Is this a normal?

[cchardwick]

I picked this up about six months ago, it was sooooo small and they guy said it was a year old, about the size of a month old, poor little guy. He was feeding it a fuzzy once a month OUCH! I got him for free and he started pounding adult mice, now he eats 1-3 adult mice twice a week and growing much faster than all my other ball pythons, probably because he is still catching up to the size he should be. He is over 500 grams now. Anyway, he just shed out and the older he gets the more yellow he is getting, is this a normal ball python? Could it be a pastel or.....? I'm still not sure if it's a male or female, I can't seem to get popping hemipenes down with any of my snakes, may have to get a probe kit. To me is sure seems brighter yellow than any normal I've seen...

[redshepherd]

Aw, that's good that it's doing well!!

Looks like a pretty dark normal. Even a poor quality pastel is more vibrant colored with some blushing.

[cchardwick]

He eats frozen thawed better than all my ball pythons, he has never refused one yet and can't seem to get enough! If it turns out to be a female I can still use it in my breeding plans, maybe not so much if it's a male, unless I want to prove out a complex female. It's still a fantastic pet and nice to know what a normal actually is to compare with others.

[voodoolamb]

Whatever he is - he is a handsome boy! I LOVE that squiggly mark mid body. It looks like a monkey on a unicycle.