Thoughts on adding Pastel to everything...

Ok, is it just me or are there morphs that are NOT improved by adding Pastel. I know a lot of what we do and like is subjective, but sometimes adding Pastel to the base morph ruins it for me.

The one that really stuck this in my mind was Leopard. I just do not dig Pastel Leopards. I love the coloring of a nice base Leopard. Same goes for Enchi. I will take a smoking base Enchi any day over the Pastel version. I just prefer the base color.

Anyway, rant over. I realize Pastel is one of the most prevalent genes, so it gets mixed in a lot, but darn it, sometimes things are better off left alone. And do not get me wrong, it definitely improves some morphs in combo.

Anyone else feel this way?

I agree with the leopard looking better without pastel but I love a pastel enchi. Another one I don't like with pastel is spotnose.

I can see where you are coming from, but I think the bigger issue is that people are breeding low grade pastels into other morphs, which make them seem not so desirable. That being said, there are just some pastel combos that I don't care for at all, but the majority of that opinion stems from the fact that more often than not, its a crappy example of a pastel that was bred to get the combo. Its harder to see the quality of the pastel when it is mixed with other morphs.

I personally would like to only work with citrus pastels at some point. I have 3 citrus pastels that all easily outshine the "regular" pastels that i have.

I agree that a poor Pastel is often hidden in combos.

I personally find pastel mixed with dark morphs tends to be hideous...GHI, chocolate, HRA, leopard, and so on...

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Originally Posted by jinx667

I agree that a poor Pastel is often hidden in combos.

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I'm not so sure. I think I agree with your original point in that there are a fair amount of combinations that simply are not benefitted by adding pastel. however, the same could be said of any number of genetic traits, but I think we notice it more with pastel because its prevalence makes it one of the 'default' foundational steps for multi-gene combos. I realize that aesthetics are in the eye of the beholder, and I have a few pastel combos that continue to knock my socks off, but overall I think the reputation of pastel as an enhancer gene is overstated. obviously only one man's opinion, but I prefer the influence of fire or yellowbelly over pastel nine time out of ten.

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Originally Posted by RobNJ

I personally find pastel mixed with dark morphs tends to be hideous...GHI, chocolate, HRA, leopard, and so on...

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I agree with this except het red pastels are hot.
pastel GHI, pastel leopard, pastel chocolate, etc are not necessarily enhanced by adding pastel.

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Originally Posted by wwmjkd

I'm not so sure. I think I agree with your original point in that there are a fair amount of combinations that simply are not benefitted by adding pastel. however, the same could be said of any number of genetic traits, but I think we notice it more with pastel because its prevalence makes it one of the 'default' foundational steps for multi-gene combos. I realize that aesthetics are in the eye of the beholder, and I have a few pastel combos that continue to knock my socks off, but overall I think the reputation of pastel as an enhancer gene is overstated. obviously only one man's opinion, but I prefer the influence of fire or yellowbelly over pastel nine time out of ten.

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I fully agree there are great Pastel combos, and I also agree that the "enhancer" aspect is over stated. I also further agree that Fire and YB are more consistent enhancers. My second statement comes from the fact that I really have seen very few nice stand alone Pastels. Maybe 1 in 10 (or less) IMO are really good examples. I have a Pastel Phantom that I think looks fantastic. I think it works very well with BEL complex animals.

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Originally Posted by jinx667

I will take a smoking base Enchi any day over the Pastel version. I just prefer the base color....sometimes things are better off left alone....Anyone else feel this way?

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No, just no :P

Everything hypo super pastel. Especially enchis.

That said, I don't enjoy dark morphs and have no desire to own or work with them. The dark snakes, the brown snakes, the charcoal snakes etc that I like are species other than ball pythons.

I see where you are coming from. Most of my snakes are light, but I really appreciate a silky dark BP as well.

I agree, it depends on the combo. Dark morphs do muddy it up sometimes. But look at butter pastel or bumble bee combos or even Ultramel pastel. Quite an improvement.

We have to give pastel some credit tho. It was a strong foot hold to where we are today with ball pythons. Think of how cool the first bumblebee was. I do agree tho that there are wayyy to many below average pastels our there.

I sort of accidently stumbled into the chocolate pastel combo as my plans where more along the dark chocolate combos. However, this chocolate pastel I hatched this year has grown on me. I need to get an updated pic as he is better now:

http://snakemorphs.com/images/20121006105719_c10m3.jpg

But even better are the chocolate pastel yb and chocolate pastel spider yb so I'd say some dark combos with pastel can be nice but no, I wouldn’t say it automatically improves everything.