Genetic Calculators
For many species, MorphMarket provides genetic calculators which will show the likely outcomes from crossing two parents. You can access the calculator from the menus or through an option in the tabs once in a category. Simply enter two parent morphs to be paired in breeding and calculator will display genetic possibilities.
Examples
Here are a few interesting examples for Ball Pythons:
Basic Genetics Tutorial
Offspring inherit genes from their parents that give them varied physical appearance, such as color and pattern mutations. For each gene a parent carries, it has a 50% chance of passing it down to its offspring. Thus, the offspring receives zero, one (heterozygous aka "het"), or two (i.e., a pair, called homozygous aka "super") of each of the genes based its parents genetics and chance.
Genes which are dominant produce visual effects even if only a single gene of a chromosome pair is carried. A single parent with this gene can produce this type of offspring. In true dominance, the same visual effect is achieved with either a single gene or pair of genes. When a single and pair produce different appearances, it is referred to as incomplete dominance (often called codominance in the community although these have slightly different meanings).
Other genes are recessive, and only affect visible appearance if the full pair is carried. To breed offspring with visible recessive traits, both parents must possess at least one copy (aka be "het") of this gene. Note that the calculator also includes other traits like line-bred and polygenic traits, but being less understood, these are indicated in offspring with the possible form.
This table shows the types of traits supported by the calculator:
| Gene Count | ? | 1 | 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inc/Dominant Genes | Visual | Super | |
| Recessive Genes | Possible Het | Het | Visual |
| Other Traits | Possible | Normal |
In reality, this is all a simplification of how genetics actually work, but this is the model that has been found useful by the reptile community. For more information, check out our article on Dominance types and our resources page.
You can browse all of the morphs for sale using the gene index. There and elsewhere throughout MorphMarket, these genetic traits are color-coded by these characteristics.
PROTIP: You can access the calculator from any page, by putting two morph names in the search box (in the top menu bar) separated by an 'x' and click 'Submit', such as "pastel x hypo".