Got an odd normal, thoughts?

[RXLReptiles]

So I was at my local pet store picking up supplies and I saw this guy in a tank, I asked about him and they said he was "super aggressive". They said they would "adopt" him to me for FREE, so of course he's mine now. And he is defensive, but he's been calming down.

I'm 99.9% sure he's just a normal, but he has some really odd pattern and color deviations near his tail, but not quite a ringer. He's also got a pretty clean belly for a normal, and some odd distortion on some of the alien heads. I'm not sure what is going on, so I figured I'd ask here.

Here he/she is:

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[zina10]

Can't tell you if more is going on, but that is a GORGEOUS snake !!!

[tttaylorrr]

possibly the weirdest ringer ive ever seen maybe???

[MR Snakes]

Free snek? Yesss

[RXLReptiles]

Can't tell you if more is going on, but that is a GORGEOUS snake !!!

Thanks zina, he/she caught my eye and I was planning on buying him/her but while discussing temperament with the manager of the store they decided it would be better if he went to a home that knows snakes vs a new keeper that may be intimidated by his "aggression"...... so in essence, yeah free snake.

Like I said, I'm pretty sure that he/she is just a really pretty normal with a weird ringer, but my stupid brain is holding out hope that it's a weird het pied. It does look like he/she has the tracks under their tail (couldn't get a good pic of the bottom of the tail) and the odd ringer/distortion makes me hope that it's het pied or something even cooler.

[Dianne]

Whatever the genetics, beautiful snake.

[Lord Sorril]

This reminds me of a conversation I had with a reputable breeder a while ago at an expo:
He had a female Pied-0% White displayed on his table for $300. I asked him about the snake (pieds were about $1000+ at the time): he said that he crossed pied x pied and produced all pieds with the exception of the one snake which had no pied markings except for the empty ringer spot on the tail. I asked him if it was a split clutch and he denied the possibility. I passed on the snake: I may have considered it more if the black pigment pattern looked more pie-baldish, but, I wasn't going to risk $300 on a normal with an empty ringer. I had to wait several years before I added pied to my collection...so I remember this...

[Armiyana]

I've had some mislabeled critters show up from the reptile breeder at the big box store I work at.

Snow albino leopard geckos being sent as just 'snow', albino leos showing up as normals
hypo trans silkback beardie showing up as only trans. That was a huge mislabel @_@
Could be something from a past project the breeder had. Maybe like a possible het from a pied project. Only way to know would be to breed it out and see...could be carrying a recessive gene. The train tracks and ringers don't always prove out.

Either way, I love those markings! Hope the noodle settles down for you.