What are the Genetics of a Bumblebee Ball Python?
Bumblebee ball pythons can be generated through one of at least two different mating schemes. In one mating scheme (which was the original mating scheme that snake breeders used to create bumblebee ball pythons), a bumblebee ball python is obtained by mating a spider ball python to a pastel ball python. The spider ball python is heterozygous for Spider, which is a dominant mutation, and the pastel ball python is heterozygous for Pastel, which is a co-dominant mutation. One type of ball python that will emerge from such a mating is the bumblebee ball python, which is heterozygous for both the dominant trait Spider and the co-dominant trait Pastel. (It is expected that, on average, 25% of all pythons produced by such a mating will be bumblebee ball pythons.) In the second breeding scheme, a bumblebee ball python can be bred to a normal, or “wild-type”, ball python (that is, a ball python that is free of mutation). In this mating scheme, on average: • 25% of the baby pythons will carry bo
