Jaguar color change

[Kerol]

Hi, I would like to ask please about your experience:
I would like to buy irian jaya jaguar het granite carpet python. Their father is also for sale, and he has kind of a muddy look. The yellow parts are a bit browned out. The hatchlings have the beautiful yellow colouring, but still not that very bright very light colour. Do you think they darken and brown out with age? Or do I have chance they stay nearly the same? Sorry, I didnt get permission to upload the breeders photo. Oh, and they are really cheap 95 EUR in Europe. Unfortunately, I can't find any other ij (jag) in Europe for a while, I think they went out of fashion. What do you think?

[ShaneSilva]

It's the jungles that tend to have that really bright yellow. Jaguar comes from coastals which don't usually look as bright as the jungles.

[Aste88]

As far as I know carpets actually get brighter with age.

It's true that the jag gene comes from coastal so it's a cross between Morelia s. variegata (darker color) and Mcdowelli, as said the bright yellow are generally M. s. Chenyei (jungle carpet). Bottom line, best guess you have to know how it will turn out is looking at the parents' pictures.

[rock]

Carpet Pythons are definitely considered the ugly ducklings of the snake world for a reason. They completely change colors by brightening up, color up, as they age. Examples, Bredli are a dull brown that brighten to a brick red and Jaguars that begin muted and brighten to that intense yellow. Basically, reverse of many BP morphs.

That being said, there are some things you can tend to expect. Just by looking at lots of pictures, I think alot of Jaguars on the internet are labeled incorrectly because it does depend on the percentage of mixed lines in them.

I believe the Irian Jaya Jaguar certainly ends up more brown/black and yellow than a true Coastal Jaguar that is predominantly bright yellow with some black pattern. Depends on what you want. Both beautiful. The difference in size might make a difference to you based on the likelihood that a Coastal Jag should end up being larger than an IJ Jag.

[Kerol]

The pairing was a female granite (precisionreptiles), the male is a 88% IJ Jag. The parents of the mother are 1.0 caramel jaguar het granite and 0.1 Irian Jaya granite.
To give you a comparison, what I really mean:
The hatchlings looks something like this: http://www.morphmarket.com/us/c/reptiles/pythons/irian-jaya-carpet-pythons/59807
Which is darker then a jag, but still beautiful.
But the hatchlings father looks similar to this:

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Unfortunately that brownish yellow is not that much that I like.
Yes, the small size is definately important for me, I don't want anything near to 2 meters. These hatchlings' parents are about 150-160 cm, for me ideal. I see at least in Europe breeders focusing on the bigger morphs: jaguars, zebras, diamonds etc.

[rock]

Thanks for the pictures. I would say the IJ Jag father is probably a good indicator of what the hatchling may look like at maturity.

[Kerol]

Hi, just a little update: with approval of the breeder I post some pics of the juvies. Actually there are 4 of them. The first 2 pics were made in end of March:

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And these pics are from yesterday:

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I think they developed a slightly lighter color, and I like them a lot. I just hope they will not turn into brown, but anyway their carpet python temperament and manageable size will make up for it. I will buy 1.1 of them, but they are not sexed yet. Do you like them?

[OhhWatALoser]

My ij jag brightened to a bright yellow but over the last couple years is actually heading back the other way. She's been color shifting her whole life. It's interesting.

I'm sure you won't be disappointed with them.

[rock]

Like? Love. Definitely beautiful.

I'm not an expert but I see a lot of regular (i.e. Coastal) Jaguar in those pics. I know you quoted a high % of IJ in the pairing but I think you should ask yourself a question. If they ended up growing to 8-10 feet would you be unhappy?

[Gio]

Carpets will brighten with age and then brown out with more age. Of course this all depends on the breeding, and selection. My coastal was nice looking early on, then became somewhat dazzling and now is almost fully mature and heading back toward a more natural, dull, brownish color scheme.

Keep in mind I do not have anything special. No genetic claims other than mostly coastal.

A typical, natural type Aussie jungle will look much different than a selectively bred US jungle.

I have seen similar changes with boa constrictors. Early on the colors are good, the they become stunning and after some maturity they darken.

My personal preference is coloring that occurs in nature, but if I was a morph guy, I'd want coloring to increase and hold with age.

While it is true carpets coloring does improve with age, it is also true with more age, it tends to peak and fade.

Nothing escapes the sands of time.