How would you prove your own line? So a pastel is just a type of color on a boa, or colors, and it varies with each person's line? I mean, I kinda understand genetics, a little, but would it be something like, if you have a possible "pastel", when bred, you then bred him/her to one of the babies from that litter, and so on? Please explain.
The Pastel trait is not described very well. While Ronne took a stab at it, you can get lost in the definition as he rambles. I do believe it is some sort of inheritable trait but not like co-dom , dominant, or recessive. It also depends on the line as well. I know of a couple that when bred to normals etc. the pastel gene is expressed regardless of how ugly the normal is where as a line bred trait is usually bred back to each other with very select animals added to freshen up the mix but may not carry a clean up gene.
A good indication that your animals carry something is determined by what it is bred into. If you breed it to a melanistic normal and the babies look like pet shop bait, likely you need to work it with cleaner animals in a line breeding project. If even a few of the babies come out with an overall reduction in the black part of the pattern and the dark wash over the background color, those would be held back for further breedings.
A good Pastel will clean up anything its bred to ( clean up gene ) where a line of clean animals bred to strictly clean animals will likely be just clean normals. Pastel is a funky trait, it does exist but no one that I know has been able to determine the true nature of it.
p.s. Also, whats the difference between a salmon and a hypo? I have always though or been told they were the same, but recently a friend of mine said there are small differences, are there differences genetically? thanks!
