Starting to wonder if I was mislead about my "pastel"

First problem is that he was purchased from Petsmart as a gift from my wife. They told her he was a pastel so she paid about $30 more for him, but the more I look at him compared to others on this site, both pastel and normal, I'm beginning to think he is simply a normal and we got taken for $30.

Don't misunderstand, I think he's absolutely beautiful and wouldn't love him any less, nor do I find normals in any way inferior or less interesting. I just would like to know if he is indeed a morph so I don't look like an idiot introducing him as such if not.

I do apologize for having to ask you all to just look at my avatar and gallery pics at the moment for reference because I have no camera save my phone and I keep having to host the images..I'll try to add some more in here if my question can't be answered as is.

I'm sure it will be easier to answer once he is a little bigger and his markings become more pronounced. Tomorrow i'll try to get a belly shot at least and see if I can find an actual camera somewhere to get some real pictures. But if anyone can tell right off the bat i'd appreciate it.

Definitely pastel. Pretty snake. :)

Pastel

Looks like a Pastel to me. Beautiful snake. :)

Thank you all for the input. I have no idea what markers to look for to be able to tell the difference as I am still extremely new to this. Thanks for the clarification. He's having some issues with a shed right now but once we get everything fixed up and he's back to feeding and has his new paint job i'll ad better pictures to the gallery.

I have noticed that the pastels at Petsmart (at least around here) tend to look duller/more "normal" looking than pastels I've seen at reptile expo's. My guess is that maybe by the time Petsmart buys them from whoever they buy them from, they are "last pick" so to speak? I can't imagine they pay very much for them, as they still have to make a profit themselves.

That being said, I still think the snake is really pretty! :) But I agree with you, it's not quite so obvious that it's a pastel, at least not compared to some pastels you see.

Usually big chain stores are going to buy low and sell higher. I think you are correct a breeder will not sell the quality animals for wholesale prices unless they absolutly have to. The snakes that chain stores have are most likely the low quality / last picks that a breeder decided to do wholesale on. Its just sad that the stores do not take proper care of the animals that they should.

Any Ball Python in Petsmart or Petco was sold wholesale (dumped) to them by a couple top breeders.

We get pastels regularly at my petsmart. Some are nice looking, some are not. We actually have a pied at my location who's a nice medium white.