Different lines compatible?

[PythonWallace]

that would mean (sticking with the VPI/TSK axanthic thing) that when they both proved (phenotypically) to produce the same look (an axanthic appearing animal) both breeders should ahve tested their compatibility with each other to prove they were the same genotypically speaking then argued over who gets to call thier axanthic and who doesn't.


It just means there are multiple "lack yellow pigment" switches in ball pythons. both are phenotypically axanthic (just as green ghosts are phenotypically hypo). no line has more right to use the word "axanthic" than the other. Buyer beware, do your research, know what you're buying.

People who prove a new morph can name it whatever they want. In the case of axanthics, it might make sense to name it axanthic, preferable axanthic-A, axanthic-B, etc., so it's obvious that they aren't compatible. Then If a new line proves compatible with one of the other lines call it Bob Hope line axanthic-B or something. But it would still make just as much sense to give them completely different names. Sure both end up producing animals with a hypo-xanthic phenotype, but that doesn't mean you have to call it an axanthic when there is already a morph called axanthic that obviously has a different genotype than the new one.

But with hypos, it makes almost no sense to name a new recessive mutation that isn't compatible with the actual hypo lines a hypo. That makes as much sense as calling a vanilla a Gulf Coast line pastel. GC could have named them that if they wanted to. They are both co-doms that produce similar phenotypes, but that would have been terrible marketing, as well as being confusing.

I agree with you that people need to do their research when buying any morph, or starting any project. I just think this hobby gets confusing enough without people naming a new mutation the same thing as an existing mutation, when it isn't compatible with the existing morph. And I also think that it's just bad marketing. You are basically taking a new morph and throwing it into a market that already has a steady supply, that people are already invested in. So the prices will drop faster, along with the rest of the lines of the mutation, and anyone who is already invested in the mutation will never buy an animal of the same name if it isn't compatible with what they already have. But if it had a different name and was marketed as a completely different morph, which they are, people wouldn't even think about the morphs being compatible with what they have. I want to get a vanilla. But if I thought of them as incompatible GC line pastels, I'm not sure I would be interested in them. I have Bell, Graziani and VPI line pastels already. Why would I want another pastel line that isn't compatible with the investments I already made? This is 10x more important when dealing with recessive morphs. Obviously the reality is that I will produce the same phenotypes and combos no matter what the name was, but the name is important in these cases for a lot of people when buying and selling these animals.