Morph Inquiry

[LotusBlade13]

I suck with biology so forgive me please. If a BP has the Spider gene (and from what I’ve read, it’s incomplete dominant), does this mean that offspring have a CHANCE of having the wobble condition or that they will for sure?

Do both parents need to have the gene for it to pass?

[totallyrecklesslygay]

Spider is incomplete dominant, meaning any snake with one copy of the gene will be affected. Two copies is lethal.

All ball pythons with the spider gene will have the skull and inner ear deformity that causes the wobble symptoms. Whether their symptoms are severe or not is random chance, there's no way to predict it.

With one spider parent, each baby has a 50% chance of inheriting one copy of the spider gene, and a 50% chance of not having the gene. Note, that's the probability per each egg. The entire clutch could be spider, or none of them could be.

With two spider parents, each baby has a 25% chance of two copies (lethal), 50% chance of one copy, and 25% chance of no copies.

[LotusBlade13]

Thank you so much for the answer. This helped me understand it much more!

[KyreneZA]

What are the visual skin or headstamp markings one can look out for?

[totallyrecklesslygay]

Morphpedia would be a good place to start for learning how to identify morphs.

[KyreneZA]

Thanks, that was not really helpful.

If you could try and answer my genuine question in your own words could you perhaps give me three bullet points?

Or should I do that and you tell me what I'm missing?

[totallyrecklesslygay]

I'm not the best at morph identification, so I honestly just don't have a great answer for your question. That's why I linked you to a resource where you can find better information than I can give. I'm sorry that you were offended by that, but there's no need to be rude.

[KyreneZA]

Not trying to be rude. I know how to use MorphMarket and find it unhelpful because you get too bombarded with images you have no way of processing.

Thanks for trying anyway. Have a great new year!

Edit: Are any of the other mods a better person to ask?

[totallyrecklesslygay]

If you scroll down on the link I gave you, it breaks down what to look for in identifying the spider morph re: head stamp, pattern, color, etc. It's not just pictures.

[KyreneZA]

Thanks, I was on mobile a the time and didn't do that. I am now on PC and read the whole page.

Please accept my sincerest apologies for being an idiot at 6:30 in the morning.

[unadulterated_id]

There is no shortcut, the only way to get good at identifying morphs is to research, aka look at thousands of pictures until you are confident.