Dark Pastel

Hey, I rescued a pastel from a lady who doesn't know what she is doing. The pastel, who I call Elvira, was very skinny when I first got her and she'd strike every chance she gets. Now, she weighs pretty good for her size and I can handle her knowing that she will not strike so I'm happy with that.

I know she is a low quality pastel because she is really dark. Even though I rescued her, I wouldn't mind breeding her someday. What would you breed a low quality pastel with? I was thinking I should stick with the darker morphs because there is no point breeding her with, let's say, a spider because I'd probably wind up with a low/darker quality bumblebee?

What are your thoughts/suggestions? Thanks!

M

Pics would help with recommendations, although most people choose not to breed a lower quality example of a morph (since it creates more low quality morphs).

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What would you breed a low quality pastel with?

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Honestly? Nothing, I believe in selective breeding and breeding the best example possible of a morph so if she is that dark, I would not breed her.

Really? Not even a black pastel?

Post a pic! She might have some redeeming qualities (i.e. great blushing or flames) that would mix well with another morph.

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Originally Posted by digizure

Really? Not even a black pastel?

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Yep I am pretty picky, I only buy, hold back and breed what I consider great examples, I don't put two snakes together just because I can.

Think about it this way, your pewter may be ok however what he will throw in the future will be far from stellar, ugly sterling, average "insert combo's name here" etc

To me selective breeding is VERY important :gj:

Yeah, I agree. I am careful with what I buy but I just wanted to take her out of that home. I do think she is pretty but I know that most would say that she is not a good quality. I will try and post picture today.

I would suggest getting her rehabbed and healthy, then perhaps selectively look for a good home for her. Someone who isn't interested in breeding, but wants a pet snake, that would take good care of it.

Even a black pewter made by a dark pastel will probably throw subpar pastel offspring. Breed for quality, breed up :)

Ahh, there is something I need to do so I was going to wait on the photo but I just couldn't resist. Here you go...

http://i1324.photobucket.com/albums/...ps541a013f.jpg

http://i1324.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8c368bea.jpg

I've grown kind of attached to Elvira so... If she isn't worthy of breeding, I might just keep her as a pet only - or give to a friend who wants a ball python. Thoughts?

She doesn't look very dark at all! I think she's pretty nice as far as pastels go. I see nothing wrong with breeding her once she is rehabbed, but that might be just me. Would love to see some other opinions!

Well I'm no expert but I think she looks nice. Breed her with a nice pastel male.

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I second brobertson. You made her sound a lot worse than she actually is. How large is she right now? If she's already in that 1000g range, she may be more or less at her adult colour although she could still brown out more. Only time will tell.
In my opinion, I would say darker Pastels do best when paired with highlighter genes like a Vanilla or a a Fire and less so with pattern morphs like Pinstripes or Spiders.

She is nowhere ready to breed. She is about 350g and I am pretty confident that she will brown out some more.

Bump...

Well, she probably will brown out some more, but she has nice bright, OBVIOUS yellow on her. When you said "dark pastel", I was half convinced you'd post a normal....

I'd throw her in with a male who's carrying a clean-up gene. Even a "bad" pastel will come out like gangbusters when you combine it with vanilla or fire. Or even a butter/lesser, or even a calico. I'm not real sure what makes a spectacular pastel calico vs. an unspectacular pastel calico, but I bet it comes more from the calico side than the pastel side.