A Pastel at Petco!

I was perusing Petco, and to my utter surprise came across a Pastel Ball Python sitting amongst the normals with their typical stuck sheds. While my cell phone pics aren't too good, I assure you it was a pastel... and not a too bad looking one either. It had a $79.99 sticker price. While overcoming the initial giddyness of coming across a morph in the "wild", I thought better of purchasing it. Mites, quarantine, and the unknown gender crept into my head (I've already got a male pastel that I'm breeding). Here a couple of terrible pics:

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...tcopastel1.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...tcopastel2.jpg

Well if Pastels can make it to the most Southwesterly Petco in our country (just a hop, skip, and a jump from the Mexican border), I can probably safely say that BP morphs have officially gone mainstream.

lol what a sweet find did you bring him/her home?

lance

Must be a male, no one in their right mind would sell a female Pastel to Petco.

I live in lousiana and the petco i go to sell them too but ours are all males for $159.99

My guess is that you're going to start seeing pastels (at least males) more and more in mainstream petstores. The prices have come down to a point where it's feasible to sell them to places like Petco, and still make a little profit on them.

At $80, petstores aren't really undercutting the industry, either.

when i got my 1st BP from petco last year-ish, it was around 80

now they're like 25 lol. so if someone sells a pastel at my petco and they try to re-sell it for 25, ohhhh snap =p. not like ima pick it up. i WOULD QT it for a very long time, but i dont have space =].

i LOVE how this is worded:

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Originally Posted by MarkieJ

While overcoming the initial giddyness of coming across a morph in the "wild", I thought better of purchasing it.

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:rofl:

Good find, I have only found one pastel around here and they want $300 for it. Its not at petco its a mom and pop shop that knows nothing about snakes.

I've heard about pastels popping up at petcos now and then, I think the first time I heard about it was a little over a year ago.

BP morphs will make their way to petco as supply goes way up, just like corn snake and leopard gecko morphs. You'll see them advertised eventually as "fancy ball pythons".. lol.

Did you ask them about it? A few things ive heard have happened in situations like this. One, they know its a pastel, and when you point it out they tell you its really $300 or something like that. Or two... they let it slip:D

Also, it may not be wild. I have a friend who works at petco and they said they get all of their reptiles from a breeder ( Not flipper) somewhere in flordia who wholesales to a bunch of petcos. It would seem more likely thats how a pastel got into the bunch.

- Matt

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Originally Posted by Beardedragon

Did you ask them about it? A few things ive heard have happened in situations like this. One, they know its a pastel, and when you point it out they tell you its really $300 or something like that. Or two... they let it slip:D

Also, it may not be wild. I have a friend who works at petco and they said they get all of their reptiles from a breeder ( Not flipper) somewhere in flordia who wholesales to a bunch of petcos. It would seem more likely thats how a pastel got into the bunch.

- Matt

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I've heard this too. I actually know someone here in Indy that does it. That's why I think you're going to start seeing more of them popping up in the pet trade... as breeders can't sell them as easily in the market, they're going to start wholeselling them to the pet trade to make some money back on them.

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Originally Posted by mainbutter

You'll see them advertised eventually as "fancy ball pythons".. lol.

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LOL just like the "fancy corn snakes" at Petsmart:D

The funny thing I've noticed is that they were selling normal Corns for $90 and "fancy" Corns for $60 or $70.

Oh, it was only a matter of time, and it should be interesting to see how well they do on the pet market. I'm just surprised yellowbellies haven't turned up there yet, but then, I think fewer people are producing them now.

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Originally Posted by WingedWolfPsion

Oh, it was only a matter of time, and it should be interesting to see how well they do on the pet market. I'm just surprised yellowbellies haven't turned up there yet, but then, I think fewer people are producing them now.

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There are probably some YBs that popped up, but I can't even tell the difference between a normal and YB that much:P

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Also, it may not be wild. I have a friend who works at petco and they said they get all of their reptiles from a breeder ( Not flipper) somewhere in flordia who wholesales to a bunch of petcos. It would seem more likely thats how a pastel got into the bunch.

- Matt

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i think when the op typed "wild", they meant at a chain store like petco, and not directly from a breeder.

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Originally Posted by creole_89

I live in lousiana and the petco i go to sell them too but ours are all males for $159.99

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Which petco is that? I live in Baton Rouge too and haven't seen them unless this is more recent...I just check out the reptiles when I have to get dog food. I've put a few morphs on consignment at Tony Jr's in Watson but other than that haven't seen any around.

Are you sure it's a Pastel and not just a bright normal? You can't see the eyes...

Definitely a pastel! The pictures are just poor quality. You can kind of see the very light head characteristic of a nice pastel about 45 degrees under the "G" from the sign on the tank. It has buried the rest of its face in a coil. I've been seriously considering getting it, as I do have a spare cage in my classroom that my students have been asking for me to fill on a daily basis. I might drop by there today to check it out again...

I thought I would update this thread with some new pics. I went to Petco last night and found the pastel wandering the tank. It looks healthy, here's a new pic:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2720/...ef1e842cc2.jpg

Unfortunately there was also another pastel in the tank that looked to be in pretty bad shape. It was thin with a stuck shed, here's the pic of that one:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2616/...38ee67fb66.jpg

I won't be purchasing either snake, just found it interesting that pastels have made it to Petco.

[QUOTE

Also, it may not be wild. I have a friend who works at petco and they said they get all of their reptiles from a breeder ( Not flipper) somewhere in flordia who wholesales to a bunch of petcos. It would seem more likely thats how a pastel got into the bunch.

- Matt[/QUOTE]

This is true and most of you know the breeder.

I got a pastel this way, though I found it through a Pet Supplies Plus store for $50. It's a female, too! I've wondered since then if it's a common occurence to find them grouped with normals in other stores.

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Originally Posted by mainbutter

I've heard about pastels popping up at petcos now and then, I think the first time I heard about it was a little over a year ago.

BP morphs will make their way to petco as supply goes way up, just like corn snake and leopard gecko morphs. You'll see them advertised eventually as "fancy ball pythons".. lol.

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i saw a "fancy ball python" petsmart's website. Im glad i finally know whats so fancy about. it had me confused as hell.

Well that's interesting. From the way my Petco handles their ball pythons I wouldn't get a pastel if I saw it, but boy that would tempt me.

I wonder if "Fancy Ball Python" just means pastel or if they group all morphs into that name.

Just came back from Petsmart ( non reptile related ) and they had a " Fancy" BP for $249.00. It was inside a log do I didn't get a good look but the pic with the price on it looked like a pastel. They also had a normal in the tank next to it for $79 so they know the difference.

Jim

O jeez, this reminds me of a really bad experience/decision I made.

A couple months ago I went to Petco to buy a ball python. Now, I knew hardly anything about ball pythons at the time so please forgive me of my arrogance. One of the ball pythons they were selling in the tank was colored differently, and I thought to myself "Dang what's wrong with that snake? I don't know much about ball pythons so I'm just gonna go with one of these normal ones." Later after purchasing my ball python, I did quick research and found out that the python was actually a pastel, and nothing was wrong with it. Talk about epic facepalm. :(

I purchased a mojave ball this way at a Petland for 50. They sold it as a normal. It was the only bp they had for sale. Amazing that they could not notice. An extra bonus is that it's a female mojave. Oh well, my daughter is very happy and so am I. I am going to the Wheaton swap to pick up my male mojave which I will be glad to purchase at regular price. I still cannot believe it!!! :D

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Originally Posted by bammer838

I purchased a mojave ball this way at a Petland for 50. They sold it as a normal. It was the only bp they had for sale. Amazing that they could not notice. An extra bonus is that it's a female mojave. Oh well, my daughter is very happy and so am I. I am going to the Wheaton swap to pick up my male mojave which I will be glad to purchase at regular price. I still cannot believe it!!! :D

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thats tight, you have to post pics

From my understanding pet stores are a place to dump offspring you dont want, meaning you probably have a small time breeder near you or someone who bought a snake and ended up regretting the decision and dumped it there.

I'd talk to the people there and find out about it. You could probably find the breeder or figure out how they got it. And I'd totally suggest getting them if you have the cash, its always nice to add some pretty pastels to your collection.

I've seen plenty of yellowbellies at petsmart. Always males though so they are never worth the $80 price tag. I guess the petsmart suppliers don't care about male yellowbellies enough to get the full 35 bucks for them so they use them as fillers when they run out of normals.

Currently any "Fancy" bp from PetSmart or Petco will be a pastel.

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Originally Posted by 771subliminal

thats tight, you have to post pics

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My daughters 49 dollar ball python from Petland (They didnt know it was a Mojave)

here is the pics: I'm still shocked!!!!:gj:

http://i525.photobucket.com/albums/c...8/100_4077.jpg
http://i525.photobucket.com/albums/c...8/100_4076.jpg

Whoah!!! That's a legit Mojo... and a female to boot? Nice find! :gj:

Thanks. I'm picking up a male from the Wheaton swap this Sunday..........of course for more money than what I paid for the female. ;)
When I bought the female, it was 65 grams and tiny. Now she's about 90 grams and loves to eat anything that dangle in front of her.

I've got a pair of mojos as well and they are quite the eaters. My girl was over 1000 grams after 1 year. Congrats on the pickup, she's a looker!