Question about an unexpected outcome from a pairing

[Tila]

Unfortunately, one snake from my last clutch did not hatch, so I investigated. I found the dead neonate had a couple severe kinks, which explains the non-hatch, but it also had a strange pattern for the pairing and I'm wondering if it was a part of the genetic defect or what.

I am posting pictures of the pattern, the pairing was a black pastel het OG x cinnamon spider pastel. The viable healthy rest of the clutch yielded 1 normal, 3 bumblebees, a black pastel cinnamon and a black pastel pewter.

The pics are of the non-viable kinked baby's pattern. What puzzles me are the speckles and the back stripe. Any input is helpful.

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[nikkubus]

Likely the color wasn't fully developed yet so you are seeing things you wouldn't normally in a spider 8 ball.

[Tila]

Maybe, but a couple things make me question that explanation: if you can see in the tail picture, the yolk sac/ umbilicus is half inside the body, which happens at hatch time so the color should have been done developing if the yolk sac was being absorbed, and also the color is very similar to it's clutch mate who did survive and doesn't have a dorsal stripe, as in I don't think the body color fills in in pieces...but i do thank you for you perspective! Here is a pic of the two live black pastel/ cinnamon + hatchlings for color comparison:

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[nikkubus]

Maybe, but we aren't talking about a huge difference. This is a super cinny, not 8 ball, but you can see a dorsal stripe there, it's just not quite as light:

https://www.worldofballpythons.com/m...nnamon-spider/