa"). During breeding, there's an equal chance at passing along only one of the two genes (either "a" or "A") to the offspring. The other parent passes along the other gene (either "a" or "A"). Using these letters, here are the possible pairings involving the albino morph:
  • aa x aa = all aa offspring (all babies will be albino)
  • aa x Aa = 1/2 aa offspring, 1/2 Aa offspring (visual albinos likely; non-visual babies are guaranteed to be het albino - "100% hets")
  • aa x AA = all Aa offspring (no visual albinos; all babies are guaranteed to be het albino - "100% hets")
  • Aa x Aa = 1/4 aa offspring, 1/2 Aa offspring, 1/4 AA offspring (visual albinos possible; the non-visual babies have a 2/3 chance at being het albino - "66% hets")
  • Aa x AA = 1/2 Aa offspring, 1/2 AA offspring (no visual albinos, but all have a 1/2 chance at being het albino - "50% hets")
  • AA x AA = all AA offspring (no babies carrying an albino gene)

The "% het" comes in to play during breeding - it represents the chance that the animal is carrying the gene. Since there is no way to visually see the difference between an AA baby and an Aa baby, this is why you see smaller percentages sometimes (the odds that the baby has the gene). You're essentially gambling with anything less than a 100% het. A 66% het or a 50% het might not be carrying the gene at all.

Clear as mud, right? Don't worry - the more you see it, the more it'll start making sense.

Just to clarify, the above example refers to recessive morphs (albino, clown, piebald, etc). You don't have to worry about % hets when you're talking about dominant/incomplete dominant morphs.