Normal Pair

[Mehelya]

Well, I eventually buckled up, and took the plunge into the ball python black hole, and I am pleasantly surprised that I didn't do it sooner... I take this as my introduction post here as well, and will be frequenting this site a lot, to learn as much as I can about the various morphs, combinations and general knowledge that is instilled in this wonderful forum.

A good friend of mine sold me this pair of what he called Dinkers, but I call normals, until breeding proves otherwise. They are an absolute pleasure, are settling in well, and are about 6 weeks old, give or take a week or two.

Without further ado, here are the pics...

The clutch just after being born. Mine are top left and bottom right. Parents are Calico x Spider.


The Male



The Female



Once they've eaten and shed a few times with me, I will update their pics on this thread.

Thanks for looking!

[Slim]

Nice Normals. Welcome to BP.net!

[piedlover79]

Cute little worms!

[Albert Clark]

Great pickups! Welcome to the forum.

[Mehelya]

Slim, thank you. I am already enjoying it here.

Piedlover79, They are adorable, and settling in well with me. Many pics to come...

Albert, thank, they are amazing little animals. Can't wait to see how they turn out as they grow up.

[BeelzeBall.]

hello hello welcome to the bp.net!

[Ax01]

welcome and those are cute lil baby normal BP's u got.

im curious, what do u see in them that u wanna dink around with and prove out? i wonder if we see the same things.

[Mehelya]

BeelzeBall, Thanks for the welcome, I am already overly addicted to the site as it is...

Ax01, My limited knowledge, and long hours of pouring over "normal" photos, as well as the fact that normals can be so variable in a single clutch... I have noticed the following so far:

1. The "head stamp" that is starting to show up.
2. The alien heads are too perfect and too uniform to be normal.
3. The blushing/flaming up the sides seems "wrong" for a normal.
4. There seems to be a darker brown developing as a "halo" around the "alien eyes" (almost similar to the black pastel alien heads). More so on the female than the male. All this is happening inside the alien heads.
5. There are patches of white where by all accounts there shouldn't really be (separate from the belly white coming up in the blushing/flaming)...
6. Their colors are just different to the normals that I have been looking at over the last few weeks.
7. The upper half of their eyes is lightening up slowly, compared to the lower half of the eye.
8. Let's not mention the variable-ness of the bellies...
9. The white borders on the alien heads is too uniform on these chaps...


Ax01, is there anything in that exhaustive list that matches what you are seeing? I've been comparing them to so many "normals", and they just don't fit the bill exactly, but being the leftovers of the pairing they came from, I can only label them as normals...

Now, I just need to get the small female to eat. We are going into winter, and temps have dropped drastically, and she is being fussy. Male is in the exact same setup as her, and he is pounding the fuzzy mice, but she is just cruising around now and then, and doesn't even want to know the food I offer her. Giving her another week then will try scenting a fuzzy with her previous food type (pinkie rats, which I cannot get hold of, only pinky mice and fuzzy mice) and see how she goes. I think she's imprinted on rats, and as good as that is for when she's bigger, the smallest rats I can source are currently weaner/hopper rats.

[Ax01]

BeelzeBall, Thanks for the welcome, I am already overly addicted to the site as it is...

Ax01, My limited knowledge, and long hours of pouring over "normal" photos, as well as the fact that normals can be so variable in a single clutch... I have noticed the following so far:

1. The "head stamp" that is starting to show up.
2. The alien heads are too perfect and too uniform to be normal.
3. The blushing/flaming up the sides seems "wrong" for a normal.
4. There seems to be a darker brown developing as a "halo" around the "alien eyes" (almost similar to the black pastel alien heads). More so on the female than the male. All this is happening inside the alien heads.
5. There are patches of white where by all accounts there shouldn't really be (separate from the belly white coming up in the blushing/flaming)...
6. Their colors are just different to the normals that I have been looking at over the last few weeks.
7. The upper half of their eyes is lightening up slowly, compared to the lower half of the eye.
8. Let's not mention the variable-ness of the bellies...
9. The white borders on the alien heads is too uniform on these chaps...


Ax01, is there anything in that exhaustive list that matches what you are seeing? I've been comparing them to so many "normals", and they just don't fit the bill exactly, but being the leftovers of the pairing they came from, I can only label them as normals...

Now, I just need to get the small female to eat. We are going into winter, and temps have dropped drastically, and she is being fussy. Male is in the exact same setup as her, and he is pounding the fuzzy mice, but she is just cruising around now and then, and doesn't even want to know the food I offer her. Giving her another week then will try scenting a fuzzy with her previous food type (pinkie rats, which I cannot get hold of, only pinky mice and fuzzy mice) and see how she goes. I think she's imprinted on rats, and as good as that is for when she's bigger, the smallest rats I can source are currently weaner/hopper rats.

i'm sorry, i see nothing. IMO they're just Normals. i see what you're saying but headstamps, blushing/flaming, nice alien heads, white outlines and patches, clean bellies, etc. etc. all occur and varies in Normal BP's. the range of which they occur and vary is vast. some Normals even have reduced patterns like Enchi's or bright colors like a Pastel or Orange Dream but they're not morphs - just nice Normals. the lightness of the upper half of their eyes is due to the eyestripe pattern.

so u could breed your pair and hope for copies of traits 1-9 in a clutch of Normals, breed them to other morphs and hope that #2 perfect alien heads shows up on a Pastel (for example) or breed them to recessives/het recessives and hope for something like a Pied pops out. it seems that u really like this pair and can still really have fun dinking around with them.

regardless, i'm glad u got some BP's and joined the community. again welcome! i'm sure u will have plenty more BP's in your future.

[Mehelya]

Thanks Ax01, yep, they are just really pretty normals. I have not been getting my hopes up at all, purely because normals are just so variable. It's actually insane how different normals from even the same clutch can look. plus, they still have to grow up, and change color a bit to their adult phase, so I can at least look forward to that part of them. I have noticed how many of the older Base Morphs look so similar to normals that I am even surprised that anyone even noticed anything different on them!

I'm the kind of person that looks at a snake, and sees one scale miscolored or a squiggle out of place, and I get overly excited and start planning breeding and possible outcomes (normally to be disappointed though). I suppose I always try to see too much into something that is infinitely variable in it's normal state, and get my hopes up (and then dashed again) every breeding season. But it keeps me going in the hopes that one day I will hit that one in a million odds and produce something that hasn't been seen before.

I have to say that I have always had a special place in my heart for snakes since I was 12/13 (before that I was ophidiophobic!), and currently have a few breeding pairs of Rinkhals, Puff Adders, Brown House Snakes, and a few other indigenous (South Africa) species. I don't have kids, so these are basically my children, and they get treated as such to the extent that my missus allows me to. I have recently gotten back into boas, and now ball pythons, and already have a few pairs of base morphs (older co-dominants) on "laybuy" for the next breeding season, so that I can have a few pairs that are only 1-2 years apart, making my breeding options a bit faster once they are to size, age and weight.

Thanks for the input, and I appreciate the gander at these little dinky normals. I'll post some pics once they have grown a bit.