Crystal Ball Morph

Hello,
I was kinda looking around at the different morphs out there. I took a liking to the crystal ball morphs. What exactly are they mixed with besides Mohave? Are they nice snakes to work with? Curious about them. I think they are really pretty but I don't see much about them. I was looking at banana Enchi as well, suggested by someone in this forum. But was just wondering about the crystal ball.

The crystal is an allelic combination 2 genes:
Mojave
Special
In general any ball python is great. The good thing about crystals is that you have a great powerhouse for Blue Eyed Lucy projects.
When you have an allelic combo like this, you will never have a normal baby. All hatchlings will be special or Mojave. The downside is that you can't have another crystal as the snake can only pass one of those genes. The other parent will need to be carrying the right gene for another crystal.

Banana enchis are also beautiful.... But really.... It all boils down to what do YOU want? If you want to lean in to BELs a crystal is a great start. That's what I did.
If you're looking for Enchi combos, cinnamon Enchi bananas are wonderful. Cinnamon and Enchi is allelic and brings some beautiful yellows to the banana.

If you are talking about Crystal, it's Mojave + Special. I've not heard it called "Crystal Ball" before, but it might be.

For the most part, morphs do not change the snakes personality, it's just aesthetic. A Crystal is going to behave like any other ball python. Some exceptions I know of are ones that cause wobble: Spider, Woma, Hidden Gene Woma, Champagne, Sable. Spiders are known for being really good eaters too. I have heard people say Pied act differently but mine acts pretty normal besides taking forever to orient his meal and swallow it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Armiyana

The crystal is an allelic combination 2 genes:
Mojave
Special
In general any ball python is great. The good thing about crystals is that you have a great powerhouse for Blue Eyed Lucy projects.
When you have an allelic combo like this, you will never have a normal baby. All hatchlings will be special or Mojave. The downside is that you can't have another crystal as the snake can only pass one of those genes. The other parent will need to be carrying the right gene for another crystal.

Banana enchis are also beautiful.... But really.... It all boils down to what do YOU want? If you want to lean in to BELs a crystal is a great start. That's what I did.
If you're looking for Enchi combos, cinnamon Enchi bananas are wonderful. Cinnamon and Enchi is allelic and brings some beautiful yellows to the banana.

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So you can't breed two crystals?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JJpeep

So you can't breed two crystals?

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If you breed a Crystal x Crystal:
1/4 Super Mojave
1/4 Super Special
1/2 Crystal

You can! The results would be super Mojave (BEL), super Special, or more crystals. No normals.

You just can't get another crystal if you breed it to something that does not have Mojave or special.
For example:

Crystal x Normal = Mojaves or specials
Crystal x Mojave= Mojaves, specials or crystals
Crystal x Enchi = Enchi special, Enchi Mojaves, Mojaves or specials

Nikkubus is is on the case! Hahah

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Armiyana

You can! The results would be super Mojave (BEL), super Special, or more crystals. No normals.

You just can't get another crystal if you breed it to something that does not have Mojave or special.
For example:

Crystal x Normal = Mojaves or specials
Crystal x Mojave= Mojaves, specials or crystals
Crystal x Enchi = Enchi special, Enchi Mojaves, Mojaves or specials

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Crystal x Mojave= Mojaves, specials or crystals (also Super Mojave!)

Opps, yes! That too! =D

Interesting. I find this genetics thing so interesting, but confusing at the same time. Lol. Thanks for the help you guys. It is always nice to have the responses. I do love the cinnamon colors too. But I recently saw a few crystals for sale and thought they were really awesome looking. There are so many to choose from. We have a bee het clown male and a female pastel het clown, but would like to get something else in the collection. So we are looking. Thanks again for the responses

And the blue eyed Lucy you speak of. I have heard that some breeders think that morph is a fluke. What are your opinions on that?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JJpeep

And the blue eyed Lucy you speak of. I have heard that some breeders think that morph is a fluke. What are your opinions on that?

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I don't think the BEL is a fluke, but could see how it was possibly discovered with a fluke...

There's a couple of pairings that will potentially produce blue-eyed Lucy's, such as Lesser x Lesser, and Mojave x Mojave. There is a few more too, I believe.

The black eyed lucy is Fire x Fire. And I don't thinks it's limited to just Fire x Fire either, but I'm not sure what other pairings will make a black eyed lucy.

My BEL is a super lesser but stacked with possibles too so looking forward to seeing what eggs she produces in a few seasons time.

Blue eyed leucistic are definitely not a fluke if you are meaning non-genetic. They have been produced regularly for many, many years reliably.

If you are meaning they were first produced on a fluke, that's how it is for most morphs and combos. Everything besides wild-type is a random mutation unless it's been induced somehow in a lab, which as far as I'm aware hasn't been done in ball pythons :) Once a morph randomly happens, that genetic code can be passed down to offspring.

Ah I see. That makes alot of sense. They are all pretty snakes. Not sure I have seen a BEL or a black eyed either in person. I been to a few reptile expos recently. I am actually looking into going to the Tinley Park IL show in October. I went to the Shaumburg one for Father's Day. I kinda want to have something in mind to buy. Like I said, I was suggested a banana or banana/Enchi from someone on here. They are pretty. I'm interested in the Crystals and I also like the cinnamons. They are all so pretty. I am confused about what I want to go for. Male verses female as well. Not sure what I want to do. Thanks for answering my questions. It does help.

Either sex does well for a first snake. The only thing to worry about is that the males can be prone to food strikes a little more than females.

If you are considering breeding, the crystal male is a great way to start. I did have an older female already, but having a strong gene male like that is very handy. Females also do take more time to raise to breeding size, so you may want to consider something like a cinnamon female to raise while considering which male to go with down the line.

Banana and coral glow are a little tricky because the gene is tied to the sex of the snake a bit weirdly. It's more common to find females now. But it is still probably a ratio of 75% males in the market because of it.
Generally, a male banana will pass the banana gene to one sex. So a male maker will make male bananas 95% of the time. There's a lot more to it but it gets a bit confusing.

In the end though, it's what you like and want to look forward to! All of the genes your looking at are great. I have them all in my collection. Hahah.

I'm looking at breeding my female Mojave coral glow to my Enchi crystal male this year.... So this conversation really has me hoping I hatch a coral glow crystal now. @u@

Coral glow crystal. Wow. I have to look that up. Lol. Speaking of coral I was looking at them too. Lol. What is your favorite morph?

That's a difficult question!
I think my favorite morphs are in the BEL complex. I'm also a sucker for BELs in general.
Mojave and lesser on their own or in a BEL is great. They also can do great things with other genes like enchi, genetic stripes or clowns.
Bamboos look really unique as well.

Coral glow / banana are beautiful on their own but really shine with genes like mojave or enchi. They will still brown out a bit over time, but with the right combo, not too badly.

Axanthics can be beautiful but also hit or miss. Some brown out quite a bit with age. It's definitely a hard to photograph morph and if I do get one, it would have to be in person.

My dreamsnake combo right now is probably an urban camo. I just picked up a pastel/cinnamon/pied possible sandblast to start off with. May be picking up a super cinny/pastel possible sandblast to pair her with as well.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Armiyana

That's a difficult question!
I think my favorite morphs are in the BEL complex. I'm also a sucker for BELs in general.
Mojave and lesser on their own or in a BEL is great. They also can do great things with other genes like enchi, genetic stripes or clowns.
Bamboos look really unique as well.

Coral glow / banana are beautiful on their own but really shine with genes like mojave or enchi. They will still brown out a bit over time, but with the right combo, not too badly.

Axanthics can be beautiful but also hit or miss. Some brown out quite a bit with age. It's definitely a hard to photograph morph and if I do get one, it would have to be in person.

My dreamsnake combo right now is probably an urban camo. I just picked up a pastel/cinnamon/pied possible sandblast to start off with. May be picking up a super cinny/pastel possible sandblast to pair her with as well.

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Wow!!! Sounds cool. I'll have to check those out as well. My Dad really likes the pied ones. I like the lighter colors. All of them are unique and beautiful. But I see myself checking out the. "buttery' colors, for lack of a better description haha. Like the crystal and cinnamon looking ones. Though, like I said I find them all cool I their own ways. I saw a lemon last pin stripe that I thought was really unique looking.

Urban camo are one of my top wishlist snakes right now too :P

If I had to pick my favorite stand alone morph it would be Desert Ghost. I love how clean they look! If we are talking combos, it's one of the ones I'm shooting for this year, Banana Enchi Freeway. I cannot tell you how impatient I am for those clutches to hatch!

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Originally Posted by nikkubus

Urban camo are one of my top wishlist snakes right now too :P

If I had to pick my favorite stand alone morph it would be Desert Ghost. I love how clean they look! If we are talking combos, it's one of the ones I'm shooting for this year, Banana Enchi Freeway. I cannot tell you how impatient I am for those clutches to hatch!

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Oh the desert ghosts are very pretty. I see something new each time I search. It is crazy how many morphs there are. I gotta check out these urban camos.

Wow the urban camos are cool looking. You guys aren't kidding with that one. Pretty!

Hey guys. I have news. I went to a reptile expo yesterday afternoon. As usually they had a good amount of BP's. Talked to alot of people. But strick up a Convo with one breeder. He talked to me for quite awhile and let me hold the snakes I was interested in. I was so confused as to what I wanted, but at that point I knew I wanted to take a snake home lol. He kept all feeding records and everything so It made for an easier decision cuz I want to stay in the frozen realm of feeding as opposed to live. So that narrowed my choices down. I also narrowed down that I wanted one if his older snakes just because the feeding records were consistent and lengthy. I narrowed it down to 5. 4 we're boys and one was a girl. After talking to the breeder about each one I went with the female. So I have a female, pastel butter yellow belly. She will be a year old on October 8th. She is so heavy and chunky. I can't wait to take photos of her and share her in a new thread. Very excited!!!

Oh that sounds like a pretty neat gal! She'll have a lot of potential if you do plan to breed down the line. So now you get to plotting a good male for her.

You can breed her to something in the BEL complex and get something neat. Mojave is really popular because they make a very clean white snake. Lesser Crystals are still very pretty little snakes if the male has the Special gene.

Or you can go the for crossing the yellowbelly with specter, asphalt, gravel or even another yellowbelly for some really neat projects. Highways are really neat looking.

That's is awesome advice. Thank You. I can't wait to take some pictures to share with all of you. It is funny you mention highways, I was looking at. A little male from the same breeder that was a highway and I thought he was so cool looking.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...7161_thumb.jpg
Here is the new girl.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...7851_thumb.jpg

That close up is beautiful! Congrats on your new gal.
Make sure to let her settle in comfortably after her big move and glamor shots. =)

YES!! I actually 'told' her after the photoshoot. "I will leave you alone now so you could get used to the place." She is so chill. Even being all warmed up. I really like her. Thanks for the compliments as well.