I hear and see a lot of reference to grading snakes and cannot seem to find much information on how to do it. As an example, when I picked up my two ball pythons in January, I picked two morphs I liked, not because it was a certain morph - because I liked the look.
It was at a Reptile show and two people commented that I should select another over the one I did pick (both suggested different snakes from one another). One told me I should select a certain snake because it had more blushing and little head pattern and was the clearly better example of a bumblebee. The other suggested the one with a busy head pattern and solid blacks because it had strong genetics.
Im very happy with with the one I picked which was somewhere in between the two that were recommended. After four sheds, I am really liking the transformation. I've noticed the blushing has increased, the yellows are a little more vibrant (the browns are more pronounced too) and he has developed a light gray dorsal coloring.
Our Caramel Albino was sold as a low grade example but, once again, we love the look of her.
I just seem completely clueless when I hear people talking about all these traits they should have and wondering how You grade a snake. As I look at future purchases at higher price levels, I'll continue to go with what I like but, knowing the difference between a lesser and a better example will help me justify the higher price (I'll be looking at Kingpin morphs with a third gene).
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