What Qualifies a morph or a normal?

[SamuraiZr0]

Is it color or pattern?

I looked at the post on guess the morph and i saw tons of snakes with bright colors(pastels perhaps) and we were asked to pick the morph... well the one that was listed as a morph looked normal to me.. and all the others looked like they could be morphs but were said to be normals. now i'm really lost.. i thought i was figuring it out. but... lol


Are pastels still normals?
any how what makes it a morph is it visual pattern or visual color or both?

[rabernet]

MOST visual morphs are going to be a pattern or color difference. There are more subtle morphs (like YB, Fire, Vanilla, etc) that are difficult to pick out unless you have more experience identifying those morphs.

To add into the mix, you have het for the recessive genes that are normal appearing, and the only way to know that they are indeed het is by purchasing from someone reputable.

Pastels are NOT normals. Normals DO, however come in all different shades and colorations.

The hypo that was the morph in that thread has a "frosted" look to it. Kevin of NERD describes it as looking like it came out of the freezer by its coloration.

It just takes time viewing over and over again. You'll eventually get it!

[SamuraiZr0]

thanks.. i'll keep at it lol ok so let me get this straight pastels can come in any variant of BP from normal to pinstripe and mojo to enchi or what ever.. and normals can come in pastel colors as well. correct?

[JLC]

To expand a bit on what Robin said...a "morph" is a color and/or pattern variation that can be predictably reproduced through selective breeding. A "normal" may have a color or pattern quite a bit different from your average ball python, but does not pass those specific looks onto its young in any predictable manner.

In the game-thread you alluded to....those are all "normals" by genetic standards...but are not necessarily normal in appearance. The whole point of that game in the first place was to illustrate how much beautiful variety we have in our beloved ball pythons...even if they don't cost thousands of dollars.

[AaronP]

With time you'll be able to pick out the more subtle genes. I have a bad habit at animal shows of saying whatever the morph is out loud, espcially if it isn't labeled.

[Wh00h0069]

A morph is recreatable. It is a genetic mutation; such as, different: pattern, color, or both. If the color or pattern is not recreatable by breeder, then it is not a morph. Some normals look different than normals, but are still normals nonetheless.

[frankykeno]

Here's a link that might help you understand the genetics behind all this morph/normal thing....

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...=626798#626798

At the bottom of this explanation (thanks always to our own Judy aka JLC for this amazing sticky) you will find links for further information on genetics as it relates to ball pythons.

[SamuraiZr0]

I get the geneology part. that was easy to understand.. I was looking at more of the visual portion.genetics work the same in all animals and i learned geneology with my dogs lol.. so that much i can gather . I was just talking about how to recognize them by sight.

[SecurityStacey]

I get the geneology part. that was easy to understand.. I was looking at more of the visual portion.genetics work the same in all animals and i learned geneology with my dogs lol.. so that much i can gather . I was just talking about how to recognize them by sight.

Have you looked at the hunters guide located in the genetics section? That shows different morphs and points out what specific traits identify that morph. Since you mentioned specifically pastels - here is the link for the pastels - http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=62699 - you can see there is more to the morph than just the color.

[Tosha_Mc]

In general a morph is a color and or pattern mutation that is genetic and that someone has proved out and stuck a name and a dollar value on. There are genetic variations that are still considered just normal.

If you want to learn the morphs then there are a lot of books you can pick up from the bigger breeders that have a lot of pictures but are a few years old and somewhat outdated but a good start. Otherwise you can just visit some of the bigger name breeders sites and they usually have a nice array of balls you can look at and how they came bout -- I think NERDs site probably has the most extensive information on morphs.