genetics of parents

[Lene]

Hello all,
i have a question to all those breeders out there, or to the savvy know-it-alls
who holds the stronger genetic strains, males or females?
this came up today at work, one of the girls is wanting to buy a jungle python with the intent to breed it. of course she wants a bright yellow and black band female, but the male she wants is not so bright.
or maybe it doesnt matter and its luck of the draw as to what you get out of a combo?

[ihaveherps]

Luck of the draw on most parts... or take luck out of the equation and pm junglefreak.

[fishbot]

who holds the stronger genetic strains, males or females?

Offspring recieve 50% of their mothers DNA and 50% of the fathers, it's a 50/50 split with no dominance.

Ofcourse you could complicate this by investigating dominent vs recessive genes, or X vs Y chromosomes but you would be wasting your time.

If you want "pretty" offspring then use "pretty" breeding stock.

[Sparty]

Males hold more dominance over genetics for their male offspring (for genetics on the Y chromosome) however, female offspring have no dominance.

Male offpsring from good females are the ones to KEEP if this is the case, because they hold the best chance for good genetics from the mother (as the father only contributes a Y chromosome, the offspring will have a better chance of being 'pretty' as the males DNA didn't contribute to colour/pattern). It's all rather complicated at first, but if you read up on some introductory genetics, it will be clear.

Though, for reptile genetics i'm unsure if the Y chromosome holds any areas for control over colour\pattern (or if infact reptiles have Y chromosomes, might be W). IF it doesn't then your best looking animals would be male offsprings, so you should KEEP them to breed with a good female when they are full grown.

Genetics is far more complicated than that however.

You get 50% from each mate, but first of all, DNA doesn't just split in half, it mixes around and seperates it's pieces until it's like a scrambled egg THEN combines with a different scrambled egg. Giving you a random mixed tape from 4 BILLION songs (yep, bad odds).

Secondly, pattern and colour are actually polygenic phenotypes. Meaning that, many many hundreds of genes all contribute to to the determination of colour and pattern.

Just breed the best with the best, and pray that you get 1\100 odds of a good one..

It's just like 2 numbers, the average, will never be as good as the best previous numbers.
All luck!

[Hix]

Snakes display female heterogamety, that is females are ZW and males are ZZ. Neither parent will hold a stronger genetic strain, unless the gene for the character you want is on one of the gametes (which is unlikely).

I would suggest getting good looking animals, and keeping any good looking offspring.



Hix

[rexs1]

when it comes to jungles you can have mongrals that throw crackers and **** hot jungles that dont really meet the expectations once you have bred them.

And just to throw a spanner in the works ordinary hatchys can turn out the best.

Safest bet is to buy off a well known breeder that has a reputation for producing hot snakes.

nick

[rexs1]

and the male / female thing- one of our males always throws his pattern no matter what female we put him over
nick

[Hix]

Originally Posted by rexs1

and the male / female thing- one of our males always throws his pattern no matter what female we put him over
nick

That probably has something to do with the genes that cause the pattern, not the sex of the parents.



Hix

[BlindSnake]

seeing we're on genetics, whats peoples opps on Someone who buys a brother and sister from same clutch with the intent to breed them together....That can't be good..

[cris]

seeing we're on genetics, whats peoples opps on Someone who buys a brother and sister from same clutch with the intent to breed them together....That can't be good..

I think there are a fair few threads on that already, inbreeding is generally fine. Im sure if you do a search it will come up with heaps of stuff.

My jungle is from bright and not so bright parents, i like her
This pic is a bit dull looking the shirt is actually bright yellow, and the jungle looks more yellow too.

[rexs1]

Originally Posted by BlindSnake

seeing we're on genetics, whats peoples opps on Someone who buys a brother and sister from same clutch with the intent to breed them together....That can't be good..

snakes can be bred at least 5 times down the line with out any ill effects ather then producing better couloured and patterned snakes

nick