Pastel? Please Help!!!

ok heres my dilemma, I saved this snake from a reptile show today, I paid 30 dollars for her. She was in a tank with about ten other balls and no water or heat or hides. The rest of the snakes with her were normal balls, but she was a much much lighter color, I know its hard to tell from the pics, I used a webcam so the resolution isnt that high. Right off the bat I thought she was a pastel, she has that lemon yellow color, her eyes are a little duller than a normal ball, and she has faded saddles on her back. Ive only had her for a couple hours and I already love her to death so its not a big deal if shes not a pastel, but it would be a welcome surprise if she was. Please give me any opinions you have!!!
http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/4350/escape20aa.jpg

http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/6026/tan4ju.jpg
http://img111.imageshack.us/img111/2508/escape28pc.jpghttp://img111.imageshack.us/img111/4091/belly8wb.jpg
http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/8...dedhead2yq.jpg
http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/5674/tail3fj.jpg

Nope, not a pastel. But, she looks like a nice normal. Nice pattern too, and I saw a coupla nice flames. Good size too, for $30.Is she your first BP? If so, I think you need a boyfriend for that gal! ;)

Not a pastel but a very pretty normal.
Looks like it has some size to it as well. $30 was a very good price.

no shes my second ball, shes a beautiful snake and she already has a boyfriend haha... she is a big girl though almost 4 foot and some pretty good girth to her...

I think the head pic kinda of made my decision , very nice normal.

so what am i missing here, how can you tell a pastel apart from a normal?

What I meant was The head picture is a close up. And I can tell cause of the color even though it's not a good quality pic.

try looking at some of the pics of pastels people have posted, as you can see the difference is very obvious. But $30 for an almost four ft female???:O Damn that's a sweet deal!!! have you got a weight on her yet?? I'm just dyin' ta know......

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Originally Posted by rextheball

so what am i missing here, how can you tell a pastel apart from a normal?

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The pic of the belly proved to me that it is not a pastel.Pastels bellies are clear with no type of speckles or anything.She would throw some nice pastels though say if you bought a male pastel(hint hint lol).Nice looking female though and even better for $30 can't beat that deal.

Not a pastel. Here is a neat read on pastels:
http://www.nextworldexotics.com/hgpas.htm

What was this females background? .....when a 4 ft female ball python for $30 dollars is mentioned....I instantly think 'wild caught'......make sure you quarantine her from your other snake.

Was that the tank of gerbil eaters for $60? If so, you are a brave, brave soul...

wow great link daniel! thanks!!!

I am in complete agreement with Daniel. Adult female for $30??? Either they are lying or that likely to be a wild caught. Good luck with her and let us know how she does for you!! Of course I believe that if it's too good to be true, then something's up. I'd get that girl a fecal asap, and stick to a good quarantine. :gj:

Did you get her from Hermans Herps?

A table with several balls in one glass tank?

This guy is scum. He sells non-feeding WC's. They are all females according to him but they are in fact males.

He used to always have a table up on the mezzanine.

At one point a few years ago, this guy was legit. Then he found out how easy it was to rip off people at shows.

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Originally Posted by SPJ

Did you get her from Hermans Herps?

A table with several balls in one glass tank?

This guy is scum. He sells non-feeding WC's. They are all females according to him but they are in fact males.

He used to always have a table up on the mezzanine.

At one point a few years ago, this guy was legit. Then he found out how easy it was to rip off people at shows.

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I think that is very sad:mad: .How hard is it to stay honest and true?

this guy didnt have any cards around so i dont know what his name was, but she is getting a good quarantine, I hope shes eating, he said he didnt know, and for 30 dollars I didnt expect him to. I almost bought a savannah monitor off of him because he couldnt even turn around in his little plastic tank, I just wanted him to have some room to play. Haha, I feel terrible for any animal that cant explore and play. Someone who I could tell was a well established breeder probed her for me at the show and she was female, so at least that much was true... what area does this guy usually work in?

He used to have pieds, pastels, etc. If he sold a het, it was a het.

Then he started to realize how easy it was to rip off inexperienced out of state buyers and shows and turned into a vendor at White Plains you never want to trust.
I had visited his place a few years ago in Moosup CT and saw some of his animals. Very nice at the time. He converted the entire bottom section of the house to a breeding facility. Then he started the buying imports and passing them off as hets garbage and selling sick males as females to unsuspecting buyers at White Plains.
He may not go by Hermans Herps anymore because there is a legitimate guy named Herman (Hermans Reptiles I think) that was getting confused with him and it caused problems for the legitimate seller who I believe got him to change it.
Can't miss the guys set up (all of the animals are crammed into one or two aquariums-boas, balls, carpets, burms, etc). He hands out flyers with things like take a picture with a huge burm and the flyers are hand drawn garbage.

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what area does this guy usually work in?

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He is almost always up on the top above where the spider table usually is.

Well that doesnt sound like this guy, he had more geckos and monitors than anything, he said he had gotten the pythons recently and didnt even know that much about them in general. He had two small red tails and that was it for snakes. I dont know how you can sell an animal and not know much about it but, I couldnt pass up the deal. I wanted to buy two but I didnt have room at home. I could tell she just shed, so I know shes growing, she is extremely docile, she is really active and had no trouble adjusting to her new hide and setup, as soon as the lights were out she was all over her tank, cruising and checking out her water bowl and everything. I even caught her drinking (an awesome sight indeed), her color is so good and her weight is 1200 grams so im not worried about her being dehydrated or underfed. At the very least if I cant get her to eat f/t I'll try live and see what happens. I shouldve thought to get the guys number or name, but I was cought up in the moment, haha.

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Originally Posted by rextheball

this guy didnt have any cards around so i dont know what his name was, but she is getting a good quarantine, I hope shes eating, he said he didnt know, and for 30 dollars I didnt expect him to. I almost bought a savannah monitor off of him because he couldnt even turn around in his little plastic tank, I just wanted him to have some room to play. Haha, I feel terrible for any animal that cant explore and play. Someone who I could tell was a well established breeder probed her for me at the show and she was female, so at least that much was true... what area does this guy usually work in?

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Just want to say something here.... It may be noble to feel sorry for animals in sad conditions, but do keep in mind that those conditions are inevitable at a herp show...and also temporary. Certainly, you can't know what conditions they live in at home, but even the really good dealers have their animals in tiny, portable enclosures for the shows. I mean, they may have a couple large display tanks as well, but for the most part, for every animal you see on the table, there are cramped boxes of more animals under it. If he sells the lizard out of the display tank, he pulls another out of its little box and puts it in the tank. There simply wouldn't be room if everyone had a full sized viv for every single animal they bring.

I dont think theres an excuse to have ten near full grown balls in a 20 gallon tank, and the monitor was in a little tupperware container and he was bent almost in half, I understand traveling conditions and all that, but I think he went too far.

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Originally Posted by rextheball

so what am i missing here, how can you tell a pastel apart from a normal?

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Here's what a pastel looks like ...

http://www.8ballpythons.com/uploads/pastel-03310501.jpg

-adam

Where the F are my :cool:??? That thing is super bright!

yeah id have to say thats a super pastel... beautiful, wish i owned it

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Originally Posted by rextheball

yeah id have to say thats a super pastel... beautiful, wish i owned it

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That is just a regular Pastel. Here is a super courtesy of Markus Jayne.(www.ballpython.ca)

http://www.glassreptiles.com/pictures/superpas.jpg

Smokin Pastel Adam!

Now that's HOT!!!! Think you can hook me up with one JUST like that? LOL ;)

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Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

Here's what a pastel looks like ...

http://www.8ballpythons.com/uploads/pastel-03310501.jpg

-adam

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This is Cassandra's opthalmogist...I regret to inform you that Cassandra is now blind and with the help of a very capable attorney will be suing Adam for his SEERING images of that FREAKING AWESOME pastel! :D

*This has been a message from Sarcasm Central!*

Reminds me of that bit in the movie Crocodile Dundee: "That's not a knife...THAT's a knife."

That's not a pastel....THAT'S a pastel!