Why do bps have so many color morphs?

[omnibus2]

For example the aquarium hobby has been around much longer, but fish do not exhibit anywhere near as many color variations. Is this a snake thing or what?

[decensored]

good question, not sure of the answer. I too am curious. research time? could be. LOL

[notmyfault]

They're just a great example of Darwinism! Only the ones which have desired traits are wanted. BPs must have caught on to this and have been morphing into so many different kinds that they just thrive all over the world! Not saying normals are not awesome too though. just something to think about.

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[Jonas@Balls2TheWall]

Visual gene variations exists in many different species, some are obvious and some are more subtle so we don't notice them. Our own species is very visual.

[Slim]

The combination of an animal with multiple natural color and pattern variations, some of them drastic looking, a dedicated group of breeders, both professional and hobbyist, and a high demand for BPs with cool paint jobs...

[RandyRemington]

I believe the main reason is because so many have been wild collected. Not sure of recent numbers but years ago they used to report 150,000 wild bred eggs a year dug up and captive hatched. Do that for 10 to 20 years and we are talking about millions of animals. With even a modest mutation rate you might find a lot of mutants if any other species approached that number of wild bred clutches.

It probably also doesn't hurt that ball pythons spend most of the daylight hours hiding under ground so maybe less selection pressure against showy morphs.