Originally Posted by Trisnake
No the other genes aren't wiped out, they're just masked by the effect of the lesser/butter making an all white, patternless snake. The animal can still carry the genes but their expression is covered up. So the genotype could be a super pastel leopard spider lesser butter but the phenotype would appear the same as a regular butter/lesser.
It's like, if you breed a super pastel lesser to a butter and get a BEL, you know that baby HAS to carry the pastel gene because one of the parents was a super pastel. Just because you can't physically see the pastel in the animal doesn't mean it isn't there.
The only way to get an entire clutch of BELs with 100% certainty is to breed two BELs together. You will get a clutch of all white snakes. But if one or both of the parents carry other genes that are masked by the leucism, they can still pass those on to the offspring, who's leucism would also mask the gene or genes. The only way to find out if your BEL is hiding other genes is to breed it, preferably to a normal so you know where the genes are coming from when you hatch morph babies.
Got it. Thank you for that awesome reply.
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