Improving morphs, selecting females

[Crazydude]

Hi,

Ive been talking to my family, and researching all i can, and in the next year or two, id like to give breeding a try. Which gives me awhile to get my stuff together, order the thermostats, build the hatchling rack, get a incubator set up, and the worst part: saving up the money to buy this, and extra to be safe in case of any problems (ex. Vet visits).

My question now is if a normal female can effect a morph.

For example i love my pastels pattern, and his color, but i do understand that all pastels change color over time, wether for the better or worse. Hes getting less lemon, and more mustard, but not brown so im happy.

So my question now. For females, would it be possible for me to find a high gold, tan or high yellow with large bands, and a clean solid color to clean up the pastel babies. Does a non-morph effect a morph in those areas?

So, is it possible, and to what degree does it help. I figure if i do breed, i want the best possible, and im not going to throw it with a dark spotty dirty looking normal. SO if it effects it, i will search for a nice female and be responsable not to throw out less then ideal pastels just because its easy.

Ben

[JKBReptiles]

What your asking about is called SELECTIVE breeding, it's been around since man first domesticated the chicken and cow. Selective breeding has been used to enhance the colors of snakes for years one of the biggest advocates that comes to mind is Jeff Ronne but there are several others that do it also. If you breed a Lesser or a Mojave to an outstanding normal then you will get better looking babies. Take those babies breed them through the outstanding mom and you get better babies keep doing this over generations and you will create some really awesome babies... With recessive genetics like albino or lavender albino the darker the babies the more high contrast the albinism is...

[Crazydude]

Alright, so the female does effect a genetic morph, I guess my train of thought was the fact that a morphs trait/gene whipes out the normal gene if present in areas of color ext. Like it was either a normal like the mom, or a pastel like the dad, and they didnt effect eachother because of the genetic trait. So they can be a combination of both parents and not just the genetic trait (ei. Pastel)?

I do understand selective breeding, but i always thought that was inbreeding.. Makes more sense now, thanks for clearing that up. I guess i just want to see if i can take the traits i love about my pastel (high flames, cool patern, and high contrast/not high blushing), and try to make these traits Pop...

So i guess ill just be scanning the shows, sites and classifieds all over for awhile and hopefully get something i love in the next year so i have time to grow it up, and quarenteen ext.

Thank you for the info, and clearing up my confusion. I assumed it happened some way, but was not sure about the genetic component.
Ben

[JKBReptiles]

High Gold to Spider can equal brighter spiders, or pastels or any genetic morph.

When it comes to getting better pastels just use a Yellow Belly to get a more extreme blushing and colorful animal. Pastel YB's are really cool and they clean up each other...

[atp151415]

alot of people say that breeding a pastel to a normal gives you darker pastels, thats not true, i am not saying it will or will not happen because some people stick to their own stuff but i have a buddy that did alot of pastel breeding last year and none of it is true. Some babies that hatched from a pastelXnormal are brighter than pastelXpastel babies

[rabernet]

I bred this guy:



to these girls:




The first girl, I'm hoping for more bright lemon pastels, and with the second girl, I'm hoping for more reduced patterns.

The clutch from the first girl should be hatching the first week of July and the clutch from the second girl is due to be laid this week.

If this girl is up to weight, I'll be breeding him to her next season:

[Crazydude]

Thanks everyone,

So defintially its common place and works. Thats great to hear. Hopefully in the next few years ill have some killer pastel babies.

Robin, Amazing Lemon, and really nice females. Your examples were exactly what i meant. Good luck with the eggs, and i hope you get exactly what you want.

Now my hope is to find a tan/light colored female with reduced pattern, But i do have along time before i will even start to get stuff ready to breed, so im sure something will pop up between online and shows, and maybe even local.

Thanks for the YB suggestion, I would love to, but my biggest concern breeding is selling them, I figure I have a few reptile shops in my area i could sell normals too, but not a single person knows what a morph is, or any other morph for that matter, So pastel is the highest end i will go until i get the hang of breeding and feel comforable shipping. Though id love to get a few other things like a bumblebee ext. That wont be for awhile.

Thanks a ton everyone for answering my beginer questions.
Ben

[Brock Wagner]

Nice normals Robin!!!

Brock

[ShawnT]

I bred this pastel



to this high gold female



and got some nice babies
female

female

and this guy resembles the mom perfectly

same belly too



Shawn

[rabernet]

Nice normals Robin!!!

Brock

Thank you Brock!