Spider Morph Head Wobble Hypothesis

[asplundii]

Even if we did PCR, we’d still have to get it sequenced since PCR would just create the necessary amount of DNA for sequencing but wouldn’t actually give us any information. Sequencing is what actually costs a lot, and without sequencing we’d have no idea where the mutation lies. Even then we’d need to sequence several normal and spider ball pythons in order to make better supported comparisons and be able to eliminate genetic background noise between the individuals.

You would not necessarily have to get it sequenced. And indel in the gen would generate a product of a different length than the WT and this would resolve as a band with altered mobility on a gel. This is basically what they did for locating the mutation in Albino corn snakes:
https://www.nature.com/articles/srep17118/figures/3

And even if you did have to get the amplicon sequenced, no, sequencing does not cost a lot. Amplicon sequencing might cost you a couple hundred bucks. And then all you would have to do is run a BLAST alignment

Check out Rare Genetics Inc. They are doing a lot of work with snake DNA sequencing.

This is not the kind of work Ben is doing. He could probably knock it together, but I am not sure the impetus would be there for him