My new "Female" pastel

[jben]

Like I mentioned on your other thread, it's a nice looking normal. Is it me or are the pics somewhat blurry because everytime I look at the pics it bothers my eyes.

[jmugleston]

Like I mentioned on your other thread, it's a nice looking normal. Is it me or are the pics somewhat blurry because everytime I look at the pics it bothers my eyes.

That may be an ocular issue. These pictures are definitely not my best work, the indoor lighting and flash aren't the best on this camera, and compressing the files for posting on the forums take their toll. That said, it shouldn't be causing physical discomfort .

I just spoke with the pet store that I purchased him from. The Utah owner was a second owner. The original owner lived in Texas and purchased him at a local expo. The 2nd owner supposedly purchased him as a pastave (possibly a ploy to get more from the store). The pet store took it with a few others on trade assuming it was a pastel and threw this one in their general BP cage. They are trying to get me in contact with the original purchaser so that I can trace its history a bit better. I'll try to get some pics with natural lighting if I get home in time tonight. Hopefully they won't be such an eyesore and they'll show the color a bit better. I doubt he's a normal, but I'll throw him with a girl this year and see what happens. Worse case scenario he's a normal and I have a nice looking ball python to take around to my local presentations. Either way I'm not too worried.

Since I've managed to keep reptiles for over 2 decades without keeping ball pythons I'm quite a bit behind on all the morphs. I've seen a few that I like and that I plan on acquiring, but is there a reference page that mentions the different morphs and the markers used to discriminate some of the similar looking phenotypes? I remember from the imports I've seen that these guys can be hyper variable in color and pattern, but I'm sure for most morphs there is some standard used that is better than he said she said.

[Courtney281]

Im no morph expert, but that doesn;t look like a pastel to me either IMO. But he is a beautiful snake either way, whatever he is. I have a female normal that has amaxing flames and blushing all the way along her, even though she is just a normal. And you bought him for $35? Im thinking probably just a really nice normal

[Dagan]

Perhaps the faded head might indicate something interesting going on. The color does look a bit strange to me. Any chance of pics outside?

[SlitherinSisters]

I know you don't want to hear it either, but he's not a pastel. It's not the lighting or the pictures. He however is really neat! If you got him for $35 the pet shop or wherever you got him from, knows that he's not a pastel.

[jamesa2580]

Can you post pics of the belly? Is the belly clear?

[Courtney281]

Can you post pics of the belly? Is the belly clear?

I have a ton of normals with clear bellies. Thats not a sure sign its a pastel

[A.VinczeBPs]

Pattern says it's definitely not a pastel, not matter how messed up the colors in the pics.
It looks like a very pretty normal, but nothing more than that.

You can call it a dinker if you wish to see if something more is going on, however, until proven otherwise...It's a normal.

[jmugleston]

I know you don't want to hear it either, but he's not a pastel. It's not the lighting or the pictures. He however is really neat! If you got him for $35 the pet shop or wherever you got him from, knows that he's not a pastel.

Not necessarily. The pet store received him on trade and due to the location, they know better than to try and charge more than 59.99 for a ball python (the $35.00 was their Christmas special).

I'm fine with him not being a pastel. I would like to know if there are any indicators for a pastel. So far I have nothing concrete to go on. I planned on pairing it with my mojave so an exceptional normal would have done just fine. Now that I know it is a male I'd like to have an idea (with evidence to back it up) what it is. I've heard a number of opinions and they may be correct. I'm fine with that, but how would you decide whether it fell within the normal variation of this morph or if it was just a wildtype ball python with an exceptional amount of yellow bleeding through the brown? Of course breeding it to a normal or super pastel would be a nice way to test it, but I'm sure most with pastels here bought them as babies. If you were unsure of its origin, how would you tell?

[jmugleston]

Pattern says it's definitely not a pastel, not matter how messed up the colors in the pics.
It looks like a very pretty normal, but nothing more than that.

You can call it a dinker if you wish to see if something more is going on, however, until proven otherwise...It's a normal.

Now we're getting somewhere. Now what about the pattern tells one it is a pastel. I mentioned I'm new to the ball python morph game. I'm trying to figure this out as I go, but so far this is one of the first references to a determining character. Please elaborate.