Pastels - do any stay truly bright into adulthood?

I'm looking for a smoking yellow pastel male to pair with my pinstripe next season, but I'm disappointed by the appearance of many of the adults for sale. I understand that not all pastels were created equal, regardless of their lineage, but I had hoped to be able to find some adults that were still nice and yellow. The NERD lemon line seemed like the best bet, but the 04 and 06 NERD lemons I've been looking at are pale brown. Is this to be expected, or are there some pastels out there that retain their yellows into adulthood? Pictures of your adult pastels would be greatly appreciated :)

v

Depends on what you mean by bright.

Yellows come in many shades :)

But if you really want a screaming banana yellow color into adulthood, you'd need to get a Pastel cross.

Pastel YB, Pastel Fire, Pastel Vanilla, etc.

Most of the screaming bright adults are just probably not for sale. Adults rarely have the brightness of hatchlings though. Keep looking, and you're certain to find one you can be happy with.

I have a bright '06 lemon pastel male - but he's not for sale. I imagine that most breeders who have such an animal are also not selling them. Those who have seen him in person can attest to how yellow he still is.

I'm afraid you're right; all the really yellow ones are probably not for sale :)

I did see some pastel crosses that were amazing, but I wasn't sure about the genetics of the "firefly" morphs, etc. I'm hoping to produce some stunning lemonblasts, because I've seen a lot of lemonblasts that look almost like normal pinstripes and to me that's disappointing. It's also important to have a good male pastel so that any pastels I produce are of good quality. I'm into bold yellow, as opposed to the light browns that many pastels are.

I'm inquiring about a nice looking 04 NERD lemon male right now - if the photo posted is indeed a recent photo, I think I may have found Penelope's boyfriend :)

v

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Vacado

I'm afraid you're right; all the really yellow ones are probably not for sale :)

I did see some pastel crosses that were amazing, but I wasn't sure about the genetics of the "firefly" morphs, etc. I'm hoping to produce some stunning lemonblasts, because I've seen a lot of lemonblasts that look almost like normal pinstripes and to me that's disappointing. It's also important to have a good male pastel so that any pastels I produce are of good quality. I'm into bold yellow, as opposed to the light browns that many pastels are.

I'm inquiring about a nice looking 04 NERD lemon male right now - if the photo posted is indeed a recent photo, I think I may have found Penelope's boyfriend :)

v

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a browning pastel and a dark pinstripe will make really brown lemonblasts
as for the firefly thats pastel and fire

I somehow totally missed the "blonde" pastels! I just found this photo of a gorgeous adult female blonde pastel on Ralph Davis' site. THIS is what I would love to find in a male! Of course, I'm sure Ralph Davis owns all the best ones :)

http://www.ralphdavisreptiles.com/im...e_pastel_1.jpg

v

If you want a pastel you can be proud of, you need to get a Pastel crossed with a Ghost, or Fire, or Sulfur gene. My Sulfur Pastel is amazing, and two years old.

Dave

I have a 3 year old VPI pastel Male and he's browning out... Still a good looking animal and his personality is awesome... I wouldn't give that snake up! Just depends on what you're looking at.

I've got a few adult pastels (especially my original male) that are super bright. One of my adult females looks a lot like the one in the pic and I have another even brighter. The brighter one is the daughter of my original male...but I think he's got something a little extra going on that I'm hoping to prove out this year with a few of his normal and pastel daughters.

Contact John Piro...he may still have some older female pastels...I emailed him about some a few months ago and the pics he sent me of some he had for sale were very nice.

I've found pastels are tricky to pick out the best ones. Take this pair for example. They are both the same age (2 yrs) and are both from "dirty" lines (i.e. they're not NERD or Grazini, etc. - they're from mixed lines that had been crossed and then outcrossed). The male is the browner one and the female is the bright one. When I got them both, he was actually brighter and more vibrant than she was. But as you can see, she's VERY bright and he's browned out a lot. I'm hoping that she keeps her color and passes it on to some of her offspring.

But a year and a half ago when I got them, I never in a million years expected them to turn out the way they did.

Anyways, back to your original question, yes there are pastels that don't brown out. I do think they're in the minority though and that its hard to tell which ones will and won't when they're hatchlings.

http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/DSC_0003.jpg

All Pastels will brown out some more, some hardly noticeable but they all do. To what degree they will get into adulthood will vary, it depends what Pastel you picked out.

Wow, I love your female! I can't believe she's 2 and still looks that great! That's pretty much what I'm looking for in a male: good bright yellow colouration with minimal browning. I'm not super concerned with lineage, as long as it's a great looking and healthy snake. The issue with not knowing what hatchlings will look like is what pushes me towards getting older snakes. For my pastel male I want an 07 at least, preferably an 06-04, that way I can tell what the snake is going to look like as an adult.

This is one of the guys I'm considering right now. He's got nice yellow sides and odd browning down his back, and I think the light borders around the dark scales are actually kind of neat looking. He's a proven 04 NERD lemon, and I think he's quite sexy. I'm still looking though, especially after seeing how hot your female is :) I'd like to find one more like your female, with all that yellow, but I do like this guy:
http://market.kingsnake.com/image/840345.jpg

The search continues! Penelope's true love is out there somewhere :)

v

Thanks for the compliments. She is bright, but who knows what will happen in the next couple of years. That pastel (and based on the pic I'm 99% sure I know who's it is) is very nice looking. He has nice deep yellows.

And if you are very concerned about color, then an adult will definitely be the way to go as you'll have a good idea of its adult color.

If she still looks that good at 2 years, I would bet she'd stay really nice. She's one of the nicest subadult pastels I've seen!

I guess I should give credit - that gorgeous snake I'm considering is from Tom Thompson. I'm waiting for photos of another 06 male I'm looking at, and then I'll have to make my decision!

v

If you can find one, a Citrus Pastel would be a good bet.

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Originally Posted by panthercz

If you can find one, a Citrus Pastel would be a good bet.

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Another vote for a citrus! I bought an '05 male from Amir Soleymani who is still very bright for his age! He also has EXTREME blushing! I tried to upload a picture, but it said invalid file.