Beginner Questions & Blue-Eyed Leucistics

[redshepherd]

A merle dog has a gene pair made up of a merle gene and a normal gene. A double merle has a gene pair made up of two merle genes.

A butter ball python has a gene pair made up of a butter gene and a normal gene. It is the genetic equivalent of a merle dog. A super butter ball python is a BEL because it has a gene pair made up of two butter genes. It is the genetic equivalent of the double merle dog.

Just wanted to point out about the dog example (though kind of off-topic), it's not exactly the genetic equivalent- just the resulting white appearance is similar. There is no known genetic defect in BEL's, while double merles do. Every double merle puppy has a 25% chance of being deaf, blind, or both, whether at birth or very early in its life. Breeding merle to merle is 100% unethical to breed in the dog world.

BEL ball pythons lives are totally fine, besides the bug eyes in young Super Lessers.