Thoughts on my collection. Any morphs? I have pics.....

[Ball Clan]

OK so I'm working on starting a breeding project, as soon as I find another adult female. But I wanted some of you guys that know morphs to lok at my collection and tell me if these are all normals or if anything strikes you about their patterns.

"Kay" Currently my only breeding female. Had her since January 2006. She is about 4 feet.



"Bryan" Huge male, about 55 inches. My original ball. Had him since September 2005. He has grown 9 inches since I got him. He has a seemingly unque pattern of unbroken oval markings within an unbroken black dorsal stripe (thoughts?). Bryan and Kay have produced 5 clutches.


"Brianna" My first hatched baby. Named for receiving Bryan's distinctive pattern of unbroken ovals, being one of his offspring. Hatched July 2009. She is just under 3 feet long and hopefully will be breeding size next year.



"Ace" Brianna's clutch-mate and sporting one of the most unusual patterns I've ever seen on a ball python. I'd really like to hear thoughts on this one.



"Jackson" A new addition received January 2013. He was given to me by a friend looking to get rid of him. He has a lighter, almost pastel-like pattern with some blushing within the black.



So that's my "ball clan." As you can tell, I am fairly attached to them. Like I said, I look to add a breeding size female very soon so as to have 3.3 animals. But I'd appreciate your thoughts on my patterns, especially Bryan and Brianna's unbroken stripe with perfect ovals, and Ace's bizarre pattern.

Thanks for looking.

[angllady2]

What a lovely collection of normals!

Normals come in a wide variety of colors and patterns, and you have some very lovely examples.

Kay is a nice reduced pattern normal with some nice banding and blushing along her back.

Brian is a fairly average normal, but he does carry the flecking known as "granite" is his markings. Judging from the fact that one of his babies has it as well, he may even be a genetic granite.

Brianna is a lovely reduced pattern normal girl with a partial black back.

Ace appears to have possibly inherited Brian's granite speckling, he's a pretty normal boy.

Jackson is a really sweet light normal with a terrific pattern and stellar blushing along his back. He'd be good bred to a light morph female like a fire or vanilla.

So there you have it my dear. One very nice collection of normals, each with their own special traits. Since you are looking to add a new female, I suggest getting a true morph and beginning to broaden your horizons.

Gale

[Ball Clan]

Is the black back genetic? I like that particular characteristic and Bryan has already given another baby with the black back (the rest of his and Kay's babies have gone to new homes).
These are from this year's clutch. The stretched out one has the black back pattern even better than Brianna.



This is another shot of him, close up of the heavy black on his neck. This was a very pretty male, and I was a little sad to have to let him go.



But tell me a little about the black back, and if it can be specificaly bred.

[angllady2]

Well, there is a genetic black back yes. Selective breeding can also reproduce the trait. I have a lovely banded normal girl with a partial black back, when I bred her with my husband's spider, she produced 2 very reduced spiders, 3 normals and a lesser all with a black back. She also produced a woma who was not a black back. If the same breeding produces the same results this season, I would say she carried the black back as a fixed trait.

Selective breeding can fix many traits. Banding for example, as well as reduced patterns, even blushing. There is a fine line between true genetic and simply a fixed trait, but I'm not technical enough to explain it correctly.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, even if Bryan is not considered a genetic black back, by breeding him to the right females, his babies are more likely to carry the black back like dad.

Gale

[Ball Clan]

OK thanks. I do want to look into a morph for my female but I'm afraid the prices may be out of my reach. Hopefully not.

Thanks for the thoughts.

I'd still like to see some others chime in, though this thread did get moved to a less visible place.......

[Daybreaker]

I'm seeing all normals myself, though I'd stick Ace with a black pastel or cinny to see what comes of it.

[STjepkes]

OK thanks. I do want to look into a morph for my female but I'm afraid the prices may be out of my reach. Hopefully not.

Thanks for the thoughts.

I'd still like to see some others chime in, though this thread did get moved to a less visible place.......

I'd recomend a pastel. There are a lot available in the $100-$200 range.

[mrachelr]

Good looking group of snakes. I would pair Brianna up with Bryan when she gets of size to see if there is anything genetic working there, she looks a LOT like dad. Ace is a LOOKER, As suggested above, I would pair him with a pastel, cinny, or black pastel. He has a great pattern, and it may just be genetic. Kay has an interesting head stamp and may just be hiding something genetically, the fun part about ball python breeding is you never know, maybe even take Ace back to Mom, if you don't have the $ for a new female, or while you are waiting for a juvi to put on size.

Great looking snakes!

Good luck!

[Mrl249]

Nice bunch of normals. We are dabbling in the black back project as well. here's our big girl

[satomi325]

Great looking normals.
I'm loving your males.

Since you're interested in finding morphs for your female and you're on a budget, many single gene males range $50-$150.




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