Help understanding Dwarf Retics?

[pjvo]

Hi all,

I know there are quite a few Retic Junkies on this forum, so I have a question for you guys.

So I'm unsure as how Dwarf genes work with the retics. From what I've seen some snakes are high/low percentage dwarf, dwarf, super dwarf? Some morphs are dwarf/non-dwarf specific such as GoldenChild? Does mixing non dwarf snakes with dwarf snakes create a high/low percentage? When you have a high percentage that means that it will stay smaller than a low percentage?

I have a male GC Tiger pHet Albino and if I pair him with my Sunfire pHet Albino does that mean all of the offspring will be some percentage dwarf? And the same if I pair him with my Normal Het Albino?

Sorry for so many questions, I'm just a little confused. Any and all answers are appreciated!

Thanks!

PJ

[reptileexperts]

Dwarf is not a gene but an actual locale that should be classified as a different sub-species. They are bred from smaller sized adults that originated from islands that have limited resource availability, which thanks to adaptive radiation events, caused smaller and smaller adults to be capable of reproducing. In the hobby, the term "Super Dwarf" was coined by Bob Clark in an effort to market these snakes that he imported from the Kalatoa islands that were breeding at fairly small sizes (6-7' females). When the demand was there, they started crossing these into mainland (Sulawesi / Sumatra) locality retics to attempt at making smaller snakes in larger clutches / cross breeding mutations into smaller gene pools.

A first generation cross is something like that:
Wild Caught Kalaotoa x Tiger . . . Because the tiger is a mainland mutation, we know that these will result in "50% SD" F1. Where the 50% comes from a pedigree style system (total % SD Locale divided by 2 - 100%/2 = 50%).

This result will make offspring that still have a large growth potential, but can remain relatively small. The part that the community often forgets is the reason superdwarfs / dwarf locales are small on the islands is due to the lower amount of food availability, or the spurts of food availability only available part of the year. The truth behind this is it doesn't simply mean they will ONLY be able to grow x size (though mainly true for most SD pures), it means that they can handle lower food intake due to a lower metabolism rate. Given a higher food intake, their metabolism will respond faster (if heat is available) and they will maintain a larger growth. . .

A second generation cross leads to smaller offspring. F1 x F1 = F2 50% SD if we bred two siblings from the pairing above. These F2 50% now have a "max" growth around 8-9' versus the 12' max of an F1 female. . . Likewise, cross the 50% F1 to a SD pure, and you'll get a 75% F2 which generally will be nearly be almost the growth potential of a pure (7-8' max females).

Now, regarding your snake. Yes GC originated in dwarf lines, but has been crossed numerous times into mainland and should not, in and of itself, be considered a large % dwarf unless it was bred to a pure to get it down in size. Most GC on the market, have a huge growth potential. There are some F1 50% SD out there, and like my main sire an F1 50% Jampea (dwarf). But these were expensive, and not many were produced due to the demands of the market for Albinos (all albinos = mainland).

This should get you started.