Pastels and Pastel combos

[purplemuffin]

So, I know for sure if I get a pastel, I want a SUPER HIGH QUALITY one..I'm willing to pay the money for one, it just seems to be a matter of finding who is producing the quality I want. I've seen adult pastels who browned out very little and they are awesome, and I can only imagine seeing a super pastel bred from a pastel like that, wow!

The regular looking pastels I see for 50 dollars are okay, but I'd just rather get something a little nicer so I can make hotter combos.

That leads to my question actually.

I'll see a group of babies(Say a pastel to lesser) and you'll see average pastels, slightly better pastels, and then the combos. Things like lesser pastels, yellowbelly pastels, fireflies, super pastels etc. always look AWESOME..even from some of the not-so-good pastels. They tend to outshine their more regular siblings(except in rare cases when you get an exceptional single gene animal, that's always nice)

The prettiness of the combos makes me lean towards getting say a lesser yellow belly pastel or super pastel or something else other than a regular pastel. Now I know already that even thinking of that adds awesomeness to my combo potential with the extra morphs/super gene, but my question is how much a sorta meh pastel parent's genes would be in that snake. Could a gorgeous pastel lesser from an ugly pastel make more ugly pastels, or would the genes from the lesser help balance out the quality? Part of me wants to create my own combos so I can know that my super pastel is not just beautiful because it's a super, but because the pastels used to make it were also gorgeous, so I can get more of a guarantee on nice looking babies.

I guess the question all has to do with how much the grandparents would affect how my baby snakes look. Super pastels look great, but if they are from the same clutch as 'meh' pastels, are they basically just a super of a 'meh' that will make more of them? Or would it as a beautiful super pastel still create beautiful regular pastels just because it clearly picked up the nicest genes from it's parents?

I love what pastels do to morphs, but they drive me crazy! I know that with morphs like this that have brown out that is just more to be expected, but I'd like to try to have the minimum amount of brownout possible! Sort of why I keep thinking of getting a firefly, so I can see it get super bright and lovely

[llovelace]

Then you will want to look at the lemon line or maybe citrus line pastels

[Russ Lawson]

I would focus on finding a normal pastel that is A+ quality. Considering how nice some of the combos made with average or lower quality pastels are, think of how they might look when you're starting with exceptional stock. I saw one female available a few weeks back that fit this bill (appeared as though she would have ZERO brown as an adult), but the guy was asking $400 for her. I would have snatched her up in an instant had I not already spent nearly all my money on things I was picking up at Daytona. If you start with quality stock, the offspring you produce will reflect that.

[purplemuffin]

I've been thinking about spending a good amount on a nice pastel. It seems insane to spend 400-700 on a morph that is sold for 50.. But the difference in the look is out of this WORLD.

I think I really might just go that route instead of buying a double gene animal. I'd spend about that much anyway on a lesser pastel, why not shoot for the chance to make even BETTER lesser pastels?

The $5000 I had chosen as my starting money for my first snakes is not seeming like enough anymore, LOL! Oh well, gonna keep saving...

[mainbutter]

If you actually have money to throw down, there's nothing quite like actually contacting people who produce quantity and quality, and letting them know what you're looking for.

[purplemuffin]

You know, I hadn't thought of that actually.. I don't have the money yet, I'm sill saving (5000 was my target, then I would buy) but when I do, I'll totally send messages out to people and see what they have available/soon to be available.

It's crazy finally getting to think about breeding for real! I'm very excited! Studying as much as I can now, and more when I get my females!

[rabernet]

I'm extremely picky about my pastels. I personally would not buy a super pastel without getting a chance to see pictures of the two pastels used to create that super.

I also am very selective about who I choose to breed my pastel to, because I want to improve the stock, not dirty it up.

I believe it's worth it to invest in quality stock (check out the link about buying cheap in my signature). I will and have spent more than average market value for an exceptional animal.

[Simple Man]

You're going about it the right way. There's nothing wrong with getting a deal but you should be getting a deal on an animal you want. This goes wrong when you are buying an animal specifically because of the price. That's where new people go wrong in the hobby in my eyes. They shop the deal, not the snake. I've got some superb animals in my collection and the animals drew me to the sales. I then negotiated a price and payed near or below market for almost every single one of them. Buy the animal, not the price You're headed in the right direction so keep up your line of thinking.

Regards,

B

[purplemuffin]

Oh yeah, sure, I've seen WAY overpriced animals. I know price does not dictate the animal's quality. I've seen GREAT cheap pastels and insanely expensive below average ones... but of course that guy was also selling 'het' pastels..

I'm definitely going for what I want, I just am very picky. I don't want to have hundreds of breeders, and I don't want to buy an average snake as a breeder only to sell it later, so I'm trying to get something I'll be okay with 20 years from now. I'm hoping to save up lots of money so I CAN buy multiple snakes at the same time so I can maybe work out a deal and get a little bit lower price!