Fireball Characteristics.

[Herpquest]

For those of you with interest in this BP morph, I have posted some pics of hatchling, juvenile and adult Fireballs to show what this morph actually is - and what can be produced from them.
Link: http://community.webshots.com/user/herpquest

Eric Davies

[daniel1983]

nice pics eric. Is there alot of variation in the way Fireballs appear? Some of the animals look different to me....but it could just be me

[Herpquest]

There can be a slight shade difference Daniel, or the degree of blushing may differ slightly - plus it all depends who is taking the photographs! I took those pics using only the camera flash. If I had set up lights etc., I could have made the snakes 'appear' much lighter - as in other breeder's pics you may have seen!
If I was to use the services of a professional photographer, you would see different snakes entirely!
There is also a definite difference between the colours of hatchling and full adults; the '03 snakes are about half way between the two, and will continue to lighten for another couple of years. Hatchlings show blushing, but the blushing increases and intensifies as they get older. The hatchlings have a 'mickey mouse' on their head - three spots of lighter colour; which as they get older, increases until all of the head has lightened - see pic of adult. The white of the belly also increases; hatchlings have shown some 'speckling' of the belly scales, but these scales have turned white as they get older. The white of the belly also widens and encroaches up the sides of the snake as they get older. See pics for difference between adult and '03 bellies.
Hope this helps. Eric Davies

[daniel1983]

ya...the photographer and camera can make a world of difference. I was wondering why the adults seemed to show more blushing. I would have never known that they changed slightly as they grow. Thanks for the description

[frankykeno]

Eric those are great pics. Since I've never read or heard much about this particular morph would you explain a bit of the genetics of it. Is it a simple recessive or co-dom or dominant trait? What pairing produced that clutch with the black eyed lucy in it? Is this a newer morph?

Very lovely snakes.


~~Joanna~~

[Herpquest]

Joanna & Mike, the Fireball is a newly proven morph. My partners Barry Kiernan and Mike Kelly imported a large quantity of CF babies including six (2:4) that were 'different' than the rest. These were held back and raised on until we first mated 1 male and 1 female in '02, resulting in a clutch of 1:0 Blackeyed Leucie;4:0 the same colour as the parents and 0:2 normal coloured young.
In '03 we coined the name 'Fireball' and continued to 'test' the genetics of them by mating Fireball to normal - which resulted in a 50% split of Fireball and normal, and Fireball X Fireball matings which produced 1 Blackeyed Leucie, Fireball and normals in each clutch. This year is the first year that we have done Blackeyed Leucie X normal matings and all have resulted in 100% Fireball clutches. Fire X Fire clutches are still 'cooking' and we are waiting on Leucie X Fireball clutches to be laid.
We suspected from '02 that we had a new co-dominant morph on our hands, but WE do not make claims until they are actually proven, which was done this year with the consistant results.
The Fireball (Het Blackeyed Leucistic) is now recognised as a Co-dom trait.
All Fireball X Fireball matings so far have resulted in Leucies being produced.
Eric Davies

[RandyRemington]

Thanks for the pics and description!

I had thought they needed to be pretty reduced pattern and banded but I see a few in there that are more connected so maybe that was just coincidence in the first few pics I’d seen.

[Herpquest]

Randy, pattern is irrelevant. You can produce what-ever pattern of Fireball you desire. I may try a Fireball Spider for next year! Eric (Big Bro')