The Banana Python Morph is a popular Ball Python morph that was first proven out in 2003. It is a co-dominant mutation. This is similar to a dominant mutation, only that there is a Super form of the Banana Ball Python if two of the alleles contain the mutation.
We will discuss more about the genetics of a Banana Ball Python below. This morph is commonly available and easy to produce, resulting in a modest price tag. You could expect to pay anywhere from $250 for a standard Banana, while Super Bananas can go for upwards of $600.
Banana Ball Python Description
The Banana Ball Python is similar in pattern to the normal Ball Python. However, the colours are completely different. These snakes are far more vibrant than the Normal or Wild Type Ball Python.
The Banana has a greyish base colour. This usually has a purple tone to it. The patterning on this snake ranges from yellow to orange. The outside edges of the pattern often contain white markings which helps the pattern stand out.
The Super Banana is similar in appearance and colour to the regular Banana. However, the colours on this snake are far more subtle, giving the snake a ‘washed out’ appearance. The Super form of a Banana almost looks like a regular Banana that is about to go into shed.
History of the Banana Morph
There was a lot of controversy over the Banana morph when it was first produced. Around the same time, there were two different morphs that began to appear that looked very similar. These were the Banana and the Coral Glow.
There is still debate over these morphs today, but they are now largely accepted to be a different lineage of the same mutation.
The Banana morph remains a popular morph today and is often used by breeders to create multi gene animals. They are often mixed with other co-dominant or dominant morphs.
Banana Ball Python Genetics
The Banana Ball Python is a co-dominant morph. This means that, like a dominant morph, you only need one Banana to produce Banana babies. However, if you breed two Bananas together, you will produce Super Bananas.
A Banana Ball Python will contain the genetic mutation in one of the alleles in their DNA sequence while a Super Banana will contain the genetic mutation in both of the alleles. The appearance of these two snakes is visibly different, which distinguishes the co-dominant mutation from a dominant mutation.
How are genetics passed on in Ball Pythons
We are not going to go into too much detail about how genetics work in snakes in this article. We have explained it in detail in our Recessive Ball Python Morphs article. Make sure you check that out if you are not familiar about how genetic mutations are passed.
While the article discusses recessive Ball Pythons, the concept of how parents pass on their genetics is the same for co-dominant morphs, the appearance of the offspring is just different.
Here is a basic breakdown of a DNA strand:
Locus – This is the location of a gene/allele on a DNA strand.
Allele – Genes are made up of pairs of Alleles. Therefore an allele is a single gene on a given locus.
The image above shows a DNA strand of two snakes. Let’s say, they are a Normal and Pied Ball Python. Let’s say the first locus on this DNA strand is for the Pied Gene. You can see that the first snake has 2 normal genes (not Pied) while the second snake has two Pied genes (visible Pied).
When these snakes reproduce, they will each pass on one of their Alleles from each locus to their offspring. This means that the offspring will receive one of their ‘Pied’ genes from their mother and one from their father.
We will use this concept to explain how different pairings will produce Banana Ball Pythons.
Banana Ball Python x Normal Ball Python
The simplest way to produce a Banana Ball Python is to pair a Banana with a normal ball python. The resulting offspring will consist of 50% Banana and 50% Normal Ball Pythons. This pairing will not create any Super Banana.
As you can see, there 4 possible outcomes. We have names each allele and colour coded them. As each parent can only pass one gene each, the possible outcomes are 1-3, 1-4, 2-3 and 2-4. Alleles 1-2 cannot both be passed, either can 3-4 as this would mean a single parent passed on both of the genes.
So the 4 possible outcomes were BN, BN, NN and NN. BN means that one of the alleles were Banana while the other was normal. The NN outcome means that both genes were normal.
As a Banana is a co-dominant mutation, only one of the alleles needs to hold the trait, for the offspring to be a Banana. This means that the offspring will consist of 50% Bananas and 50% Normal Ball Pythons.
Banana Ball Python x Banana Ball Python
Another way to produce a Banana Ball Python is to pair a Banana with another Banana Ball Python. The resulting offspring will consist of 50% Banana Ball Pythons and 25% Normal Ball Pythons and 25% Super Bananas.
In this case, the 4 possible outcomes were BB, BN, BN and NN. BB occurred when both parents passed on the Banana gene. As this mutation is co-dominant, this combination will result in a Super Banana.
This means that the offspring will consist of 50% Banana, 25% Normal and 25% Super Banana.
Super Banana x Normal Ball Python
If you breed a Super Banana to a Normal Ball Python, all of the offspring will be Banana. This is because one of the parents will always pass the Banana gene while the other parent will always pass the Normal gene. As a result, all of the offspring will be BN, i.e. one Banana allele and one Normal allele.
Super Banana x Super Banana Ball Python
If you breed a Super Banana to a Super Banana, all of the offspring will be Super Banana. This is because both of the parents will always pass the Banana gene. As a result, all of the offspring will be BB, i.e. both alleles will be Banana.
Other Ball Python Morph Guides
We have a wide range of Ball Python Morph guides. You can check some of them out here:
Albino Ball Python Morph
Black Pastel Ball Python Morph
Blue Eyed Leucistic Ball Python Morph
Butter Ball Python Morph
Champagne Ball Python Morph
Chocolate Ball Python Morph
Cinnamon Ball Python Morph
Enchi Ball Python Morph
Fire Ball Python Morph
GHI Ball Python Morph
Mojave Ball Python Morph
Orange Dream Ball Python Morph
Pied Ball Python Morph
