Ralph Davis Reptiles - The Martrix

POSSIBLE_HET_"TID_BIT"

This was posted on my forum......I figured it would last longer here.....this is my view only.......BUT IT WORKS!!!!!!!.....

This post is for the average JOE who wants to understand how he/she can make something great out of a small amount of money invested and willing to put in the time!!....READ ON.......

OK........I have had tons of emails from people asking what a possible het is good for......seems most do not understand what the 50% and the 66% stuff means.......so hear goes my rant on why poss hets are so good to invest in and some pros and cons too!!!!

First off.....a possible het is not some way us breeders just put a more expensive price tag on a normal looking snake. Possible hets are ALL normal looking ball pythons that have a chance of carrying a simple ressive gene..... How do we get poss hets? Breeding a HET to a normal will produce babies that are ALL normal looking......the way the genetic rules follow is this........50% of the litter or clutch should be het and the other 50% will be normal......so you have a 50% chance when buying a poss het that it will be normal......and a 50% chance that it will be a het......its a gamble....but it is priced as a gamble......meaning .....much cheeper than a TRUE het.....maybe we should call them 50% possible normal??......the main thing to remember is that the "GENE" was present in the breedings and your hoping to snag it with some luck!!

NOW......breeding a het to a het will produce 66% poss hets!!....example......het albino to het albino breeding........you get four eggs.......genetics say you will produce 25% albino 25% normal and 50% het for albino...so that means out of 4 eggs......1 albino.......2 hets.......1 normal.........so we have 4 eggs.......1 is an albino....the other 3 are normal looking.......but!!!!!......2 are hets........now that is great odds!!!

"Inside Info"....... People who understand poss hets seem to think in 2 different ways when buying them........regardless of 50%ers or 66%ers.......

First way: Take chances on the individual egg.... second way: take chances on the ENTIRE clutch.....

"The second way" is how I bought all the possible hets I'm working with and how I keep poss hets when I need to have them to raise up for future projects......I will explain....

As many of you know......I have produced many albinos and a piebald this year from breeding True het males to 50% possible het females.......I have yet to breed any 66% poss het girls of any kind. EVERY possible het that I have bred thus far has produced the GENE I was looking for!!!!.......this is pure luck I know!!!.......but my point is......I saved a ton of cash doing it this way.......and here is the way I did it.

I buy ALL the girls from a single clutch........if the clutch is 2.4...than I buy all 4 sisters.......or I just flat out buy the whole clutch......my point is this.......when buying poss hets I think this way........"If I buy all the girls....odds are that there is a het or two in there somewhere"....why do I feel like this?.......because I just bought ALL the females in the clutch!!!......

Perfect example right here........I bought 2 sister 50% poss het pieds from Pete.........they were the only 2 girls in the clutch.........the first one I was able to breed produced pieds.....I had $3,000.00 in the 2 girls.........she produced a female pied at $15,000.00.....a male 66% poss het at $750.00 and 2 female 66% poss hets at $2,500.00 each.......do the math on that one for a $3,000.00 investment.

Being in the position that I have plenty of TRUE het males for all the genes I work with means that I have NO use for poss het males AT ALL..... POSS HET MALES ....aghhhhhhh!!!!! Selling poss het males is really tough!!!! People do not seem to want to waste the time on them......they would rather wait for the money to get a TRUE het......thats understood......but if you think about it......if you buy a GROUP of brother poss hets....all from the same clutch......guess what........you just bought yourself a HET male.......for dirt!!!!....... How do you know who the het male is???

Think clutches people........try to buy brothers.......I know some will disagree..... Breed the "UNKNOWN HET BROTHERS" as a group situation to several normal females or to several poss het females........meaning......let 2 or 3 brother poss hets or unrelated poss het males all have a shot at breeding ALL the girls you have.........try and say to yourself.......I know the gene is there.....I just need to find it.....so now you get all these females gravid from this confusing mess of males........forget the males........think about the eggs now.........you must know who the MOM of the eggs is..........DAD will be hard to know unless he is the only one breeding.......but lets asume that all the males were envolved......OK.....back to the eggs.......the clutch hatches and you see no pieds(example).......ok......chalk it up as bad odds or NO hets........but the next clutch you see PIEDS!!!!!!........Now you just confirmed that this poss het female is NOW a majorly important HET GIRL!!!!!.....and you have just produced the gene you were looking for.......thats what you wanted to do right?.......who cares that you do not really know which poss het male is the true het DAD........or maybe you do.......the point is now you have the "guns" to get what you want.....and it all came from breeding possible hets!!!!!.......

So you prove out a few poss het girls......get a few pieds or albinos or what ever in the process........and "its all good".....get it?....the above ranting can go two ways......breeding teh "poss het boys" to a bunch of normal girls will take you 2 to 3 years because you will need to raise up the daughters to breed back to the dads......then trying to get the right combo to produce the gene.......or you will be using poss het or het girls from the start and get lucky with the first breedings!!!

ALL of this ranting is for the poor people.......the people who do not have the $40,000.00 to shell out on a pair of pieds.......or the $10,000.00 for a pair of hets....we all know the quick way takes the "BUCKS".......but my point is that there is other ways to get there and not blow your life's savings doing it..... And don't for one minute think this crap........."well.....what am I gonna do with all these babies and pieds and albinos.......I'm not a know breeder".......I will be the first to tell you that the biproducts of the poss het breedings are basically "NORMALS"........but the actual albinos and pieds etc will be NO problem at all selling on the open market.......people could care less what your name is when you have what they want!!!!!!!....Bottom Line!!!

Ending.......I know I only scratched the surface of the poss het stuff( yes I know all you smarties out there want to gobble up all the poss het girls you can find to breed to your het or homo males.....this ain't about that) I'm just trying to find some homes for my poss hets here.........and know that many people do not understand the poss het game.........and think its a scam!!......well its not.......but YOU MUST be careful of who you buy poss hets from..........do your homework people.....ask questions.......see whats up.......poss hets are the easiest things in the world to scam people on.......after all.......your just taking someones word that that normal looking baby is a poss het........so buy from people you trust.......and start a poss het project!!!!

I love more than anything when I get to scratch off the "Poss het" part on a female after she proves to be a het!!!!!!! Hope you guys did not get to bored reading this........but some people have no idea??

Ralph