Quote Originally Posted by Rapture View Post
For some reason the wrong terms are used to describe genetic heritage in the ball python context. What you know as co-dominant in ball pythons is in all actuality incomplete dominance. Vin Russo covers this topic in his book, The Complete Boa Constrictor.
Perfect!

We call co-dominants and it gives the impression that it means CO-, (as in CO-ed) which is only a partial explanation of our terms.

Incomplete dominant is the proper term, but we hobbyists like to shorten that to Co-dom.

Incomplete dominance is exactly that, incomplete. The pastel gene is an incomplete dominant, meaning it is only partially expressed when heterozygous (what we call Pastels), and is being completely expressed when homozygous (what we call Super Pastels).

Does that make better sense?

Dominant is a complete expression of the gene whether it is heterozygous or homozygous. It does not need to be a homozygous animal to show the complete expression of the gene.

An example of that is BHB's suspected HOMOzygous pinstripe (carries two copies of the gene).
It will look exactly the same as a heterozygous pinstripe, but when crossed with a normal animal, gives 100% het pinstripes. And remember, a pinstripe is a dominant, so only 1 copy of the pinstripe gene is needed for the full expression of the gene.

Just like if you were to cross a Super Pastel with a normal, you get all Pastels, because each animal receives one copy of the pastel gene.

Well, probably confused you, but hope it helps anyways...