Just a Pastel...or another color morph?

Bear with me, I'm still trying to figure out how to insert pictures, lol!

So, I got my first BP, Persephone, as a birthday present from my husband. He got her at a local pet store that sold her as just a normal BP (which now after having a REAL normal BP, I can see the difference). My vet was the first one to say something...she said Persephone is a pastel and that I was lucky getting her at a normal BP price. Figured the store got the wrong shipment from the breeder. So, awesome, I have a pastel!

Then one of my students, who was a reptile enthusiast, made a comment about Persephone during a class where I was talking about snakes in belly dance. Said she was a yellow-leaf pastel and they go for around $1500. The problem is, I haven't found any record of a yellow-leaf pastel out there.

I have no intentions of breeding her (at least not at this moment), but it's more of a curiosity thing at this point (and I don't want to sound like an idiot calling her something that doesn't exist). I find as I add on snakes and get more into BP ownership, I want to know as much as possible about my snakes. At present, I'm just calling her a pastel (as I trust my vet, plus she looks completely different than Kismet, my normal, and resembles pics of other pastels I've seen). But any opinions from the board would be appreciated. :D

This is linking to my FB photos, so I hope it works: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater

Looks like a very good looking normal to me. I could be wrong though.

That is not even a pastel. Just a nice reduced pattern normal. The tapatalk app works great for pictures. Can you get one of its eyes? Also, I've never heard of a yellow leaf pastel, or any single gene pastel that goes for $1500...

Here also, for pictures-
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=173889

OK, I'll check out tapatalk...

Here's the best side-shot I have of her, I think! https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater

She's a real bright pale yellow...definitely is a head-turner!

Again, thanks for looking!

Still just a normal. A nice clean one though. There is a ton of variation in normals. :)

OK....good to know! Thanks! :gj:

I say normal, but she is really pretty :)


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Pastels have green eyes and their pattern is pretty crazy, just for future reference :) I know those normals can get super tricky sometimes lol


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Probably can't find any record of a Yellow-leaf Pastel because they simply don't exist!

Definitely not a Pastel though, she's a normal but here's the thing with normals; they are highly variable. You will see a lot of shades of colours and a wide range of patterns in normals because their appearances are as unique as a fingerprint (you'll never see two BPs with the same exact pattern) but it doesn't always mean it's a morph.

Pastels should be noticeably yellow or gold and have a decent amount of blushing on them (or not, mine doesn't have much) with green eyes, here's a picture of my male Pastel for reference.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8100/8...022b0dea_c.jpg

Pastels will also have a brown out line. Here is mine. You can see his blushing and brown outnline.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/05/nazeju2a.jpg

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Originally Posted by DooLittle

Pastels will also have a brown out line. Here is mine. You can see his blushing and brown outnline.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/05/nazeju2a.jpg

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Hope you don't mind me asking but what's the brown outline you are referring to? I've never heard that term before.

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Originally Posted by MisterKyte

Hope you don't mind me asking but what's the brown outline you are referring to? I've never heard that term before.

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Look just below my watermark. You can see the "line" where he has browned out. They all have it.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/05/agenenyq.jpg

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Originally Posted by DooLittle

Look just below my watermark. You can see the "line" where he has browned out. They all have it.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/05/agenenyq.jpg

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Oh, okay, I get ya'.

Here's my pastel :) He's going through a shed so he's dark and ugly :P Babies are super yellow, and they do "brown" out when they are older...then they aren't as pretty haha. Pastel's have the best eyes though!

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/05/uqusyren.jpg


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Cool! Thanks for the info! See...I've been sounding like an idiot lol! Oh well, at least I asked...she's still my pretty baby! <3


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Originally Posted by leylaraks

Cool! Thanks for the info! See...I've been sounding like an idiot lol! Oh well, at least I asked...she's still my pretty baby! <3


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Haha no worries, at least you're asking! Honestly, it takes years to master morphs. In time you will know exactly what you're talking about :) I just posted a picture of a new girl I got and I couldn't tell if it was a normal or a fire or something because her color was so light. I've only had ball pythons for a few years and have only mastered a handful of morphs lol. It's a learning process!


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Will a Black Pastel have Green eyes also?

She is a very cool looking Normal. I love reduced pattern Normals :gj: Had to laugh at the Yellow Leaf Pastel. Sounds like something someone was trying to sell on CL.

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Originally Posted by blk02ssmonte

Will a Black Pastel have Green eyes also?

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Nope, they have black beady eyes. In fact, I've only heard of pastels having green eyes, I don't know about other morphs? I should look into that!


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Originally Posted by Scirlygirl

Nope, they have black beady eyes. In fact, I've only heard of pastels having green eyes, I don't know about other morphs? I should look into that!


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Spiders also have green eyes ;)

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Originally Posted by bad-one

Spiders also have green eyes ;)

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As do some normals. :-)

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Don't feel bad about the morph thing hon. My first Petco ball was a Cinnamon Calico Enchi. Worth at last $20,000. Or at least, she was until I learned a little more about how much variation there is in "normal" ball pythons, and eventually learned what some of the morphs really looked like.

It does take time. Some things, like spiders and pinstripes, you can't mistake for anything else. But there are still a LOT of morphs out there I can't tell from a normal, and I've been doing the reptile show circuit for about 6 years now.

Pastels are easiest when they are babies. Because the really good ones are bright yellow, and I mean bright yellow. Others are orange instead of yellow, but you still know exactly what they are. As they get older, they "brown out" as we say. The yellows and orange fade into browns and tans. It takes an experienced eye to pick out an adult pastel most of the time, because they were one of the early morphs imported into the country, and most people didn't care what they bred them to to make more, so eventually the bright yellow snakes faded and muddied into the not-so-nice pastel's we commonly see today. Only a very few people cared more about what the snakes looked like than how much money they could make, so although there are some really amazing adult pastels out there, they are few and far between and hard to find. Robin has one, his name is Winston.

Once upon a time, I thought only pastels and spiders had green eyes, but I have since learned this is not always true. The easiest way for me to pick out an adult pastel is the "brown out line". All pastels, even the ugliest and darkest ones, will have a noticeable line down their sides. The upper body and back will be some shade of brown, tan or in rare cases yellow, with a line drawn from head to tail about mid way down the side, and below that line the sides will be some shade of cream, light tan or yellowish white. Once you know what to look for, it is un-mistakable.

What you have is a really lovely reduced pattern normal female. My favorite kind of normal.

Gale

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Originally Posted by bad-one

Spiders also have green eyes ;)

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Ooo that's really awesome!


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Aww thanks everyone! :)

Yeah the yellow leaf thing, I don't know. She sounded like she knew what she was talking about and I'd only been a herper for a yearish, so I bought it. Then I googled and was confused why it never came up. So, yeah, I figured either she forgot the actual name of the morph she was thinking or was full of it lol!


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Scirlygirl

Nope, they have black beady eyes. In fact, I've only heard of pastels having green eyes, I don't know about other morphs? I should look into that!


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There are actually a lot of other morphs out there that have greenish eyes. Even my Lesser has a coppery green and I've seen a Mojave with greenish eyes too.

Spiders and Pastels definitely take the cake in the green eyes department though and Bumblebees are usually then some. I mean, dang, just check out this Bee I saw at an expo last year. This was the greenest I've ever seen in any BP.
http://24.media.tumblr.com/905b18769...whmo3_1280.png

My baby girl-

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/06/suty6unu.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/06/e7yqy3yv.jpg