Lucky pattern vs. purposeful trait

caropaige · August 31, 2021, 6:52pm

Hello!

I am pretty new to the community; I have a banana Mojave I got a few years ago as a pet, and I am planning on getting a female sometime soon. (also originally meant to be a pet, but might invest in some long term breeding plans.)

I have what might be a stupid question but I couldn’t find my answer on google. I’ve seen some morphs that have broken patterns that form spots on & behind their heads. Like this guy for example

& I’ve seen similar spots on the head of a Super Pastel Butter Woma.
My question is are these spots just lucky broken pattern results or are they characteristic of a certain morph? I’ve definitely seen them on a lot of spiders, but I wondered if there are any morphs that have that as a key characteristic.

Thank you for your help!

lumpy · August 31, 2021, 7:41pm

Hi @caropaige welcome to our community! I just want to say there are no stupid questions. We all need to learn because we are not experts, but we are enthusiasts . That just means were a little nuts for reptiles/herps. So I would say don’t be embarrassed about asking questions, it can only make your knowledge stronger. And that therefore gives you the potential to strengthen others knowledge. We love to grow together here, so just ask away.

So to answer your question, the variation in genetic morphs is extreme. The spotting that you’re talking about could be a result of two certain genes interacting, though these two genes could interact differently in another snake. This works also with three, four… n genes. When thinking about future combos you have to think about what your base genes are, then take constructive “evidence” to theorize what the probable outcome could look like.