help a noobie under stand

[WeoStan]

Would some one explain terms like ringer, high gold, clear belly, and why balls with these cost so much more? Thanks for any info.

[Adam_Wysocki]

ringer

A ball python with a discoloratioin that forms a ring or semi-ring of varying width around the vent area of the snake. Seems to be a trait that is only randomly reproducible.

high gold

A snake with a higher than average amount of yellow/gold coloration. Some high golds are genetic, others are not.

clear belly

A ball python with no pattern on the 3 wide belly scales.

and why balls with these cost so much more?

Basically because some people have a personal preference for these traits over normals. They are cheaper than a morph but more expensive than a normal. It's kind of a way to have a "wanna be morph" without spending morph money.

-adam

[BPythonguy]

high golds are normal ball pythons that have yellow insread of brown they normally outgrow this as they mature. a ringer is like a piebald except with only really small amounts of white

[Adam_Wysocki]

a ringer is like a piebald except with only really small amounts of white

and is isolated to a ring around the tail AND is not genetic ... LOL ... maybe not quite like a pied ... or at least, not like this pied



-adam

[Aric]

heres a good site that tells the difference between the two.

[bait4snake]

Show off, lol.

Yeah, if genetic morphs are a little out of your price range, these will do nicely. When I first got into buying "pick of the litter" ball pythons, I spent about a half hour going through about 50 hatchlings at a local snake shop (Great Valley Serpentarium). I got high orange and high yellow snakes with JET BLACK patterns... the orange ones turned brown (with orange near the belly) and the yellows are still very yellow with what looks like pepper all over them, like eggs, hahaha. The black is still very black though, and this year it's being crossed into my Albino line.

[Kara]

Here's a "mega" ringer by comparison:



See how the rest of the snake is "normal" in pattern, as opposed to the aberrant pattern of the pied (i.e. stripes & blotches instead of regular BP pattern in the dark patches)?

[WeoStan]

Thanks, i had someone in a pet store telling me that a clear belly was a marker for het. piebald. Are there any true markers?

[bait4snake]

Some think so, some don't. Adam, Randy... care to argue? lol

If it's a pet store selling "Het Piebalds", they're full of crap.

[WeoStan]

Thats what i thought, too.. So i bought a pair of het. albinos from Peter Kahl.