I picked up a little pastel female last year, wee thing.

High orange, and got her in a trade with a smokin' spider female.

I really had mediocre hopes for this girl, but have to say, that as much as I love high blush and flames, I can really appreciate a nice black/yellow contrast on a pastel.

As she has matured she is just turning into a really sharp little snake. I expected her to brown out, but she is just getting more contratst by the month. Where she is yellow, she is very yellow, and her black is very black. No flecking, no dorsal tipping, nada.

So I guess I am asking those that have more experience with grading pastels, how can we tell the diff?

I know they all have some orange/peach in the beginning... and I have seen some really ugly browned out pastels at shows that to me do not even look pastel.

And do we overuse the "Evil Orange" marker for grading hatchlings?

bruce