Learning more about morphs, piebald question

I'm trying to expand and learn more about the different types of morphs out there. Since I'm thinking about adding a piebald to our breeding collection next year, I wanted to get my facts straight! Is there a certain amount of white that is required in order for the snake to be considered a piebald? I work with paint horses and I know in order to register them with the APHA, the white has to be at least a certain size, etc... Also, if the breeders are high or low whites, does the offspring tend to mimic their amount of white? Thanks!:)

I'll be interested in the answers, too. Great question!

Ditto Sarah! As for desired look... I THINK that some people prefer high to low and reverse.... But it is not like APHA where they must have a certin amount... You either have a pied or not. As for value of low vrs high, and what each will throw??? ... NO CLUE! Again, good question! :sunny:

No and No :-D

Genetics determine if a pied is a pied, a ghost/hypomelanistic is a ghost/hypo, etc. They either are, or they carry the gene(such as a 100% het), or they aren't. Piebalds can be anything from the lowest amount of white and just have a very wonky-fied pattern, or they can be so high white, only their head is normal colored. Plus, it doesn't matter how high or low white a piebald is, their offspring can vary from one extreme to the other.

Hope that helped!

No, there are some Piebalds with no white at all. There patterns definitely look "Pie-ish", though.

Also, there is no correlation between the amount of white from the sire/dam and their offspring. It's all a crapshoot. :)

Allison (Lillyorchid) is probably our resident Piebald expert, so I'm sure she can fill you in on any other questions or she could probably find out from Mr. Piebald himself. ;)

Ya'll rock!:rockon: Thanks, I'll keep checking the thread for more feedback but so far, the answers have been very helpful!

Pieds can have no ringer white, but there is a specific Pied pattern that makes a Pied a pied and not a ringer.


I don't have any photos at this time to show you the difference, but basically, a Ringer is an animal with a regular pattern but a white patch or splotch.

Pieds have a distinctive pattern that goes with the white that they have as well.

Hopefully someone else can share with you those distinctions, or you can check out this link. Jon does a good job of explaining it

http://www.nextworldexotics.com/hgpd.htm