A normal is a normal, but how do you tell a morph is a BP?

Now I'm obviously no expert here and have had a long lapse in my enjoyment of the hobby. Like 25 years long. Back when I had snakes the first time, it was easy to tell what's what. I had a RT Boa, several Green Tree Boas, Corn snakes, Garters, a Reticulated and Burmese pythons...and one BP. I've always used color to tell what's what not really paying attention to much else. Normals are easy, as are albinos in any of these. With all the morphs that I am seeing now in the BP world I really can't tell what's what sometimes. Maybe I need to pay a bit more attention to the physiology? Any pointers? God, I feel like such a noob. :oops:

Dave

I guess you get used to it. It is pretty hard "for me personally" to not know if it is or is not a ball pythons. Ball pythons just look like ball pythons to me, no matter the color. Snakes like burmese or retics, when they are small, usually they are pretty skinny but long with a typical python head by the time they reach ball python full grown size. Full grown 5ft Ball Pythons will be thicker then a retic or burmese at 5ft. I am no expert either, but ball pythons just have that ball python shape to them... wow, it is kind of hard to explain. I have never really thought about it before.

Very rarely is a snake up for sale that they do not have the species and morph explained with their sale price. If this is not the case, you could ask but why would someone not label it? You will get used to it as you explore and learn more.

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Originally Posted by BCS

it is kind of hard to explain.

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Exactly! I tried to answer this question to my girls and went....Uhhhh, let me get back to you on that.

Dave

I suppose besides eventually recognizing color and pattern, I mainly would recognize the ball python's specific head shapes and body shapes/lengths relative to their head... Even with the different morphs, their skull shape stays the same LOL

Burmese have a triangular head, smaller beady eyes, and no rounded puppy nose like a BP. Their skulls are pretty much the same width as their necks, so they don't really have as much a defined "neck" like BP's do. Stuff like that. :P

OK. All that makes sense.

Thanks,
Dave

Burmese have very blunt heads compared to BPs, whereas BPs are a bit daintier and have a more defined snout just in front of their eyes. Retics have longer, more narrow heads and are sleeker overall than burms. Burms have smaller eyes, BPs have puppy eyes, and retics look kind of bugged out with their large eyes.

I guess between the three I'd describe burms as thick bodied, retics as sleek/slender, and BPs as voluptuous, lol.

The closest looking snake to BPs seem to be Angolan pythons. They seem to have slightly more delicate looking features, but it's much quicker to identify those by pattern.

I just sketched this up by way of a visual explanation, because words r hrd :)
http://i.imgur.com/b3Rn49X.png

(be gentle, I didn't use a reference)

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Originally Posted by Aercadia

I just sketched this up by way of a visual explanation, because words r hrd :)


(be gentle, I didn't use a reference)

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Wow, pretty good without a reference... I am only capable of stick man, you could only imagine what my stick snake would look like > S

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Aercadia

I just sketched this up by way of a visual explanation, because words r hrd :)


(be gentle, I didn't use a reference)

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Oh this just made my day. Thanks for that little reference. Haha.

That made me chuckle. I'll show it to my girls, because yes, words are hard and "it just is" just isn't good enough.

Thanks for all the replies.

Dave

1. Count the heat pits. A ball python has five on either side of the upper lip.

2. Look for the eye stripe. Obviously this will not show up on a leucistic animal or some crazy 4+ gene critters, but it is there on morphs like pinstripes, mojaves, lessers and spiders.

3. Look for the spurs. One on each side of the vent. Yes, I know other species have them, but may as well mention this.

4. Look for a very chunky animal. Ball pythons are built nice and heavy.

5. Look at the eyes. Retics, for example, have orange eyes most times, ball pythons don't.

6. Look at the head shape. A Burmese python has a blunt, shovel shaped head. A ball python has a rounder nose, a pronounced dip where the eyes are and obvious bulges on either side of the head.

7. Look at the length of the tail. Ball pythons have short tails.

8. Look at the size of the animal. A hatchling ball might be only sixty grams, but an adult might be three thousand grams or more.

9. Look at the neck compared to the head. Particularly on young animals, the neck is skinny compared to the head.

10. This one is obvious, but know your morphs. Just knowing a little about all the base morphs can help you get by. I would learn to identify pastel, pinstripe, spider, mojave, pied, axanthic and lesser. Be sure to check the super forms. Combos made from those are usually pretty common, so look at those, too. Seriously, even knowing the names of these morphs will help.

When in doubt, you can always ask the person selling the snake. Remember, they want to sell ball pythons, so they won't say it's an African lalaland python. Hope this helps! :)

Awesome summery. Things I never really paid attention to the first time around. Learning the morphs is helping. Chunky snakes for sure. The best one for me on this is the heat pits.

Thanks,

Dave

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Aercadia

I just sketched this up by way of a visual explanation, because words r hrd :)
http://i.imgur.com/b3Rn49X.png

(be gentle, I didn't use a reference)

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It's so cute!!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AKA Dave

Awesome summery. Things I never really paid attention to the first time around. Learning the morphs is helping. Chunky snakes for sure. The best one for me on this is the heat pits.

Thanks,

Dave

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No problem. I had quite a bit of difficulty when I first started looking at ball pythons trying to figure out how to tell if a morph is indeed a ball python. I know enough now to know most of the common morphs, but the heat pits are always my fallback plan if I'm not sure. :)