Just a pretty normal?

Hi all!

I fell in love with ball pythons a few years ago and am now up to about a dozen of various ages and morphs (mostly lesser and vanilla combos -I like light, bright and clean). I recently acquired an adult male from someone whose son had lost interest and he is really, really pretty for a normal. I have a couple of normal het+++ girls who are much darker - he is very bright and has a really nice pattern. My question is, am I dealing with just a nice-looking normal (which is of course fine) or did I get a bit more out of the deal? I don't plan to breed him but it is driving me slightly bonkers. Any advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks!! URL to dropbox pics is here:

Hope this works!https://www.dropbox.com/sh/72kw8db1e...vuX7m7hsa?dl=0

Jill

Pastel morph. Might be a normal, but DEFINITELY APPEARS as a pastel and that is what matters unless you are breeding.

That was what I thought at first too, but he isn't yellow on the ventral sides (more of a gold/tan - I have a couple of pastel het pieds and they are way yellower...) and his eyes aren't green. Even if I tried I couldn't describe his eyes as anything more than a dark amber. Thanks though - at least I know I'm not crazy!!

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Originally Posted by Godzilla78

Pastel morph. Might be a normal, but DEFINITELY APPEARS as a pastel and that is what matters unless you are breeding.

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That doesn't look pastel to me. Pastels have white bellies.

I'd be hard pressed to say for sure if it is any morph at all. Pattern is weird - sort of leopard-y in nature - but unless it proves genetic, I'd refer to it as what I like to call a "high quality normal."

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Originally Posted by Bluebonnet Herp

That doesn't look pastel to me. Pastels have white bellies.

I'd be hard pressed to say for sure if it is any morph at all. Pattern is weird - sort of leopard-y in nature - but unless it proves genetic, I'd refer to it as what I like to call a "high quality normal."

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Yeah, you are right, I was looking at the pics on my tiny phone screen, but now that I got home and see them on my laptop, I am going with normal. Even the color doesn't look like pastel on my computer as it did on my iPhone screen.

To my amateurs eye it looks kinda fire or enchi?

Looks like a normal to me. Maybe worthy of 'Dinker' status with that busy pattern. Out of curiosity I would breed it to a normal looking normal and see if that busy pattern shows up in half of the babies, then hold back a few females and breed them back to see if there's a super. Looks like it could be a interesting African Import to me, most of which are not genetic. I have quite a few adult female normals that are all different, some are as dark as a Chocolate, some almost look Calico, but all are normals.

Thanks for the info! I knew there can be a lot of variation but your additional descriptions/details are very helpful!! Have a great day!