Quote Originally Posted by The Rev View Post
Some pastels keep there color better than others I have a Gravid female pastel that looks as good as that one, I think age or even the line of pastel also has somethng to do with it.
True, but what leads me to think there may be something going is just how different this female looked the start. There were 5 pastels. I lost 2 due to an incubator issue. Those 2 went full term and died in the egg. I made a point to take them out after cutting the eggs to be sure they were all pastels. Every single one looke exactly like you would expect any pastel to look at hatching. The remaining 3 then went through all the color stages of hatchlings, except that one female. All the others had the flames, blushing, star ahaped markings etc etc.. But that one female inherited the soled black lines of the mother. No blushing and that oddly dark color.

When the mother was a baby I picked her from a tub of about 30 CH babies. She stood out like a sore thumb. That neck stripe went more than halfway down her body as a baby. Her color was very different. The neck stripe, the solid black bands on her sides, the random burgandy spots, the clear belly, the head circle, are all possible traits of a specter.

Keep in mind I keep saying its possible. I know I need to prove it out if she is anything different, but all these years I have had a hunch about her. What would really be nice is IF she is a morph and IF that pastel female is double co-dom for it, the next couple years could be very interesting.

And yes it is very hard to capture the color even with daylights and a decent camera. I go to shows just to look at pastels of all ages and mine has looked different in every stage so far. Im just bewildered and cant wait to figure out if she is just a dark orange pastel or a combo. I ask my friend how the male is looking and he always tells me he is still yellow as can be. None of them even inherited the creamy color of the father and I have had him since he was about 8 months old too. It had to come from somewhere and Im hoping it came from the mother.

I did make the mistake of not pairing the mother with a YB this year. Why, I dont know. But next year I will. Only time will tell but they just look unique in my eyes. I cant wait til next year on this one.