Unusual Baby

Pythons Ball Pythons
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I bred him this past season and he proved out to be a Lavender Snow.

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Just posted an update of him from the NARBC Saint Louis Show.

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Awesome! Its always a tossup with chimeras which genetics the important bits actually are :slight_smile:

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If youlook at the pattern configuration on the head its more than a ‘Paradox’. In other animals/birds it would be referred to as a ‘Half-sider’. What happened to it?

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The paradox morph is an umbrella term. It is basically used to describe contradicting featured. In this case, the animal is a chimera, leading to the split face. When you see this happen with the split face it looks like a contradicting feature, so chimera is thrown in the paradox label.

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looks that way to me
I wonder what the outcome would be in breeding a chimera and if indeed it would be fertile.
I bet the morphmarket calculator would brake :smirk:

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Definitely Chimera, the split face and different set of colored eyes is a dead giveaway. These things go for a lot but no way, that’s a keeper.

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Yes, that would be interesting. Im unsure how gametes of chimeras work, but I do know that chimera isn’t exactly passed down. Beyond that I’m not sure if they are even fertile, or what genes the gametes would carry if they were fertile. Safe to say the MM calculator would be unhappy lol.

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To clarify, a chimera is the fusion of 2 viable embryos to where they become one, this being the case, the Chimera has the genes of both twins, but only where the cells of the twin exist. To clarify, this is my Chimera. He is half albino, half het albino. He is however a proven breeder, and produces all albino when paired with albino, so that means his gonads come from the twin that was albino. If he produced half albinos, his gonads would be from the het albino twin. This is set in stone (unless some craziness like 1 godnad from each twin) but its internal, and you wont know until bred which genes the gonads come from (or ovaries in the case of female)

PSA, this is a laymans explanation, im sure @t_h_wyman could give a much more accurate one should anyone be interested :slight_smile:

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A Paradox Ball Python is a Ball Python that expresses contradictory features or qualities. The term “Paradox” is an loose term used in the reptile industry/hobby that has no scientific/genetic value. It simply describes an anomalous phenotype, anywhere from a small, nearly undetectable colour/pattern difference all the way up to extreme 50/50 animals.

The two most common forms of “paradox” that we encounter in the hobby are Mosaics and Chimeras

A mosaic is an animal that has genetically distinct cell lines but they originated from a single zygote.

A chimera is an animal that has genetically distinct cell lines but they originated from more than one zygote/individual

Mosaic example:
You breed an Albino to a Normal/Wild Type and what you hatch are het Albinos. But one of them has random full Albino patches on it. This happens because of a few reasons, one of which being the wild-type allele of the gene is lost in a subset of the cells in this animal’s body. So the animal then has two genetically different sets of cells in its body - 2n and 2n-1 - but all of the cells in its body have the same embryo as their origin. This type of “paradox” animal is a mosaic

Chimera example:
You breed a Pinstripe to a Normal/Wild Type and what you hatch are Pinstripes and Normals, but one of the Pinstripes has random Normal patches on it. This happens because, most often, two different fertilized ova fuse to create a single embryo. This gives you an animal with two genetically different sets of cells in its body - 2nw and 2np - that each had an independent origin. This type of “paradox” animal is a chimera.

Bilateral animals are almost assuredly simple mosaics. The first division of the fertilized embryo sets up the left/right asymmetry, so if the chromosomal non-disjunction event happens there then every cell on one side of the animal will lack one of the alleles while every cell on the other side of the body will have both of the alleles. - Travis Wyman

Extra Reading

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For example sake only, (feel free to remove, i dont know whos picture this is so cant ask permission, but would like to use it as an example) by "bilateral, do you think it is meant as a full division from head to tail like this snake? Or just if there is any clear line of division anywhere on the body, such as the OPs or my snake i used as example?

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If there’s a division between halves, it’s a mosaic. Here’s my mosaic leopard gecko, she is Blizzard/Normal:

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Not great pics, but they still show her differing sides. I’ve noticed that the division is not as sharp as when she was younger. I imagine it would be more noticeable if she had a side with pigmentation change instead of mostly pattern.

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Did she develop more spotting on the ‘blizzard’ half as she aged? She’s super cute!

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Thanks! Yes, and it’s been a crazy change! I have pictures of her as a hatchling, juvenile, and subadult (I bought her when she was ~2 years old if I remember correctly), but I did not take them, so I can’t share them here.

I can’t seem to figure out how to share links to particular facebook posts, but I can tell you that she was hatched by Geckos Etc. on Valentine’s day, 2019, and they shared photos on social media of her as a wee one. You can also see pics of her on the MorphMarket posting I bought her from.

edit: Forgot to add that, though she was called a ‘chimera’ in her listing, she is a mosaic, as discussed.

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I see. Do you think you could explain how mosaics happen? I’m having trouble understanding how two distinct cell lines come from one zygote which I thought would only have one set of information. Super cool regardless and thanks for explanation :+1:

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@t_h_wyman again :

  • “Paradoxing” is an illegitimate term in the hobby used to describe animals that are Mosaics or Chimeras
  • A Mosaic is two (or more) genotypes present but they derive from the same source, i.e., all cells are derived from a single embryo
  • A Chimera is two (very rarely more) genotypes present derived from different sources, e.g., twin fusion (there are less common forms as well)
  • Chimerism and Mosaicism both happen in humans.

So say you pair a Banana Pinstripe X Spotnose.

Mosaic would be where you produce a Banana Pinstripe offspring, but the code messes up along the way and the animal displays, in patches, Banana and Pinstripe phenotypes, rather than the blended BananaPinstripe phenotype.

The Zygote is the fertilised egg. At the time of division it has information from both parents to play with.

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Whilst I have no scientific knowledge to draw upon, I’m not sure I can support your theory. Rather than the actual fusing of two embryos, this is more likely to be linked to some bizzare gene inheritance phenomena than an actual physical combining of embryos. Can anyone with an ultrasound throw further light on this please?

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@eaglereptiles posted earlier some of @t_h_wyman s observations earlier in the thread. It is more likely a mosaic chimera than an actual multi embryonic chimera. Both exist, but mosaics are the version that sre much more likely to be the case when there is a distinct split like this, i had thought it was the other way around. @t_h_wyman is a geneticist if im correct, so im inclined to believe their observations in this regard.

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With a few rare exceptions, “paradoxing” is not an inherited condition
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An ultrasound is not going to reveal anything. You cannot differentiate genetics via ultrasound
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Just a small clarification - ‘mosaic’ and ‘chimera’ are two separate things. Both can generate a “paradox” phenotype but the genetic/biological mechanisms behind them are different from one another :+1:t4:
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Yep, in a case of a bilaterally-biased “paradoxing” the most frequent cause is mosaicism.

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Absolutely stunning snake!!

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