Ball Python Morphs as Adults? Do they still look as nice?

[Chris Behof]

I'm just now starting to look into some ball python morphs as potential projects.

The ones I typically see for sale are very young. They look great for the most part and are nice and bright and really catch your eye.

My question is how do they typically hold up in the 3+ year old range? Do they dull up and lose their luster?

Are there any specific morphs to avoid that tend to lose their beauty with age?

The main morphs I am considering are desert based morphs and things like tigers (enchi x desert) as well. I also am a big fan of the pieds.

Thanks for the insights!


Pics would be most helpful too.


Chris

[Mft62485]

All I've ever heard its some axthanthics, and pastels brown a bit. I was at BHB in the end of June and he had a Killer Blast that was such a dark orange it was almost red.

[purplemuffin]

Lessers look INCREDIBLE as adults!! Fires also brighten up as well. Morphs like pastels get dull with age unless you get an extremely high quality animal

Adult albinos also look great, as well as any pattern based morph(clown, pinstripe, etc)

I prefer combos that get brighter with age! Fires and Lessers make great combos with pastels and they get super bright!

If you want to see adult morphs, go to any breeder who has a 'collection' page, you can see their adult breeders there!

[Emilio]

Lessers look INCREDIBLE as adults!! Fires also brighten up as well. Morphs like pastels get dull with age unless you get an extremely high quality animal

Adult albinos also look great, as well as any pattern based morph(clown, pinstripe, etc)

I prefer combos that get brighter with age! Fires and Lessers make great combos with pastels and they get super bright!

If you want to see adult morphs, go to any breeder who has a 'collection' page, you can see their adult breeders there!

I agree lesser's and fire's get nicer with age another BP that gets nicer is the ivory it whitens up big time.

Spiders also look great as adults.

droid!!!!

[SilverDemon]

A lot of morphs do tend to get more brown or otherwise change color as they age. Of course, quality of the animal matters, too. You pay for what you get.

I love how lessers become either bronze and gold or bronze and silver as they become adults, such gorgeous animals.

Some morphs change drastically, for instance super phantoms go from almost purple as hatchings to khaki as adults.

[sho220]

You pay for what you get.

I agree with this to a certain extent. Higher than market value for a stellar example of a particular morph is fine. What I don't get is why people pay higher than market for average looking animals just because they're from a big name breeder.

The best way to determine how a baby may look as an adult is to check out the parents. I've sold a fair number of baby balls and I've never had anyone ask to see pics of the parents...

[mainbutter]

No ball python morph looks the same at both hatchling stages and as an adult.

In general they look better as hatchlings.

Hatchlings themselves are their selling point. They look nicest as hatchlings. That's why you see their pics in the advertisements.

I know you have an incredible carpet python collection, and so I also know that you are familiar with the typical carpet python advertisement that shows off the parents. You don't see that with ball pythons, as you've realized. Surprise.

Don't get me wrong though, they still are great animals and are beautiful adults. They just tend to start out at their prettiest.

[Biffard]

I've had this concern before, however, I've noticed that a lot of balls still look great as they mature. A great example of this are lessers and butters. Great looking animals from begging to end.

I've noticed to that the scales on BPs are like pixels in the digital world. As hatchlings their "pixels" (scales) are closer together and make the picture look better. As they mature the "pixels" (scales) enlarge and spread out and the crisp clean look isn't the same, but it still looks good.

I know that's a weird way to think about it but that's how I look at it.

[Clear]

Some morphs look much better as babies, that is for sure. But some still look great as adults. I think it really depends on the morphs and the quality of the morph. It seems everyone is focus on just producing to make money instead of making a better quality animal.

[dr del]

Hi,

They can change quite a bit.

This is my lesser ( African line ) in June - July 2008 the day he arrived;





This is him in October 2008;



And this is him in July 2011;



This is his daughter the day she hatched in March 2010;



And this is her in July 2011;




dr del