Hypos vs Normals

[Joje126]

So heres a question I should have addressed in one of my very first posts on this site, but first a little background.

As some of you know, I have an adult male corn whom I am currently assuming to be normal, but hypothesize to possibly be hypo. The parents were normal and amel, and I realize they would have had to be het hypo for my snake to be hypo. I was told by Rich and others that by the distinction between hypo and normal couldnt be made simply by looking at the snake, but instead that I would have to do breeding trials and mate my snake to a hypo female.

Ok, Im a genetics student so this makes sense right. Heres the problem...if we cant make a visual distinction on my corn (wheteher hes hypo or not) how am I going to be able to tell whether the hatchlings are normal or hypo?

Suggestions?

 

[Serpwidgets]

Hatchlings are much more obvious. It should be difficult to look at them and miss any hypos. Although it is one of those things where experience definitely helps out.

You might also find that he is het for hypo... whether or not that contributes to his appearance would be another debate, hehe.

 

[Susan]

If your snake is a true hypo, and you breed it to another hypo (assuming both snakes have the same hypo gene), ALL the offspring will be hypo. If your snake is normal, and just looks hypo, and you breed it to a hypo, most, if not all, of the offspring will look normal. You may get some that look hypo, like yours, but the chances of producing ALL "pseudo-hypo" normals are very slim.

Of coarse, if your snake is one of the "new gene" hypos, and you breed it to an "old gene" hypo, you still can't be sure what your snake really is by the resulting offspring.

I'm in the same situation as you are. I have a male normal that looks hypo. His siblings look normal, and his parents are not believed to be het hypo, so I'm considering him to be a "pseudo-hypo". However, I will breed him someday to a known hypo or ghost, just to satisfy my curiousity.