Bit confused?

[Hopeinthedark]

Hi there

So, I have a query. I've bred my two Chequered garter females to a new male this year. My male is an albino, and I have one albino female, and one wild colour female. I brumated them all and popped them all in together in late Feb/early March, then in late June I had a litter born - 2 wild colour, 3 albino. Both of my girls were in the same tank, and I'm not 100% which the mother was, as I've only bred one of them once (last year), but I presumed that it must be the wild colour female, as my prior knowledge would lead me to believe that albinoism is a recessive trait, and crossing two albinos will only produce albino young.

Then yesterday I discovered I'd had another litter... this time 3 wild colour, 6 albinos. Looking back at dates - it's 84 days since the last litter was born. Seems too short a time for both litters to be from the same wild colour female? And yet if they have had a litter each, then am I completely wrong in thinking two albinos can't produce a wild coloured youngster? What is going on?!

Also, neither female shed in the 3 weeks prior to either litter, both have fed every week, and there has been no obvious change in shape or size... perhaps I'm being a complete novice but am very confused!

Thanks in advance!
Andi

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

you are correct... a pairing of two albino's doesn't produce normals. The babies had to have come from your normal female. Perhaps she "double clutched" which means immediately after laying eggs or having babies, females develop more follicles and use that same sperm to create a second batch of babies in the same season.

[ConcinusMan]

What she said ^^. Your normal female is het for albino and so are all of your normal offspring. The female WT could mate with your albino male but unless the female was het for albino, all the babies would be normal but het for albino since one parent was an albino. Albino to albino always produces all albinos. Mixed litters indicate one parent was normal but het for albino and the other parent was either a het or an albino.

Hope that's not too confusing.

http://www.geneticswizard.com/

[Hopeinthedark]

Thanks for the replies guys - nice to know I retained some knowledge from GCSE biology! Do they ever have more than two litters from the same mating, or can I safely say that's my wild type girl finished for the year? My male is kept separately now and not looking to breed them next year, but excited about these wee worms, and will hopefully have some from my albino female to look forward to as well!

[ConcinusMan]

Do they ever have more than two litters from the same mating

Not that I know of, but as shannon said, double clutching happens. This species occurs in areas where they can be active year 'round making double clutching possible/feasible. She need only to be carrying viable sperm and have adequate body mass reserves for converting to eggs. I would say the chances of carrying viable sperm after two clutches begins to drastically diminish after about a year.