A strange resemblance?

[icygirl]

This is my new guy, Jeremy. I bought him at a show as a pretty normal. (The second picture looks more reddish, but he is actually just a mocha brown, no red color..)




And I just found this "Male Granite #1" on the NERD website:

http://www.newenglandreptile.com/ava...&cat=23&page=1

Jeremy doesn't have as much speckling, and also doesn't have the blushing on the back stripe, but his back pattern is oddly very similar... He can't be a granite, but do you think he maybe has something else going on? Or just a normal? Opinions please

[hawaiianice99]

He looks like a handsome normal to me.

[Koolaid]

The speckling is why they're called Granites though... so you kinda just answered it for yourself haha... but I think he's a beautiful normal... I really like his blushing!

[Koolaid]

http://www.ralphdavisreptiles.com/co...all_python.asp

Here's a few really good examples of granites...

[hoax]

Looks like a pretty normal

[Spaniard]

Here is a good guide to granites if you wanted to read up on it and have a better idea if yours is or is not.

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=49621

[janeothejungle]

He's a norm, but he's got some great blushing. Might make a nice 'dinking' project. He's handsome, either way.

Cheers,
Kat

[FIREball]

Nice name

[icygirl]

He's a norm, but he's got some great blushing. Might make a nice 'dinking' project. He's handsome, either way.

Cheers,
Kat

Agreed, when I start breeding (potentially next summer, depending on my $) I plan on pairing him with my big female. My female is more typical as far as normals go, but she does have much more golden color than he does... Will be interesting to see where that goes!

Thanks everyone, I figure the resemblance is just a coincidence. Another question for everybody:

From what I understand, the "black back" trait is supposed to only be reproducible from het red axanthics.

But as far as breeding NORMALS goes - is it possible to gradually breed out a certain trait, rather than finding a magical gene that fits in a punnet square? For example, say you really like reduced patterns, and you breed a reduced to a reduced, select the most reduced of the babies, and so on. Can you select for a reduced animal this way, or is it completely random how normal babies' patterns turn out?