Looking For Advice

So I bought this ball python from an auction I won from Ben Siegel Reptiles. Here's the info that was given on the snake at the time of the auction:

Quote:

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2012 Male Dinker Ball Python

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After I won him, I asked if he was captive-bred or captive-farmed. I was told "farmed in Africa".

ANYWAY! I was told that I should post on here to find out what possible morphs I should consider breeding him to IF I decide to breed him! Here's some pics of him.

http://i45.tinypic.com/16gibex.jpg

http://i48.tinypic.com/15f5fdz.jpg

http://i49.tinypic.com/34ynw8z.jpg

He's a beautiful snake and, other than an eating issue (was fed live and I've been trying to get him to eat F/T), he's awesome. My son named him Valentine because when he constricts his neck muscles, he has a couple of spots that form perfect hearts. It's wicked cool.

Anyway, thank you for reading this and for any advice offered!

I just love the way this guy looks! Wow!

Yellow belly, or something in the BEL complex(most likely a mojave) would be my first two choices.

Mojave, eh? I really love how those look. Thanks!

And thanks for the compliment, doganddisc! I thought he was stunning the moment I saw that first picture and that was why I went ahead and bid on him in the auction. I was surprised that I had actually won him. :)

What does his belly look like? Does he have clean white belly scales all the way down? The center scales? If so, I'd pair him to something in the BEL complex. If not, it really doesn't matter what you put him to but that nice reduced pattern and light color should improve on just about anything. Then if it produces anything with the same pattern and traits, hold back a female to raise up for a breed-back to see if anything else is going on in there.

I will get some pictures of his belly tomorrow when I have natural light to work with. To be honest, until now, I hadn't really paid all that much attention. I have to ask, though, what does BEL stand for? It's been quite a few years since I kept snakes, but even then I didn't really show much interest in wanting to breed what I had. This is the first time I've even remotely considered wanting to breed one of my reptiles :)

Blue eyed Leucistic = BEL. Anything that will produce them if paired to another ball in that complex.. Lesser, butter, Mojave, Russo, mocha.. Or the slightly patterned combos made with phantoms, mystics, specials, etc..

Thank you!

Looks like a cool Banded dinker you have there. I too would go with a Butter or Mojave girl, but definitely get a pastel girl as well to see how well he cleans up the pattern with the yellows of the pastel gene.

As promised, I got belly shots of Valentine :)

http://i48.tinypic.com/1il9bd.jpg
http://i46.tinypic.com/33utjm0.jpg

He was most unimpressed with me taking pictures of his underside and kept wanting to get away:
http://i45.tinypic.com/awavm.jpg


And because of advice given here, the opportunity to get a pastel female came up and I jumped on it ($130 shipped). She's a 2012.

http://i45.tinypic.com/350mbkn.jpg