# Ball Pythons > BP Morphs & Genetics > Is This A Morph? / What Morph Is This? >  Info on Leopards? PIC HEAVY

## Rat160

I was looking for some of the characteristics of the Leopard ball python. I have searched so many pictures on google and I see some that look similar to my girl. I normally wouldnt think twice about her and just accept that she is a cool looking normal, but she produced the weirdest black pastel for me this year. I have also searched endlessly at black pastel pictures and have never seen another one like this girl that I produced. 

I may be stretching here but just thought I would see what you all thought. Is this by some small chance a leopard black pastel or just some neat looking girls?

Here are some pictures of momma. Maybe a low grade leopard???




And here is her baby...







Just weird because her clutchmate is also a black pastel and looks just like every other black pastel I see. 

Anyway let me know what you think.

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## meowmeowkazoo

She's not a leopard. Very pretty snake though.  :Smile:

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_Rat160_ (09-13-2012)

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## Rat160

> She's not a leopard. Very pretty snake though.


Ok so what makes a leopard a leopard? What are the characteristics?

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## meowmeowkazoo

Here are some pics of Spot with the best explanation I can give:

As a hatchling:



You can see the bright yellow on her sides. Her belly is also yellow.





Here she is at 1100 grams:



You can see that her pattern sort of appears to be melting. She doesn't have the regular pattern along the sides at all.







I've noticed that most leopards also appear to have a weird stripe on their tails. Not just a single stripe down the back, but also on the sides.

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_Rat160_ (09-13-2012)

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## Rat160

I would consider yours to be a great example of the morph though. This is a picture that I pulled off of Google which was linked to worldofballpythons. You can see this looks nothing like yours. More like mine. 



And this one that I borrowed from Don Patterson's Site. 



This one looks just like mine, thin big alien heads, a stripe down the tail...

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## BciJoe

It would be nice to see pics of all the babies produced by that female - especially the other black pastel. 

Personally I think she might be hypermelanistic, kind of like a Sable. She looks a little like my male Sable does, but not my female, then again they are very variable. I also think I see some hypermelanism in the baby.

I definitely don't see leopard, and don't see a resemblance to either leopards posted. Leopards have a very busy pattern with alot of extra black - the black pigmented areas are larger. The pattern on the back drips and connects with pattern on sides, the side pattern is oddly places and many times busy and squiggly. 

Other than the fact that yours has the black lines where the 2 dots of the alien head maybe, it looks very typical of wild-type pattern, IMO.

I have many normals with that pattern (lines and not dots in the blotches) and although I like them and think they are really cool, this doesn't make them anything special. 

Posting pics of the babies may show if there is something else cool at work there. 

Thanks for posting

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_Rat160_ (09-13-2012)

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## snakesRkewl

Normal female.

Black pastels can vary quite a bit as hatchlings.

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_Rat160_ (09-13-2012)

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## h00blah

Doesn't look like a normal black pastel. It's definitely not a leopard. Mama might be a dinker  :Good Job: .

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_Rat160_ (09-13-2012)

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## Rat160

> Normal female.
> 
> Black pastels can vary quite a bit as hatchlings.


It's not like the pattern is gonna change so have you ever seen a black pastel hatchling like this?


Please excuse any errors sent from my crap phone.

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## meowmeowkazoo

The hatchling is certainly beautiful and unique. I think you would be remiss if you didn't delve further into that dinker girl of yours, because she clearly has something going on.

While some leopards can look a bit like crazy-patterned normals, with yours there is nothing that makes me think "leopard" at all. She doesn't seem to have quite the color. Leopards have very high contrast black areas, whereas your girl's dark areas are more of a deep brown. And the pattern on your girl isn't very "melty" for lack of a better word. It's a crazy pattern, but still fairly regular.

The second leopard you posted does look a little like your girl, but you can see especially near the neck where the pattern is pretty leopard-like. Many leopards also have very dark heads with a lighter faded bit on top (not all have it).

Although your girl has quite a few squiggles, she still has the sort of "keyhole" pattern along both sides. The white outlines on her sides are also very uncommon for leopards. Unfortunately both of the leopard pictures you posted aren't the best poses for showing the true pattern. The top one especially has a strong similarity to Spot when she is balled up like that.

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_Rat160_ (09-13-2012)

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## Rat160

So any suggestions on what to breed to momma this year? I would have access to the following males:

Pastel
Black pastel
Black pewter
Mojave
Clown
Fire fly
Fire
Mystic
Bumble bee
Lesser bee
Woma
Spider
Pinstripe
Cinny 
Lesser
Super butter


Just trying to think of a good male to put to her to see if she passes on weird markings again.


Please excuse any errors sent from my crap phone.

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## meowmeowkazoo

Wow, any of those would be a good choice.  :Good Job: 

I'd probably go with:

Black Pastel/Pewter
Mojave
Cinnamon

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## Rat160

> Wow, any of those would be a good choice. 
> 
> I'd probably go with:
> 
> Black Pastel/Pewter
> Mojave
> Cinnamon


The only thing I was thinking about is it would be nice to breed her to a normal to see if just the pattern passes on. So without wasting her to a normal, If I were to breed her to a Recessive male I would get normals but at least they would be het. If I got lucky and she did pass somethign on then Id be super lucky to have one that was het something. Following my logic here? Sorry just got done working 14 hours of OT and im exhausted.

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## meowmeowkazoo

> The only thing I was thinking about is it would be nice to breed her to a normal to see if just the pattern passes on. So without wasting her to a normal, If I were to breed her to a Recessive male I would get normals but at least they would be het. If I got lucky and she did pass somethign on then Id be super lucky to have one that was het something. Following my logic here? Sorry just got done working 14 hours of OT and im exhausted.


That's true, but even with the morph males I listed you might be able to see if she does stuff to patterns. Based on that hatchling you have I'd say it's a safe bet. Also, being het for a recessive can sometimes mess with the pattern/color. Not always, but sometimes.

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