When is a 66% het not a het... ?

Submitted by dave and tracy on Fri, 2006-12-15 18:00

Dear VPI,

When I breed a 66% het-albino to a 66% het-albino, would the babies be albinos or 100% het babies?

Thanks, R

 

Dear R,

You're not getting this, are you? Your snakes are either hets or not.

There is no such thing as a "66% het". 

A 66% possible-het is a normal-colored snake that is the offspring of two het-albinos. There is a 2-in-3 chance that it is a het-albino. But there is a 1-in-3 chance that it is normal.

Since you cannot tell a het-albino from a normal by looking at it, then people say it is a 66% possible-het-albino, meaning it has a 2-in-3 chance that it is a an actual het-albino.

In your case, both of your snakes might be hets, one of them might be a het and the other a normal, or both of them might be normal.

You will have to breed each of them to an albino and see if any of the babies are albino in order to tell positively whether or not either or both of them is an actual het.

Or just breed them together and if you get any albino babies at all, then you know for positive that both of your snakes actually are hets. If you don't get any albinos--no one can say what you've got.

Good luck,   DGB