I’m wondering what folks think of this baby’s genetics?
I hatched arctic anaconda babies at the end of November from a normal father (light coloration, i thought he might be arctic) to a super arctic anaconda female. A couple of the babies looked like they might be super arctic, but their irises are not solid black, almost grey and kinda…multicolored? Its hard to describe.
Im trying to figure out if the father, Stud Muffin (because I pair him woth all my normal ladies) does have some genetics - he was sold to me as normal and he kicks out pretty babies.
This baby in particular (pics below) is getting more black and white and his anaconda pattern is fading.
Thoughts?
Pictures in order are: Father, mother, and progression pictures of the baby, the last picture us him this morning after shedding yesterday.
Wow looks like you got a nice surprise there! Baby looks to be Arctic Axanthic, so both parents must be het axanthic. I don’t personally see arctic in the dad, but I don’t have the best eye for spotting the expression of single gene Arctic. Were you told anything about the mom other than super arctic?
I’d love to see pictures of the rest of the clutch, ideally in natural light.
The only other het that the mother was advertised to have is Watermelon (Het Super Green Hypo). Im not sure if that has some sort of interaction or if the father might have the green hypo genetic or the axanthic.
I will preface this with, I don’t have personal experience with green hypo and it’s not one that I can spot easily. To my understanding green hypo is a dominant gene, unlike Evan’s or Dutch hypo which are recessive. So it should be visible even with a single copy. Watermelon I believe is the term used when two copies of the gene are present (super green hypo if you will). On the other hand I have also seen some breeders use the terms interchangeably. So if either parent has green hypo it should express visually. I can’t confirm whether it’s present because it’s a gene that I can never really recognize the markers. That said green hypo typically presents as reduced black and the belly may be mottled. It tends to add a lot of pink coloration to Superarctics especially, but they can also have a lot of pink already on their own so
All that said, the baby you posted above does not present like hypo, but definitely Arctic Axanthic. It’s also much more likely that het Axanthic slipped through the cracks as it’s more common than green hypo. The most likely situation is that the parents each had a parent that was an unproven het, and the breeders just failed to pass on the possibility of that gene being present.
So could the baby (or babies) have green hypo also? Certainly, but you know for sure this little one is an Arctic Axanthic conda.
What a pretty baby! I am an admirer of hoggies but I don’t have nearly enough knowledge to contribute to the discussion. I just simply had to come in to say how pretty that baby is.
This is SO helpful! I’m also not familiar with how the Green Hypo works and was thrown for a loop and didnt think much about the Watermelon coming into play with this pairing.
Any thoughts on the weird eye? Attached is a close-up.
I don’t have a solid answer, but I expect it’s because of the Arctic interacting with the Axanthic. Superarctics have solid black eyes so it seems within the realm of possibility that a single gene Arctic could have some funky eye stuff too.
It’s quite the beauty!
I wonder what is causing the fading pattern though. I haven’t seen that happen to this degree before. plus in such a short time? Very cool! can’t wait to see he grow!
Both Arctic and Axanthic are genes that lighten up as they grow and shed. So having the two together will make for a more dramatic change. You also have Anaconda in play which fades/reduces pattern.
No Arctic here but this is the same snake after a shed. Granted my office lighting makes his pattern look brown but you can still see how much lighter he is in the more recent picture. He’s actually in blue right now and I expect will be even prettier.
Here’s another example of the change with a single Arctic gene.
What you’re seeing looks to me like pastel. It’s a polygenetic trait, and you can breed for improvement of it. I’ll try to post a picture of one of my pastel axanthic Condas tomorrow After I get all my animals, unpacked from the super show.
It’s really pretty! If sapphire’s pair had pastel would you be able to see it visually? What do you see in the baby that looks like pastel? I see the arctic quite clearly but not very familiar with pastel features.
