wanted to share my favorite ball with you guys

[EasiGregory]

So what you are saying is it is for all outward appearances is a normal? Unless heterozygous has been changed to define something else? I have always thought hets were an animal that appears to be normal but carries a recessive gene.

You are correct.

Greg

[goddessbaby]

From what I understand being a het for something can slighter alter the appearance of the "normal" is that right? Like some things you can recognize based on color variations and certain patterns?

[Philip451]

From what I understand being a het for something can slighter alter the appearance of the "normal" is that right? Like some things you can recognize based on color variations and certain patterns?

That's correct, perhaps a bit of an understatement

[darkranger69]

no Het. russo is not a recessive trait. It was miss label because the super for is a BEL.

[kitedemon]

That makes sense. It would be so much easier if people would use genetic terms as the terms what they are supposed to be!

[Trackstrong83]

That makes sense. It would be so much easier if people would use genetic terms as the terms what they are supposed to be!

True.
Just like het red axanthic.
Being a genetics student it confuses me lol

[darkranger69]

yes, it s more a commercial label like double het. pied / lavender named as het. dreamsicle.

[Slowcountry Balls]

So what you are saying is it is for all outward appearances is a normal? Unless heterozygous has been changed to define something else? I have always thought hets were an animal that appears to be normal but carries a recessive gene.

This is not correct. All animals are either heterozygous (het) or homozygous. This refers to wether the gene pair at a locus are the same (homozygous) or different (heterozygous). Recessive, Dominate, Incomplete Dominate, and Codominate refer to the visual expression based on whether or not the animal is homozygous or heterozygous. In the Ball Python trade, those that use the label Codominate are incorrectly using that label, we really only deal with Recessive, Dominate, and Incomplete Dominate.

Recessive is defined as a gene where the heterozygous form looks the same as the wild type and the homozygous form looks different from the wild type (think Piebald, Albino, and Clown as examples).

Dominate is defined as a gene where both the heterozygous and homozygous look different from the wild type and look the same as each other (think Pinstripe, Spider, and Leopard as examples).

Incomplete Dominate is defined as a gene where the heterozygous and homozygous forms look different from the wild type and different from each other (think Mojave, Fire, and Pastel as examples).

It is us, who give labels that confuse things. Het Russo is accurately (genetically speaking) labeled because it has 1 Russo Gene and 1 wild type. We in the Ball Python trade have a habit of naming the heterozygous form of an Incomplete Dominate morph with the morph and the homozygous form with "Super" in front of it. Often the confusion comes in when the heterozygous form of an Incomplete Dominate morph is subtle, and at first, mistaken for the wild type visually, thus named in the same convention that we usually use for Recessive genes. Originally, Specter was called Het Supper Stripe, and Spark was called Het Puma, until people began to recognize the subtle differences between a Specter and a wild type or a Spark and a wild type. At that point, and when they were proved to be part of the Yellowbelly complex by breeding, they were renamed according to the typical pattern in the Ball Python trade. This never happened with Het Red Axanthic, nor Het Russo.

Just trying to help clarify.

[Slowcountry Balls]

From what I understand being a het for something can slighter alter the appearance of the "normal" is that right? Like some things you can recognize based on color variations and certain patterns?

That brings up the trickiness of classifying genes. By strict definition, a recessive gene cannot be identified in the heterozygus form. Also, as we Ball Python keepers have started to be more careful in observing our animals, we are starting to see more subtle traits that we missed early on. I believe what you are referring to are what people will call "markers". The problem is that some animals with markers prove to not be het for the recessive gene, and some animals without markers prove to be het for the recessive gene. The classic example of a marker is the "train tracks" on het Pieds. There are some het Pieds that have thick, black lines on the side of their belly near the last third of the body that look like train tracks and some het Pieds don't. Also, som non-het Pieds have the same "train track" markings. The debate about markers also brings up the question of "Where is the line between a Recessive gene, and a very subtle Incomplete Dominate gene?" Paint is a morph that some believe is so subtle in the het form, that it really should be classified as a Recessive gene, while others are confident in their ability to pick out the Paints from the wild types that they think it should remain classified as an Incomplete Dominate gene. There is not a set and established criteria for how reliably one must be able to pick out a het from a group of wild type animals in order to decide if it is a Recessive gene, or an Incomplete Dominate gene. People often feel that markers are best used for clutches that contain possible het animals, since the markers are not reliable enough to pick out the het animals from a larger group of wild type animals, but can be helpful in comparing animals from the same parents. The bottom line is that markers are not definitive.

That's correct, perhaps a bit of an understatement

Do you think it is the het Genetic Stripe that made your girl turn dark? I think it is Genetic Stripe that she is het for based on this thread http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...7-My-dark-girl. If it is being het for Genetic Stripe that caused your girl to become dark, shouldn't others have had similar experiences with their het Genetic Stripes? Personally, I really like your dark girl, but I doubt it is the het Genetic Stripe that caused her to change colors. I think it will end up being something else that made her look so nice.

[Albert Clark]

Thank you for that class on genetics. It was very helpful.