Ridiculous Questions

[Riyeko]

Okay so im looking around and I kind of understand a few things by looking at pictures, but I have some questions I think some of you that are more into genetics can answer.

1. What is the difference between Kahl albino and a regular albino snake?
Theyre both albino arent they? What is the difference? Color pigment? Patterning?
This one completely drives me crazy 100% of the time.

2. T-Positive. What?
What is this? Is this some special gene that makes the animal invulnerable? Honestly, T-Positive sounds either like some STD, or some weird biologically engineered virus...

3. Other than the patterns for each type of Boa, whats the actual difference between a Colombian, Dumerils, Guyana, Suriname, Angolan, and Nicaragua boas?
Is it just where they were found or something? Like, one boa from Missouri and another from Colorado would be called Misso and Colo boas... is it that or something else im totally missing.

4. The lady we bought our female RTB from told us that her mother was an Anery/Motley RTB. Great. Honestly doesnt that mean that our Eve would be het for Motley and Anery?
Then a few people told me no. Anery is not a genetic trait or something and she would never produce Anery RTB's.... that means, ... it honestly confused me and doesnt make sense from what I know about genetics.
It would be like saying two albino parents have four children, and none of them can be albino. Thats not true. Theres a 50/50 chance they would have an albino child since they are both albino.


Pictures would be most helpful on some of these questions since im a visual person most of the time.

Anyway, thanks for answering.

 

[Matt2979]

1)There is no "regular albino". There are 2 different strains of Albino, and they are not compatible with one another. There is Kahl, from Peter Kahl, and Sharp, from Brian Sharp.

2) My knowledge of this gene is too limited for me to answer--I know just enough to REALLY confuse you!! lol

3) Someone better suited to answer #2 could also help you better with this one.

4) If your girl was produced by an anery motley, your girl is 100% het for anery (a recessive gene); however, she could never produce a motley, unless bred to one, as motley is a co-dominant trait.

Hopefully that gets you started, at least.

 

[ShadowAceD]

Okay so im looking around and I kind of understand a few things by looking at pictures, but I have some questions I think some of you that are more into genetics can answer.

1. What is the difference between Kahl albino and a regular albino snake?
Theyre both albino arent they? What is the difference? Color pigment? Patterning?
This one completely drives me crazy 100% of the time.

2. T-Positive. What?
What is this? Is this some special gene that makes the animal invulnerable? Honestly, T-Positive sounds either like some STD, or some weird biologically engineered virus...

3. Other than the patterns for each type of Boa, whats the actual difference between a Colombian, Dumerils, Guyana, Suriname, Angolan, and Nicaragua boas?
Is it just where they were found or something? Like, one boa from Missouri and another from Colorado would be called Misso and Colo boas... is it that or something else im totally missing.

4. The lady we bought our female RTB from told us that her mother was an Anery/Motley RTB. Great. Honestly doesnt that mean that our Eve would be het for Motley and Anery?
Then a few people told me no. Anery is not a genetic trait or something and she would never produce Anery RTB's.... that means, ... it honestly confused me and doesnt make sense from what I know about genetics.
It would be like saying two albino parents have four children, and none of them can be albino. Thats not true. Theres a 50/50 chance they would have an albino child since they are both albino.


Pictures would be most helpful on some of these questions since im a visual person most of the time.

Anyway, thanks for answering.

There is no such thing as a "regular albino", it is either Kahl or Sharp. Peter Kahl founded one line of albinos and Brian Sharp founded another line. Neither are compatible with one another. Visually, Sharp's tend to have more contrast, but that is not always the case. The only way to know for sure is to know the breeding that created the anmal.

The “T” in T-Positive Albino represents tyrosinase, an enzyme required in the creation of melanin, which a T-Negative Albino (Kahl and Sharp, for example) animal lacks completely. T-Positive Albinos actually have functional tyrosinase enzymes and, therefore, can produced some melanin, however, they lack another enzyme required to complete the melanin creation process which would help make them appear "normal". The T-Positive Albino, no matter which locality, shows dark pigmentation whereas a T-Negative Albino does not (paradox are the exception to this).

Scale count, size, location, subspecies ... etc. etc. There are a lot of differences in them. Visit the Rio Bravo Reptiles website as well as the Cutting Edge Herpatology website to educate yourself on it. They are very helpful. It would take a long time for anyone to try and explain every single animal on the forum on why they are or are not different from one another. There are many websites out there with the answers.

A boa cannot be het. for Motley It either is or it is not. Anery, on the other hand, is a recessive trait, and if the dam was an Anery boa, then the offspring would all be het. for Anery. If the dam was only het. for Anery, then there is only a 50% chance that the offspring are het. for Anery as without being a visual representation of the morph, she only had a 50% chance of passing the genetics in question onto her offspring. In order to prove or disprove your animal, you would need to breed it to an animal that carries the Anery gene either in het. or visual form.

 

[Riyeko]

Okay, the lady who we bought Eve from... her sire was an Albino, and the lady told us she was 66% het for albino.

She never told us which type of albino she was, either Kahl or Sharp.
Thats where the "regular" albino question came from.

We do have a regular RTB thats het for Kahl albino as well, and in the future we would breed Adam and Eve together.

They will produce albino babies wont they? Unless Eve turns out Sharp Albino instead of Kahl.

What a mess.
=/

As for the T positive and other answers to the specific boas, thanks.
Ill use those sites and read up on them since we have two Colombian RTBs that are het for mystery albino now.
=/

 

[AbsoluteApril]

1. What is the difference between Kahl albino and a regular albino snake?

As already stated there are two distinct lines of albino -Kahl and Sharp, which are not compatible and are named for the people that established the lines. When you see a boa labeled as just albino or regular albino, it is a Kahl strain (also called original strain) as they are much more common and more affodable. When people have sharp strain they will typically specify it's a "sharp". If it's just albino, 99% it's Kahl.

2. T-Positive. What?

The T-Positive Albino is a proven recessive trait. Established by VPI (http://www.vpi.com/) and is also called caramel albino. There are actually a couple different strains of T+ boas including the BWC (BoaWoman Caramel). The 'T' stands for tyrosinase, an enzyme required in the synthesis of melanin. (Diem and I posted at the same time)

They were originally called caramels because they were not thought to be actual albinos since they do not express the trait the same way the kahls and sharps do. HOWEVER, the BWCs were found to be compatible to sharp strains and when bred together create something called a paradigm. This is where the genetics get really confusing and if you feel up to it you can read more here: http://www.basicallyboas.com/secret.html

it gets very confusing very quickly.

3. Other than the patterns for each type of Boa, whats the actual difference between a Colombian, Dumerils, Guyana, Suriname, Angolan, and Nicaragua boas?

Different species and sub-species and localities in those sub species of the Family: Boid

Dumerils are Boa dumerili
Colombian, Nicaragua, are Boa Constrictor imperitor (BCi)
Surinam, Guyana are Boa Constrictor constrictor (BCc)
Angolan is a python, think Python anchietae?

4. The lady we bought our female RTB from told us that her mother was an Anery/Motley RTB. Great. Honestly doesnt that mean that our Eve would be het for Motley and Anery?

That was explained in the post above. Anery is recessive (like albino) so if the mom was visual anery, your boa would be het anery (carry the gene but not express it). Motley is a co-dominant trait so if the mom was motley but yours is not, then it does not carry the gene.

EDIT - Since I just saw your update - if the dad was albino, yours would be 100% het albino, and I would very much assume KAHL albino, sharps are still a bit more pricey. If they told you your boa is only 66% possible het, then that means the parents they bred were both hets and not visual albinos as that is the only way to get a 66% het baby.

Hope some of this helps!

 

[ShadowAceD]

If a boa is het. for Albino without the line of Albino being stated, it's a Kahl.

There is also a siginificant price difference. Sharp animals are much more expensive than Kahl animals. Hence why people make it a point to state if it is Sharp.

If her sire was an Albino, then your boa would be het. for Albino, not 66% het. A visual parent willl deliver the entire gene to their offspring, not partial. If the dam was an Anery, then your boa is Double Het. for Snow, meaning she carries both the Albino and Anery genes and could potentially create Snows (a visual representation of the Albino and Anery genes) if bred to the proper male.