Is There Chocolate at Work in This Clutch

[Slowcountry Balls]

Bought this girl as hatchling as a male Pastel Mojave Chocolate. As "he" grew, I just wasn't sure about if "he" had the Chocolate gene or not. I started pairing "him" with another female, but didn't see any locks for two months, so I sexed "him" and found that "he" was actually a she. Here is a picture of her by herself:
2012 female Pastel Mojave possible Chocolate


And here is a picture of her next to a 2013 female Pastel Mojave that I produced. You can see that the 2012 female Pastel Mojave possible Chocolate (left) has a different look than the 2013 female Pastel Mojave (right).


She laid a clutch of four eggs for me this season. Here is the whole clutch, top left is the male Mojave Calico, top right is female Pastel Mojave 1, bottom two are the male Pastel Mojave and the female Pastel Mojave 2.


First up is the 2015 Clutch 12 male Pastel Mojave. He doesn't have as bright of yellows as his sister (2015 Clutch 12 female Pastel Mojave 1) and has more blushing, but is that just the difference in Pastel genes? Or is there more to it?


Here is 2015 Clutch 12 female Pastel Mojave 1. She has brighter yellows and less blushings than the other two Pastel Mojaves in her clutch, could be just different Pastel genes.


Here is 2015 Clutch 12 female Pastel Mojave 2. She isn't as yellow as her sister, but has more blushing. Is that just a different Pastel gene, or is it more than that?


And finally, the really cool 2015 Clutch 12 male Mojave Calico. There is only one Mojave Calico on World of Ball Pythons (http://www.worldofballpythons.com/morphs/calico-mojave/), so his variation from the one there may just be the natural variation of the combination, or is it more than that?


I am really leaning towards no Chocolate at work in any of the babies or the mother, but before I put the babies and mother up for sale, I wanted to get some input. Thanks for any help you guys can give.

[piedlover79]

I've not worked with this gene, but that mojo calico is awesome! I love ringers!

[BCS]

The thing about ball pythons is they all seem to have a different look kind of like a finger print, just a lot of features are the same which makes them the morph they are. Some pastels may seem brighter then other pastels. Some brown out more then others. It is this reason that a lot of people mistake other morphs for normals or hope that their normal is a different morph.

I am not saying that your particular female does not have chocolate in her as I am not an expert but breeding her again may prove her to be or not to be chocolate. But out of the clutch you just produced and none of them coming out chocolate may be a hint that she is not.

[Slowcountry Balls]

I've not worked with this gene, but that mojo calico is awesome! I love ringers!

Thanks! He is pretty cool, and in search of a new home.

The thing about ball pythons is they all seem to have a different look kind of like a finger print, just a lot of features are the same which makes them the morph they are. Some pastels may seem brighter then other pastels. Some brown out more then others. It is this reason that a lot of people mistake other morphs for normals or hope that their normal is a different morph.

I am not saying that your particular female does not have chocolate in her as I am not an expert but breeding her again may prove her to be or not to be chocolate. But out of the clutch you just produced and none of them coming out chocolate may be a hint that she is not.

Yeah, I totally understand. How much is natural variation within a particular morph, and how much is something else at play? Just don't know.

By the way, I realized that I posted two pictures of 2015 C12 female Pastel Mojave 1.

Here is the picture of 2015 C12 female Pastel Mojave 2