Starting a new project here in the UK! Need clarification on possible outcomes of my pairing. My male was listed as Desert Ghost 66% het Axanthic (VPI) and my female is a VPI Axanthic 66% het Desert Ghost. Could someone help me out creating a list of what can be produced,
Thanks
HeroicHerps
With both parents being visuals, you can produce 100% double hets.
You will need to either have them tested to confirm the 66% hets or breed them and see what happens. They may not have the recessive het gene at all.
66% het means that both parents were het for the gene. Out of 4 possible hatchlings, 1 was visual, 2 are hets and 1 is normal. One visual and three normal looking. Out of those 3 normal looking, you have a 2/3 chance of it being het. Or 66%. But you can still have a normal.
Hopefully one of the parents will prove to be 100% het, because then you can hatch double recessives and visual single recessive 100% het
I thought it would be a case of just seeing whats produced.
Next breeding season will be an exciting one! Lets hope both prove out 
Thanks
I think it’s most helpful to think of the “% het” as the odds the snake is a carrier for the recessive gene. Because that’s what it is in a practical sense.
If we’re talking overall casino odds on this pairing, assuming there’s 5 eggs in the clutch, you have about 33% odds to hit a double visual in the clutch. So, not great.
Once you see what hatches that would change the “66% het” odds for future pairings based on what proves or not. 56% chance at least one of them isn’t a carrier. Even higher chance that at least one doesn’t prove out through breeding because there’s also the chance you were just unlucky.
I personally would choose to spend the money to have their sheds tested for presence of the gene. That way you aren’t sitting there hoping and potentially setting yourself behind progress wise before you breed.
Also, not to be rude, but I feel it’s extremely crucial to understand genetics and the type of babies you are producing before you plan to breed. You should be able to figure this kind of thing out so you know what you will/won’t be making. There’s 50,000 ball pythons listed on morphmarket, so planning carefully is key.
@nswilkerson1 has a great point.
Not only should you understand the genetics ahead of time so you know what you’re doing…
But also so you’re not getting scammed as well. Some people will jack up the price of a possible het to almost the same price as a guaranteed het. And man would that feel bad if you get no hets.
As far as the market… If neither proves out, that’s a lot of normal looking babies to sell. Thankfully the UK market isn’t as oversaturated as the US I think. So hopefully it works out
My only issue with genetics was the 66% het paired with a visual and the outcome, other than that I know a lot about snakes. Thanks for the help guys! Its just the first time I’ve ever picked up 66% het animals. I enjoy proving out animals 
Welcome to the community, @heroicherps ! We’re glad you’re here, and as you can probably tell, our members here are very practical, knowledgeable, and respectful. I hope you will find this community forum as helpful as I do. In the meantime, here is something that should help you out. Take care! And we love photos of your animals by the way 
https://www.morphmarket.com/c/reptiles/pythons/ball-pythons/genetic-calculator/
It’s easier to not factor the 66% in at all, because the 66% won’t apply to the offspring, it only applies to the animals themselves. 66% het is just the likelihood that that animal will end up carrying whatever that trait is. In the end, the either will be not het or 100% het. So there’s not really any in between. If those hets are present, each offspring will be 50% possible het one or both of those genes. If the hets aren’t present, the offspring have no chance to inherit them.
Not sure what testing options you have in the UK. I think it’s stupid that naturally shed “skins” are treated the same as animal hides for international shipping purposes but that’s government bureaucracies for you.
Because females take a lot longer to grow up than males I would recommend maybe testing the girl first but the best candidate for what is hopefully the ultimate test for het desert ghost was developed in Canada recently and shared with US based RGI so unless also shared with a UK tester you might face the extra expense of a permit to ship a shed sample internationally.
While the VPI axanthic test is already accepted as proven at this point it may also only be available in certain countries at this time. The nice thing there is if your male tested not het VPI axanthic you could replace him with a year younger male before the female is grown up.
Awesome! Sounds like they are centralizing the export process. Hopefully doesn’t add a lot of expense.
Welcome to the community and that ball python is a real beaut! Congratulations on a great find! 
I’ve been thinking about this recently, that my female bp could possibly be holding more genes than just pastel and clown… anyone have any suggestions on what this could be?
I"m not really seeing anything else, is there something that makes you believe she’s carrying other traits?
What are you seeing that makes you think that? She looks to be a pastel clown to me.
