Distingushing

[EMSPrincess]

Can anyone give me distinguishing marks between cinnies, black pastel, tricks, choclates and normals? Just looking at them with so much variation isn't really doing anything. My normal, which I know is a normal, has zero alien heads, solid light markings and looks like a fire moreso than a normal. I have other's that look nothing like him. Is there a website that offers more than just pictures for identification? (I am aware of worldofballpythons - they don't offer anything more than pictures as far as I know.)

[rlditmars]

Pictures are worth a thousand words in this instance. The 3 morphs you're asking about are very similar in appearance at first glance, but not identical. Only pictures can tell the story because worded descriptions again won't vary much. All of the morphs basically have doughnut holes for side patterns but the difference between a Black Pastel and the other two is that the shape of the inner part of the hole is usually a little more irregular than on the Cinny or Choco and can even have some markings similar to a GHI. All of the 3 morphs usually have less dorsal patterning than a normal and in the case of Cinnies, the less dorsal pattern the better the example in my opinion. The rest is really coloration. The Cinnies tend to have a maroon look to them. Chocolates tend to be a more chocolate color of brown. The Black Pastels start off with a bit more orange tint and then settle into a somewhat of a muted gold.

I would encourage you to Google images. Go on Fauna Classifieds and Kingsnake and query the morphs. Visit breeder websites. Just study the pictures and eventually your eye will start to see the subtle differences.

[PitOnTheProwl]

If you are looking at the photos one at a time, it doesn't really help too much.
Studying them side by side will help a lot but finding 3 of the same photo quality is hard. (if you understand what I mean)