silly question

[shiftylou]

My friend dropped round his mack snow that was gravid with a bell albino, I said id return her once she laid eggs as he hadnt got his incubator up and running.

Eggs hatched and I was expecting mack snows but both look normal, guessing the mack snow is not a mack snow?

 

[BlackDiamondGeckos]

The mack snow gene is codominant. This means that there are two 'strengths' to the gene a mack snow (heterozygous for the gene) and a mack super snow (homozygous). When a mack snow breeds with anything else, in this example a bell albino, then there's a 50% chance she will pass on the mack snow gene and 50% chance she won't. In this case she didn't

 

[BlackDiamondGeckos]

Mack Snow

Mack Super Snow

See the difference?

 

[shiftylou]

I see!! feel a bit silly asking that question lol, just couldnt find alot of info online

Thanks!

 

[shiftylou]

oh i know the difference as I have myself a mack snow and super snows, just thought that mack snows produced mack snows unless bred with a normal.

 

[paulh]

oh i know the difference as I have myself a mack snow and super snows, just thought that mack snows produced mack snows unless bred with a normal.

This cross involves two gene pairs in each gecko. A Bell albino has two normal genes in the gene pair that is equivalent to the gene pair where the Mack snow gecko has a Mack snow gene and a normal gene. And the Mack snow gecko has two normal genes in the gene pair that is equivalent to the gene pair where the Bell ablno gecko has two Bell albino genes.

In the Bell albino gene pair, all of the babies got a Bell albino gene from the Bell albino parent and a normal gene from the Mack snow parent. That makes them heterozygous Bell albino.

By the way, the normal gene in the Bell albino gene pair is not the same as the normal gene in the Mack snow gene pair.

The expectation is for the Mack snow gecko to give a Mack snow gene to half of its babies, making them Mack snows. The rest of the babies get a normal gene. It's like flipping a coin -- half the flips come heads and the other half come tails. But the flips are not heads, tails, heads, tails, heads, tails, etc. You can have runs of heads and runs of tails, but they average out half heads and half tails. It's the same way with breeding. In this case, both babies got a normal gene from the Mack snow parent. The Bell albino parent could only give a normal gene, so both babies came out normal in that gene pair. Next pair of eggs could hatch out two Mack snows, two normals, or a Mack snow or a normal. Such is life.