How to distinguish between different BEL's

[fleapower]

I accidentally posted this in the "Is this a morph" sub forum so I'm reposting here.

I need a bit of help. I have a Mystic Potion and am thinking of breeding her. As a mate, I was considering another MP to produce Super Mystics, Mystic Potions, and BEL's (Super Mojaves). However, I don't like the Super Mojaves with the brown head. So I thought a BEL with from a Mystic and another BEL complex snake would work. However, I have no idea how (or if it's even possible) to tell the difference between other BEL's.

For example, if I breed my Mystic Potion to a Mystic x Lesser BEL, I believe I would get the following:

1/4 Super Mystic
1/4 Mystic Potion
1/4 BEL (Lesser x Mystic)
1/4 BEL (Lesser x Mojave)

Anyone have any advice how I would be able to tell the two BEL's apart?

Thanks!

[Meltdown Morphs]

I don't think you will be able to tell them apart, only BELs you can easily tell apart are super mojos cause of their colored head.

I know people use black lights to sometimes see pattern in BELs when recessives or other codoms not in the direct lucy complex are present, but I don't think regular BELs show anything under a black light.

[Pythonfriend]

difficult.

i know one respectable and reputable breeder in germany appears to have lost track in parts of his collection, he had lots of BELs for sale that were labeled as "lesser + mystic/phantom/mocha/russo". basically guaranteed to have one copy of lesser, aaaand... well, some other BEL gene on top.

in your pairing, these two would be indistinguishable:
1/4 BEL (Lesser x Mystic)
1/4 BEL (Lesser x Mojave)
and both look extremely similar to super lesser. super mystic and mystic potion can also be hard to tell apart.

sometimes UV light / blacklight can reveal some pattern that is otherwise invisible, but i dont know if its useful here.

i guess the only way to be sure about the genetics (without proving them out) is to plan the pairings accordingly.

basically, pick and plan for pairings leading to unambiguous results. like mystic potion to super mojave, or super lesser to super mojave, or (if you can tell apart super mystic from mystic potion) mystic potion to mystic potion. or super mojave to lesser mojave, super mystic to lesser mojave, etc. generally super forms (or single-gene animals) make things easy and lessers/butters make things hard.

also if you combine lesser and butter, or mystic and phantom, you will never ever tell them apart again.

[fleapower]

I was afraid of that. I might see if I can find some pic's of BEL's under black light and see if there is any visible difference.

[ewaldrep]

I think NERD had a video of using black light to tell some BELs apart but that may be limited if the underlying genes are similar

[fleapower]

I found that video, but the comparison was done with a Spider BEL. Thanks.

[ClarkT]

With the mystic having virtually the same patterns as a mojave, I'm pretty sure you won't be able to tell a difference between the Lesser Mystics and Lesser Mojos. Even with a black light, you'll probably still have no way of having a difference. It would still be an awesome pairing.

[fleapower]

I would love to do it just b/c of the number of cool combinations I could get (Super Mystics, Potions, BEL's).

Anyone have any other recommendations for breeding a Mystic Potion?

[Pythonfriend]

I would love to do it just b/c of the number of cool combinations I could get (Super Mystics, Potions, BEL's).

Anyone have any other recommendations for breeding a Mystic Potion?

super mystic to super mojave would obviously be ideal ^^

apart from that, (given that you manage to tell apart mystic potion and super mystic)..... mystic potion to mystic potion, mystic potion to super mystic, mystic potion to super mojave. and variatios of that involving single-gene BPs would also be fine.

EDIT: im the opposite, i like super mojave because of their grey head ^^ lesser makes nice high-white BELs, but when you also work with potions it has the drawback of introducing that uncertainty. super mojave to lesser mystic would also work nicely, you get potions and high-white BELs that will be lesser mojave. and it wont produce more super mojaves.

[fleapower]

It seems the root of the problem is that the Mystic and Mojave are so hard to tell apart to begin with. What about a pure gene BEL like Super Special vice a Mystic x Lesser? Can a Mystic x Russo be distinguished from a Mojave x Russo?

Maybe I'll just go with a Super Mystic and produce more of the same and some Potions.

What if I went completely outside of the BEL complex? What else goes well with Mystic or Mojave genes?