Vanilla Mojave?

[Running Elk]

So I found a ball python listed as a "Vanilla Mojave", for $150 on Craigslist. A young adult male. We have a fair amount of BP people in Richmond, VA and surrounding areas, so I didn't have much reason to necessarily doubt what he was, albeit the very cheap price tag. Thinking of the semi-cool things I could do if I bred him to my Mystic Potion, I talked the guy down to $120 and headed 45 minute away, to Fredrickburg, to pick this guy up.

Now I'm not really sure what a Vanilla Mojave looks like without referencing a picture (neither genes I've messed with much/at all), so upon getting there, I asked for some credibility. "Do you know for sure he is a Vanilla Mojave", "Is he proven" and "where did you get him?"

The answer had me less than pleased.

"He was wild caught, strait from Africa, we've had him since he was a baby".

"Uh...then how would you know if he is a Vanilla Mojave or not?"

"Well he obviously looks like one and is one. He also had some pied" *Points to one of the white patterns near the tip of his tail that was not only NOT piebalding, but not even a ringer. It was just PART OF HIS NORMAL PATTERN*

"You can't tell the genetics simply by looking at him per se if he was wild caught. He could look like a morph we already have yet be genetically different. Has he been proven or anything? What breeder/seller/shipper is he from?"

"Anthony."

"Uh....Anthony who?" *irritated at this point, looking back at my boyfriend with a "what should we do, should we just leave" look.

"Anthony I-don't-remember, but he's famous and from Florida. Listen, what are you even trying to do with him?"

"Breed him to my Mystic Potion." I then explain that I have a possibility of getting more Mystic Potions, Super Mojaves, Vanilla Mystic Potions, Vanilla Super Mojaves, etc.

"You're wrong. Vanilla is recessive, and it'd be lost if you breed him to that mystic potion."

I tell him he is incorrect, it's co-dom.

He gets huffy and indignant and is like, "Well I'm NOT dropping the price, it's a good deal anyways. Blah blah blah (I stopped listening to his nonsense sometime after this)"

My boyfriend had been holding the snake, and was falling in love with him, as he is a very nice snake. And, he IS pretty. I ended up getting him. I had driven all that way and honestly if he is a WC that looks the way he does I'm intrigued.

I'd describe him as almost a chocolate brown, light and absent of black, mostly different shades of the same brown and cream. Then he has VERY fine flecks of black along the bottom inch of his body down to his belly.

He looks like a fugly lesser to me, but don't know what he is. My lesser, and other lessers I have seen, have a more "yellow" and bright tone to them. I do know that the probability of a WC snake having TWO morph genes is borderline ridiculous. The price was ridiculously low whether or not he was CB or WC, but if he really was WC and is as different looking as he is, I feel like he would have been snatched up by a big breeder trying to prove him out as a new gene.

What is this mystery snake (or rather, what does he look like he could be)? Do you think there is a chance he actually IS mojave vanilla? He doesn't look like the few pictures of them I could find. Any suggestions of what he looks like he could be?

Should I just consider him a "dinker" for now?


The lighting in my home is very "yellow", and so he looks "yellow" in the first three, but is actually absent of almost all yellow tones. The bottom two pictures where I used flash look much more like him.

[Running Elk]

This is my lesser. He looks similar in the photos to my mystery snake, but he's much brighter and more "yellow" and "gold".

[somnambulant]

I have no idea as far as identification goes, but the guy you bought him from sounds like an idiot. I hope you have him in quarantine, just in case.

[Drake Moonslayer]

He looks like a Mojave to me. Does not seem bright enough for the Vanilla.

This is the link to a Vanilla Mojave

http://www.worldofballpythons.com/mo...ojave-vanilla/

I agree with somnambulant the guy you bought him from sounds like an idiot and I would suggest the quarintine.

[Daigga]

Well the guy obviously didn't know a whole lot about ball pythons, but I would still say you got a nice deal and a nice looking snake out of it. Only thing left to do would be to prove him out, I imagine (after a good long quarantine, of course)

[Running Elk]

Yeah. He has a dry shed, covered eye caps, and possibly a very mild URI. He needs a quarantine and some TLC. Otherwise he looks okay. No signs of mites, good weight.

I'll fix it. He'll be better in no time.

Any other ideas on what he looks like he could be?

[bcr229]

I'm also going with mohave and not mojave vanilla.

[Running Elk]

I'm also going with mohave and not mojave vanilla.

Tell me more about this mysterious 'mohave'.

[andyroof1979]

Vanilla has blushing on top of the head

[pmarks]

I saw this same snake on CL and my reaction was that its just a mojave.