Do I have a Yellow Belly?

:snake:Warning:I'm no snake expert, so take it easy and don't launch into a billion terms I don't understand. XD I'm not stupid, but I may not be able to answer all your questions :P

Well, anyways, I have a young BP (male) whom I believed was/is a normal. Do I have any papers, history, proof of this? No. But he certainly looks like a normal. I got him when I was a couple years younger as a present and an entrance into the snake world. I am still learning about BPs.

The one thing I do know is that the man at the store (My snake was bought from a professional reptile store, it was really nice, not a petco or something, so I trust his judgement.) said he was heterozygous. His mom was an albino, his dad a normal. My snake, looks normal.

Anyways I never even thought about Yellow Bellies until I *tried* to take a photo shoot the other day of my snake. I was annoyed because his belly wasn't that gleaming white that looks fantasic in all the other photos snakes. Only under his chin and fading down his neck is there a clear white. His belly is more of a pale cream color, and the white sort of speckles into the brown. I'm not sure about his actual coloring, I think he has nice contrast but I don't think that means something.

I will supply photos as soon as I find my cam connecter. Can you help me? How else can I try to identify him?

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Originally Posted by Lillyponygirl

The one thing I do know is that the man at the store (My snake was bought from a professional reptile store, it was really nice, not a petco or something, so I trust his judgement.) said he was heterozygous. His mom was an albino, his dad a normal. My snake, looks normal.

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you have a het albino. odds are whenever anyone buys a snake, whatever its sold to you as, thats what is it.

Pictures are the only way any of us can help tell you for sure if it's a yellow belly or not. However...if the guy you bought him from knew his stuff, then he would have known what he was and would have charged more, accordingly.

Sounds like a nice normal that MAY be het for albino if you got him from a legitimate source. We'd certainly love to see pics either way, though!!

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Originally Posted by BAMReptiles

you have a het albino. odds are whenever anyone buys a snake, whatever its sold to you as, thats what is it.

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Makes sense. :) So het albinos can't have yellow bellies?

nope only an ivory or yb will have have baby ybs well or superstripe, stuff with the yb gene already in it

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Originally Posted by JLC

Pictures are the only way any of us can help tell you for sure if it's a yellow belly or not. However...if the guy you bought him from knew his stuff, then he would have known what he was and would have charged more, accordingly.

Sounds like a nice normal that MAY be het for albino if you got him from a legitimate source. We'd certainly love to see pics either way, though!!

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:D I'll post as soon as possible. He's such a sweetie, never strikes or hisses. I wouldn't give him up if he wasn't, i thought it just might be neat to find out if he was. ;)

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Originally Posted by Lillyponygirl

Makes sense. :) So het albinos can't have yellow bellies?

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Ball python bellies can come in quite a variety of shades of white, cream, yellow, and even gray. They also have a huge variety of speckling, "zipper" patterns, or clear bellies.

The term "yellow belly" is actually a bit misleading, because their bellies are often white or cream like any other ball. But I guess the first ones seen had more yellowish bellies, so the name stuck.

A yellowbelly is a different morph all together. Although it does somewhat resemble a normal.

What you have is a Normal that is het for albino. That means it carries the gene but you cant see it. If you breed it to an albino it will make more albinos. Or of you breed it to another het like itself you can also create more albinos.

Ohh. :D
I was judging practically all off the name :D...and then I read about there being speckling in YBs. So I immediately wondered. ;)

Here is my yellowbelly male.


http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...19/ybmale3.jpg
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...19/ybmale2.jpg
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...19/ybmale1.jpg

Killer flames inbetween the pattern

Looks like a yellow belly but without "belly shots" I can't say for a 100%

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Originally Posted by snakesRkewl

Looks like a yellow belly but without "belly shots" I can't say for a 100%

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Those photos aren't from the original poster... it's Darkice's confirmed (I assume) yellowbelly. ;) Nice looking snake too!

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Originally Posted by Lolo76

Those photos aren't from the original poster... it's Darkice's confirmed (I assume) yellowbelly. ;) Nice looking snake too!

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Doh, ty, I should have known better :P
Yes, it is a nice looking yb from the sides, I just don't usually commit on yb's without the belly shot.
Even after hatching out several clutches of them :rofl:

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Originally Posted by Lillyponygirl

The one thing I do know is that the man at the store (My snake was bought from a professional reptile store, it was really nice, not a petco or something, so I trust his judgement.) said he was heterozygous. His mom was an albino, his dad a normal. My snake, looks normal.

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If your snake is het for albino, it would still look normal... they only carry the gene, and visual albinism won't be seen until breeding with another het (or visual). As for being a yellowbelly, we can only know by seeing photos!

FYI: Here's my pair of het albinos, and you can see they look like normal BPs - although the boy does have a cool pattern. ;) But even among normals & hets there is great variety, as shown by these two:

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p...s/DSCF4875.jpg

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p...s/DSCF4772.jpg

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Originally Posted by snakesRkewl

Doh, ty, I should have known better :P
Yes, it is a nice looking yb from the sides, I just don't usually commit on yb's without the belly shot.
Even after hatching out several clutches of them :rofl:

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LOL... I still can't quite tell the difference, so I keep my mouth shut altogether! :oops:

Yep, I knew about the het albino -- he carries the gene, and I also researched his offspring % lf albinos. ;)

Again, I'll try to get the photos today. :D

A few years ago - YB males were a few hundred dollars - add in the layer of being 100% het albino to the mix, and I imagine a male YB that was also het for albino would have gone for around $500.

YB is a visual morph - this link helps explain what the markers are for a YB.

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=45579

For a reference, this is what my YB female's belly looks like - see the "checkerboard" patterning along the edges of her belly?

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...e/IMG_6022.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...s/DSC_0202.jpg

they actually have a yellow belly..
is that a normal? isnt that a tiger or something?
the first picture..

@lolo76

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Originally Posted by davidyun

they actually have a yellow belly..
is that a normal? isnt that a tiger or something?
the first picture..

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No - hers are het albino's.

the first pic right? i thought het isnt visible?
it has some cool design