hets.. double hets...?

[*LDC*jimbo]

i have had geckos for 1 year now and have a collection of 6 geckos.. i have never understood when someone said a double het albino or something.. someone please fill me in.
ThAnKs,
JiMbO

[Zoe]

het means the gecko is normal but carries a recessive gene for, say, albino. That would make the gecko het for albino.
DOUBLE het is when a snake carries a recessive gene for TWO traits, say patternless and blizzard (which makes banana blizzard). That means if you breed this gecko to another double het for patternless and blizzard you'll get some banana blizzards.

Zoe

[*LDC*jimbo]

ThAnK yOu.. I fInAlLy UnDeRsTaNd. but how do u know what het it is.. do u have to see the parents or what? i have goten my geckos over the past year from my local reptile shop and they had no idea

[*LDC*jimbo]

sorry for such a newby question. lol

[Clownfishie]

Well that's the thing about hets -- you can't tell just by looking at them. You have to know the history (parentage) of the animal, which generally means getting them from a reputable breeder, because it's very rare for pet stores to have much of a clue where their stock came from. Without knowing the parentage of the animal, all you could do would be to try breeding your animal to either a known het of the trait in question (albino, blizzard, patternless... whatever), or to an animal that actually displays the trait. If you end up with some babies that show the trait, then you've got a het :) If not, then you probably don't (although even when you breed a het to an animal displaying the trait, sometimes it will take several clutches before you'll get a baby that shows the trait too -- it's all in the odds ;)).

Hope that helped a bit, and didn't just confuse you more -- LOL :)

Jen

[Zoe]

Yep, a het looks totally normal. As Jen stated, the only way to know is to know what the parenst are.

[*LDC*jimbo]

ok thanks alot clownfishie and zoe. u helped me out alot