Het Clown signs or possible something else

I have three females that I am picking up tomorrow and they are amazing looking snakes. They are supposed to be 66% possible het clown. All the normals I have ever had have had pretty much clear bellies. These three all have very speckled bellies. Is this something normals can have? Could it be a good het clown sign? Could they be something else?

There is no trait markers for clown. Pied is the only one that I know of that has trait markers and thats not even 100% There is no difinitive way to tell if something is het without breeding it

I had heard that some people have some theories about traits on het clowns and just can't find the place where I had read that.

I think some people who have bred them seem to figure out the 'look' they have, even though there aren't really specific markers. They can sometimes recognize what has proven out in the past. But I dunno what that might be exactly! Good luck, clowns are AWESOME!

My 66% pos het clown has a clear belly ;)

Breed them to a clown when they get older and hopefully one or two prove out for you :gj:

My 100% het clown also has a clear belly. The only way to really know is to breed it out.

I've heard brighter cleaner and white outlining the pattern. But these types of things are all possible on normals. They would be something to look for in a clutch of possible hets to pick from. IMO

I have heard lighter colored head also. I have 2.1 het clowns. I won't know anything until they prove out. That is 100% yes or no. If there were a sure fire way to know they would be picked out and sold as 100% het's. I guess this is one of the fun parts about ball pythons.

Different lines have certain looks. They do tend to be brighter than your average normal. But as someone said above, it's hard to explain exactly what that look is.

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Originally Posted by Clint Bundy

I have heard lighter colored head also. I have 2.1 het clowns. I won't know anything until they prove out. That is 100% yes or no. If there were a sure fire way to know they would be picked out and sold as 100% het's. I guess this is one of the fun parts about ball pythons.

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It is a combo of a couple of different things but this one stands out from my experience....

Here is an example
http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/y...C/CIMG1501.jpg

I bought this pastel as a 66% het clown because of her head... After talking to the breeder we had both believed she would prove to be a 100% het.. She proved us both right last year as she produced a beautiful pastel clown.. This is by no means a 100% fool proof but it has helped me when picking hets.

Here is another example from last years clutch as these are sibs to my pastel clown
http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/y...C/CIMG2037.jpg

If you notice the one on the right reminds me of her mom... hehe ;)

Both of our 100% het clown females are strikingly lighter/brighter than your average normal. It does seem to be somewhat of a trend based on this thread, but I wouldn't say its anything terribly reliable.

Pastel het clowns seem brighter with a lighter head, but I have seen some pretty ugly pastel 100% het clowns as well. Some feel the spider het clowns have a look to them. The mojave het clowns and lesser het clowns I have seen look fairly normal to me, but I haven't seen any in person, other than my lesser 50% het clown. Patterns and coloration on lessers, pastels, etc. are so variable that it is hard to say the ligher ones or the reduced ones are hets, because you see the same variation in clutches of normal lesser, pastels, etc. The only one that looks REALLY different to me are the Desert het clowns. They have a funky pattern(see the proexotics website). Not enough clutches have been produced yet to say it is consistent though.

As for normal hets, breed a few clutches of 100% het clowns and compare them to your clutches of possible hets and you will notice a look to the hets. It is fairly consistent, but not enough to consider them codom or label them 100% hets. I don't believe in posting exact details because shady characters may try to pass off normals with the "look" as hets or sell possibles as 100% hets, like has happened with the pied marker.

If you post pics of your normal possible hets you might get some feedback on whether others think they look like hets, that way they don't have to mention thier exact trade secrets. :)