chimera and paradox

[asplundii]

agreed, but i'm thinking not all paradox are chimera.

OWAL was not saying that all "paradox" were chimera, just that chimera are one of the ways by which you can generate a "paradox"-type animal.

and probably we can never really know.

We can certainly know. Genetics is genetics is genetics. There is nothing about the genetics of ball pythons (or any other herp) that is any different than the genetics of any other organism on the planet. We know of a great many mechanisms in other species that generate "paradox"-type phenotypes. It is an absolute certainty that some (perhaps even all) of these mechanisms are at play in our animals.