A little help please

[Chkadii]

I just tried to get pics again, but everyone I'm trying to get is getting ready to shed so colors are not so good. I'll try again after they finish up shedding. Thanks for the opinions so far though.

Here's what I managed to get today. Top pic if two of the snakes in question in this thread. Single guy is one of the males in the group my husband got me.
Back of lighter guys head

Here's what I see for these guys -

Top pic: a normal and a hypo
Middle pic: the hypo
Bottom pic: mojave

[SmoothScales]

Here's what I see for these guys -

Top pic: a normal and a hypo
Middle pic: the hypo
Bottom pic: mojave

You're seeing something in that bottom pic that I'm clearly not.

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[Chkadii]

You're seeing something in that bottom pic that I'm clearly not.

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Hmm, I'll see if I can verbalize it...

The most telling sign for me is usually pattern. Mojaves have a particular pattern, where the sides (rosettes/alien heads) tend to be very smooth, round, and drippy. They don't have many "tails" like pastels do in their patterns. There's also a trend of the side patterns being mostly distinct from a dorsal line. They do bleed together sometimes, but it's more clearly a side piece and a dorsal stripe/spot interacting, rather than side pieces passing totally over the spine, like what happens with leopards. Wild-types can also have distinct dorsal patterns (as well as other genes), so this is just one aspect of the pattern.

Then there's color. Mojaves have more consistent background gradients from dorsal to lower sides/belly. Where normals sometimes have head stamps or blushing on their heads, mojaves have more of a "muddier" (I dont mean that in a negatice way) color gradient to them, if any. The one in the picture looks like it's ready to shed, but mojaves have colors ranging from creams to grey, olive, and/or a bit brown. Very earthy tones, and more of a pastel (art medium, not gene) or airbrushed look compared to how sharp patterns are on most wild-types. Mojaves, at least in my experience, tend to be a little smokier looking than mystics, and not as bright. I'm leaning more towards mojave on this one, but a picture of it with a fresh coat of paint wouldn't hurt for confirmation.

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[SmoothScales]

...

Maybe I'm focusing to much on coloring and not enough on design. Perhaps a picture once she/he's out of shed. I'm just going based off of my two mojaves (mojavies?), which both have a dorsal line that is much more separated from the alien heads, where this one seems to be bleeding into them.

Edit: Actually, now that the pictures are both on the same page, I can sort of see it.

[Chkadii]

Maybe I'm focusing to much on coloring and not enough on design. Perhaps a picture once she/he's out of shed. I'm just going based off of my two mojaves (mojavies?), which both have a dorsal line that is much more separated from the alien heads, where this one seems to be bleeding into them.

Edit: Actually, now that the pictures are both on the same page, I can sort of see it.

Yeah, I see where you're coming from. OP's just has a very reduced dorsal stripe (i.e. a couple of spots instead). If you look at yours, they both have high side spots that meet the dorsal line, they're just very small. This snake has the same thing going on, but the connected side spots are larger and there isn't enough of a dorsal stripe to give a good idea of its consistency.

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