Snake morphology

Codominant: A visible mutation occurs when a single gene in an allele is different from normal. Two different genes can carry a ‘super’ form of that gene that looks different from the gene itself.

Dominant: when a single allele is different from the normal allele.

Het / heterozygous: has a gene inside the snake that is not visible. Otherwise, none as a recessive trait.

Homo / homozygous: a matching pair of mutated genes

Recessive: the gene is present in the snake, but it is not visible, but it can be transmitted. Example (albino is a recessive trait)

Snakes contain genes that are responsible for their colors and patterns. Each gene contains one allele from each parent of the snake. When raised, snakes combine their DNA / alleles into their babies. There are many different forms of “mutated” alleles (explained below). These genes are not only present in the world of snakes, but in all species.

Since mutated alleles are less common than normal alleles, the snake with mutated alleles is usually more expensive. Many people spend thousands of dollars to get the next transformation created. When I think of the word morph, Ball Pythons come to mind. The Ball Pythons market is extremely flooded with all kinds of morphs. Example: Albino, Axanthic, Banana, Clown, Pieds, Pastel … etc.

Of course, there are other species of snakes that are well known for their wide range of morphs, corn snakes, king snakes, red-tailed boas, Burmese pythons, and reticulated pythons.

Morphs can be amazing, however some genes are weak and when raised together they can produce unhealthy babies and twisted snakes. Always do your research before buying a snake. Example: The Ball Python spider is usually born with a ‘wobble’ due to weak genes in its DNA, this gives the snake a neurological problem that causes it to move its head when moving, sometimes even affecting its feeding. Weak or damaged genes can also make female snakes unable to become pregnant / infertile. Example: desert ball pythons, albino candy ball pythons.

Morph prices range from $ 20 to $ 50,000! (and sometimes even more)

If you are very interested in learning more about morphs, I suggest you visit a couple of websites that show images of the different morphs on the market. WOB (worldofball pythons.com) is a great site that shows most of the Ball Pythons morphs.