Interesting thought I had at 2am while I could NOT sleep for the life of me.
In mammals (or at least in domestic dogs and cats), the gene/s responsible for a while coat with no pattern AND two blue eyes results in partial or total deafness well over 50% of the time.
Do you think this same thing happens in BluEL Bps? Would that be difficult to know, since hearing is a lesser utilized sense in snakes? I know reptiles and mammals vary a lot, but maybe the gene/traits are similar enough to have similar effects, like how albinism is relatively consistant across species.
Additionally, mammals that have one or no blue eyes but a white patternless coat have a much lower rate of gene associated deafness, so the blue eyes thing seems deeply connected. If BlueELs are deaf, would we presume BlkEL are effected much less?
Just some weird little mutterings from me, but could be interesting!
Generally snakes do not hear in the same way as mammals, so much further study would be required. They have no outer nor middle ear, and can sense sound through air and via vibrations transmitted through the jawbone directly to the cochlea. I’m not even sure if the structure of a snake’s inner ear is similar enough to that of domesticated mammals to be affected in the same way.
The type of deafness most common in blue-eyed domestic animals is cochleosaccular dysplasia, so theoretically I’d assume there may be something similar possible in BPs. However, because snakes do not rely primarily on hearing capabilities, the impact any possible deafness may have is likely to be far less significant than in any mammalian species. We do know, however, that malformations of the sacculus and semicircular canals likely play a role in the wobble experienced by BPs in the Spider complex, so I’d be interested to know if this also affects hearing.
I am very much the wrong person to ask about BP morphs and wobble, but I’d assume if it doesn’t include any of the known wobble genes, it should not have a wobble.
Unless there’s some other cause such as wobble genes, extreme temperature exposure, incubation issues, parasites or disease. That can cause wobble to happen with any morph though, not just BELs.
