The Enchi Ball Python Morph is a popular Ball Python morph that was first proven out in 2002. It is a co-dominant mutation. This is similar to a dominant mutation, only that there is a Super form of the Enchi morph if two of the alleles contain the mutation.
We will discuss more about the genetics of the Enchi morph below. This morph is commonly available and easy to produce, resulting in a modest price tag. You could expect to pay anywhere from $50 for a standard Enchi Ball Python.
Enchi Ball Python Description
The Enchi morph is a very subtle colour mutation. This morph on its own isn’t very special, but when it is mixed with other genes, it can create some awesome combos. The basic Enchi morph looks very similar to a normal Ball Python.
The background colour of an Enchi is dark brown or black on the snakes back. This pattern can lighten into a chocolate brown around the snake’s sides. The patterning on an Enchi is brighter than a normal Ball Python and usually consists of yellow, golden or bronze patterns that are sometimes surrounded by white markings.
A super Enchi looks different to a normal Enchi. The Super version is even brighter in colour and has reduced dark patterning. The yellow and gold colouration covers the majority of the snake while the dark brown or black pattern is severely reduced.
History of the Enchi Morph
The Enchi Ball Python morph was first discovered and proven to be a genetic trait by Lars Brandell in 2002. The super form of the Enchi morph was first proven out the following year in 2003. This proved that the morph was a co-dominant mutation.
Lars received a shipment of Ball Pythons from Ghana that had a couple of odd looking snakes in it. Two of these snakes looked identical and just happened to be a pair. In 2002, Lars paired these snakes together and produced his first clutch of Enchi’s.
He also hatched Enchi’s by pairing the morph to normal Ball Pythons, which proved that the Enchi Ball Python was a dominant trait and could be passed on to offspring if only one of the snakes had the gene.
The following year, Lar again paired the two Enchi’s together and produced a clutch that contained the first Super Enchi. This proved that the Enchi Ball Python was a co-dominant mutation.
Enchi Ball Python Genetics
The Enchi Ball Python is a co-dominant morph. This means that, like a dominant morph, you only need one Enchi to produce Enchi babies. However, if you breed two Enchi’s together, you will produce Super Enchi’s.
An Enchi Ball Python will contain the genetic mutation in one of the alleles in their DNA sequence while a Super Enchi 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 all 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 Enchi Ball Pythons.
Enchi Ball Python x Normal Ball Python
The simplest way to produce an Enchi Ball Python is to pair an Enchi with a normal Ball Python. The resulting offspring will consist of 50% Enchi’s and 50% Normal Ball Pythons. This pairing will not create any Super Enchi’s.
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 EN, EN, NN and NN. EN means that one of the alleles were Enchi while the other was normal. The NN outcome means that both genes were normal.
As the Enchi morph is a co-dominant mutation, only one of the alleles needs to hold the trait, for the offspring to be an Enchi. This means that the offspring will consist of 50% Enchi’s and 50% Normal Ball Pythons.
Enchi x Enchi
Another way to produce an Enchi is to pair an Enchi with another Enchi. The resulting offspring will consist of 50% Enchi Ball Pythons, 25% Normal Ball Pythons and 25% Super Enchi’s.
In this case, the 4 possible outcomes were EE, EN, EN and NN. EE occurred when both parents passed on the Enchi gene. As this mutation is co-dominant, this combination will result in a Super Enchi Ball Python.
This means that the offspring will consist of 50% Enchi, 25% Normal and 25% Super Enchi.
Super Enchi x Normal Ball Python
If you breed a Super Enchi to a Normal Ball Python, all of the offspring will be Enchi. This is because one of the parents will always pass the Enchi gene while the other parent will always pass the Normal gene. As a result, all of the offspring will be EN, i.e. one Enchi allele and one Normal allele.
Super Enchi x Super Enchi Ball Python
If you breed a Super Enchi to a Super Enchi Ball Python, all of the offspring will be Super Enchi. This is because both of the parents will always pass the Enchi gene. As a result, all of the offspring will be EE, i.e. both alleles will be Enchi.
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
Banana 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
Fire Ball Python Morph
GHI Ball Python Morph
Mojave Ball Python Morph
Orange Dream Ball Python Morph
Pied Ball Python Morph
