Possible New Mutation - Ashen Project

[Russ Lawson]

I don't post here very often, but I felt like sharing with you guys one of the highlights of my 2009 breeding season. This project started with a strange female ball python a friend of mine had that was imported around 2002. He knew she was something different when he got her, and he was calling her a weird ghost type (though she is clearly not a hypo). That friend got out of the hobby, and I ended up with this girl around 2005. She was sub-adult size at the time and hard to get on a steady feeding schedule between fasts until last year when she blew up from around 1000g to 1800+g. Anyway, this season was the first time I chose to breed her, and I paired her with my lemon pastel male. Out of 8 good eggs, I got 4 normals, 2 pastels, and 2 pastels that look like a cross (the second being more extreme than the first).

Since she appeared to reproduce herself, I decided to come up with a name. She resembles some which I've seen called "blurry", but as far as I know, none have been proven genetic yet, and I didn't particularly care for that name as it didn't describe her appearance well. I was thinking something more along the lines of "dusty" for a while. Anyway, after a bonfire at a friend's house, I decided I was fond of the name Ashen for the project, after the color of the mother's blushing.

Unfortunately for breeding purposes, both of the ashen pastel babies are females. Considering this, I decided to pair my orange ghost male with her in hopes of seeing if I can reproduce the mother's appearance a second year in a row, and work toward some Ashen ghosts a couple years down the road.

Anyway, enjoy the pictures, and let me know what you guys think! It's pretty hard to capture their colors in the picture, but the ashen pastels have a lighter, more tan look to them, and the reduced eye-stripes and head blushing of their mother. I'm very excited about seeing what I'll get from this project in the future.

Ashen Mother:


Newly hatched Ashen Pastel Females:




Comparison - Ashen Pastel vs. Pastel:


Ashen Pastels Post-Shed:




Thanks for looking!

~Russell Lawson

[Freakie_frog]

I must be missing something...I don't see anything different..

[Russ Lawson]

I must be missing something...I don't see anything different..

The biggest difference was clearly visible when they hatched, as the heads are much lighter than any regular pastel I've seen. It looks like it tweaks the pattern a bit, with reduced spotting on the sides, and more blushing than normal) - hard to say that though, with the pastel mutation also tweaking the pattern. Additionally, there's the color. It's different from a regular pastel, but that comparison picture isn't the best for that. I can try to get a better one, but I don't have the best camera in the world. Basically these 2 looked different enough from the other pastels in the clutch for me to believe that there is a possibility of this being a new mutation, and it appears to be working as a type of dominance.

[twistedtails]

I have a girl that looks somewhat similar. She has virtually no alien heads. Here is a pic.

[Russ Lawson]

Here is a better comparison picture. Hope this helps show better what I am saying about the difference.

[Russ Lawson]

I have a girl that looks somewhat similar. She has virtually no alien heads. Here is a pic.

One of the regular pastel males I got in this clutch actually looks somewhat bit similar to your girl there, but he doesn't share the other characteristics in common with the mother that these two girls do. Here's a picture of him.

[tyleraugust]

beautiful looking pastel, good job I hatched out a male that looked very similar. The amount of blushing on his head made me think he was a super but turns out he wasn't. good luck with the project, I hope to see some cool looking snakes!

[CoolioTiffany]

I definitely see something. Can you take a picture with your Ashen Pastel next to a Pastel so I can really compare?

[Bleepr]

High flames, nice blushing, and a slightly reduced pattern.

Its sutble, but its there. Its like a semi-super.

[SiscoReptiles]

The problem is there is a huge variance of difference between the pattern, color & blushing in normals and pastels. I do not see anything different from what I would expect to see.

Before you start naming new lines, I would send pictures to some larger breeders and seek their opinions.

Keep in mind, I am not trying to piss on your parade, but many people will agree that you need to do multiple breeding tests to prove out a morph if there isn't a pretty obvious change from what is expected from existing lines of that morph.

If you look for a horse in ink blob, you will find a horse.

Rick