telling axanthic lines apart

is there any way to tell the lines (VPI SK ECT) apart? Also what lines are compatible?

They look pretty different,

http://www.worldofballpythons.com/morphs/axanthic/

I'm not sure which are compatible with each other. Personally I would stick with one line to prevent issues.

The reason I ask is because a friend picked up a 1800 gram axanthic but hes a retic guy so I see it comming my way soon

There is no visual way to tell the lines apart...None of the lines are compatible except NERD and VPI...

VPI and NERD tend to stay more gray and black as Joliff and SK tend to brown almost to the point of a normal. And as stated above NERD and VPI are compatible but NERD axanthics are very expensive.

If they aren't compatible, has anyone been able to produce one that is both, say, VPI and Joliff axanthic? Maybe one of those wouldn't brown out at all

That is a good question. A Double Axanthic......

There are brown examples of NERD/VPIs, and very clean, silver examples of both TSK and Joliff. (LadyOhh has blogged about this with side-by-side pics.) Really, the only way to be certain, if you can't trace the lineage, is to get a VPI het and a TSK het and find out which breeding produces axanthics.

Joliffs do seem to be much less common? And most people tell you right up front if it's a VPI line, because it's considered more desirable. So my first guess would be TSK. But it's not certain until compatibility is confirmed.

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Originally Posted by jinx667

That is a good question. A Double Axanthic......

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The problem is, knowing when you've achieved it? The double hets are easy enough to make... but again, the only way to know when you've hit the double recessive is to check for compatibility with additional breedings.

(A friend has VPI axanthics and a wild-caught unknown axanthic, so we've had this conversation...)

that is a terrible example of a tsk axanthic. they are like pastels, there are good and bad examples of all types. vpi is probably the most popular.