What makes a morph a morph?

Confusing title, I know but let me clarify.

I know what a normal, albino, piebald, and leuistic is. I've heard the terms "pastel" and "cinnamon" and "ivory" but I can't look at a ball and know what it is. I looked at a picture of what I thought was a black pastel but it was actually a cinnamon.

My question is, what do I look for to identify the morph of a ball? What characteristics should I be looking for to tell the difference between a pastel and a super pastel? I've found morph lists that have pictures of the listed morph but no description of said morph. I want to get more involved with ball pythons and the community but I don't want to seem like an idiot for not knowing morphs :/

Qualifier: You're not going to like this answer. :)

The best way to learn is through experience and doing exactly what you've been doing. There is no super secret comprehensive morph guide that is handed out after a feeder rat sacrifice ceremony or anything like that. It just kinda comes with being involved in the hobby. And, there are so many morphs these days that it's a herculean feat to be able to recognize them all, let alone pick them out when in a combo.

And with Black Pastel and Cinnamon, no one will fault you one iota there. I certainly wouldn't. :)

Sadly description don't do much as one's description might not be the same as another person even if they describe the same animal. Quality might be at play also, I have seen VERY nice pastel that could pass as super and vice versa.

To identify morphs it's really a matter of hands on experience (picture are good too but not always, depends on the quality of the picture), usually once you have seen enough of something you can tell them apart but again not always (gets complicated with subtle mutation, and some combos).

Over time you will develop an eye for it, and trust me even after 10 years there are still things that I have issues with which is why I don't work with them (I hate feeling confused when hatching stuff)

The way my kids and I learn is by opening 2 windows on our computer screen. Post a picture of a normal on one, a morph of your choice on the other and compare the differences.

Not a bad answer at all, I'm down to learn :) having a normal has gotten me so interested in ball pythons I think it'll become an addiction to own more and more. It's comforting to know that not knowing some morphs won't make people look down on me.

Thanks for the answers, guys!

It also doesn't help that a lot of morphs look like normals (at least to me) until you either get the super form or mix it with something else. :)

^this here haha there's so many variations of "normal" coloring that has a slight variation in pattern making it something else, I can't identify probably half of what's out there, getting better over the last 8 years but it really is a Herculean task unless you're Kevin McCurley


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I couldn't tell the difference between mystic and Mojave until I got one of each, now I can clearly see the difference in the two morphs. It's frustratingly subtle (to me) but it's there, if you have the ability to look at the actual animal to be able to have it in your hands and compare it to say a normal. It really helps starting to see the differences in the more subtle morphs.

I've go t a question for the masses! So now if you breed a morph to a morph and you get some visual morphs and some hets and some apparent normals do not the normals still carry the same gens as their parents? And if so carry the potential of producing morphs?

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Originally Posted by CallieFrayHector

I've go t a question for the masses! So now if you breed a morph to a morph and you get some visual morphs and some hets and some apparent normals do not the normals still carry the same gens as their parents? And if so carry the potential of producing morphs?

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Depends on the morph you are pairing

If you breed an Albino to a Spider you will get Spider 100% Het Albino and Normal looking offspring 100% Het Albino

For you to produce a Spider Albino some day you would have to Pair at the very minimum A Spider Het Albino X Het Albino

Now if you breed a Pastel to a Spider you will produce 1/4 Bee 1/4 Pastel 1/4 Spider 1/4 Normal, the normal are just that normal because neither Spider or Pastel are recessive.