World's Longest Snake Has Virgin Birth—First Recorded in Species

[Pareeeee]

Interesting article and discovery

World's Longest Snake Has Virgin Birth—First Recorded in Species (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/10/141023-virgin-birth-pythons-snakes-animals-science/)

[millertime89]

First recorded based on genetic testing*

It's been documented numerous times by other breeders. That's a great looking baby as well.

[Jim Smith]

Very interesting article. It's much like in Jurasic Park 1 where Dr. Ian Malcom (Jeff Goldblum) stated "Nature will find a way." Thanks for sharing.

[Aaron_S]

First recorded based on genetic testing*

It's been documented numerous times by other breeders. That's a great looking baby as well.

First recorded in this species.

A friend of mine had a partho litter of boas earlier this year. Confirmed by Dr. Booth himself with genetic testing he had done for free.

He's had a few others confirmed in boas as well.

Or did you mean it's been documented in retics by other breeders?

[millertime89]

Or did you mean it's been documented in retics by other breeders?

This, just not with genetic testing because it's pretty obvious you've got a partho clutch when you get ivories from a platinum that's never been bred to another platinum or visuals from a het bred to a non-het. Both have happened.

Sorry for the confusion.

[Aaron_S]

This, just not with genetic testing because it's pretty obvious you've got a partho clutch when you get ivories from a platinum that's never been bred to another platinum or visuals from a het bred to a non-het. Both have happened.

Sorry for the confusion.

No it's cool.

However, that is not necessarily a partho clutch in each of those cases. What is usually called the "null effect" could be happening. Especially with the ivories.

What happens is the animal comes out looking like an ivory but it only acts genetically just as a platinum would. So when bred to a normal you'd only get 50% platinums (I presume it's an incomplete dominant gene).

So yes it could be partho but also the null effect. Which would be the coolest looking platinum on the planet.

[millertime89]

I gotcha, that would explain a few things that have happened with the offspring when bred to others. They have bred like hets/non-"supers". However some of the others have breed like visuals/supers. It's happened with others as well it's just platinum is the easiest to identify a "super" of. It has happened with Tiger/Super Tiger, Sunfire/Super Sunfire, and Graniteback(het Anthrax)/Anthrax, and albino to my knowledge. However with how prevalent albino is I don't put much faith in there not being an unknown het having been bred. Tiger and Sunfire is another thing that I'm not sure how much I believe as a really clean striped tiger can look like a really ugly super tiger and a really nice sun can look like an average super sun. Like I said though there have been examples where the visual/super has bred like a visual/super. I'll do some digging to see if I can find the threads but I have a feeling they were on the now-defunct monster snakes or Bob Clark forums.

You are correct, platinum/fire is an incomplete dominant.

[Aaron_S]

Yeah without genetic testing we can't be sure. Either way it's neat and likely one of the two scenarios.

Random hets happen all the time so I wouldn't be surprised if that's happened. One way to help determine if it's partho is if the entire clutch is female.

[millertime89]

Excellent point about the entire clutch being female, that is something that I had forgotten. One thing that I seem to recall having happened is there being split clutches where a portion of the clutch is partho/null whichever and the other half being a result of a breeding to a male. Nature is truly amazing.

[millertime89]

Actually it seems there have been several partho clutches in the last year. Ed Church, Dan Solis, Dopesick Retics, and Dean @ the Reptile Room in the UK have all had partho clutches full of females, and that's just after a quick search in one group.

[Aaron_S]

Excellent point about the entire clutch being female, that is something that I had forgotten. One thing that I seem to recall having happened is there being split clutches where a portion of the clutch is partho/null whichever and the other half being a result of a breeding to a male. Nature is truly amazing.

Partho is an entire clutch being one sex. If it's split then I'd say it's more the null effect unless it's recessive animals.

Anyway I'm just making best guesses at this time based upon my limited knowledge and readings.

[millertime89]

As am I, obviously nothing can be confirmed without genetic testing that I doubt any private breeder is willing to pay for.

[Aaron_S]

As am I, obviously nothing can be confirmed without genetic testing that I doubt any private breeder is willing to pay for.

If they think it's Partho then speaking with Dr. Booth is the best bet. I know my friend did all the testing on her animals for free. It's what he's trying to figure out so the more animals he gets the better it is for him.

I can't say with certainty that he'd do everyone for free but I'm sure it's worth mentioning to him about a possible case.

[millertime89]

I'll pass it along, worst they can say is no I guess.