Im sure your all sick of this...but i need experienced opinions

[kell_boy]

Hey everyone, its my 1st post
Ive had my BP about a month now, shedding eating and pooing well

So i bought him labeled as a pastel, but i just am not sure he is, ive taken him to a different shop and got opinions, they think he is but he isnt a clean example thats for sure, Ive compared him to lots of others,

I don't have a good picture of his eye but its generally quite dark but the top half is lighter green/yellow and you can see his pupil clearly all over in the light. These pics where taken 3 weeks ago..

What do you think, help appreciated!

[sookieball]

its a pastel, no doubt i have one sith higher yellow on the sides but same kinda darker back. his tank got in the sun a little and he got darker on one side which is funny but for the most part he is beautiful light yellow to dark back. and pastels tend to have light green almost hazel. like light brown in normal light and noticably green in the sun.

but beware!! as i have learned the hard way! no sun! the yellow will turn and thats not what u want in you pastel

[joe23]

i say its a pastel too. im pretty sure...

[OhhWatALoser]

the picture might be playing tricks, but does he/she have greenish eyes? doens't look like it in the picture which is a trademark of a pastel. truth is tho, your most likly not going to know if its pastel until you breed it, that just one of those snakes that could go eigher way.

but if it was sold as a pastel, i would think it to be a pastel. where'd you get it from?

[kell_boy]

I got it in a reputable reptile shop here in essex england, theres a few where i live here..I now go to an either better one (tonnes of BP morphs)

He is quite brown on his back as these pics show but has a very white belly,
His eyes depends what light you look at them, Ive not seen normal BP eyes in light before but i would say theres definately a yellow/greeny colour to them.

Held up against the light you can see his pupils clearly and they look green. The light upper half of his eye is what a man at a good shop identified as usually being in the pastel gene, but you see many "light" normals thats why its so difficult!

I think your right though, won't know until he is bred

[OhhWatALoser]

with what you said, im going to say pastel. don't worry about it

[rabernet]

See, I'm not sure. I don't see the white on the lips that I look for in pastels. What I can see of the belly in some of the shots, the white doesn't go all the way to the sides like my pastels do. I don't even see any blushing on the head.

Just from these photo's I'd lean towards "pastel-ish", but probably not a pastel.

Here's the question that you need to ask yourself though - if you're planning on breeding - what is your goal? Is it to produce really nice pastels, or just produce pastels for the sake or producing pastels?

If it's to produce really nice pastels, he wouldn't be the one I'd use as my breeder. Sure, you could breed him to a really light normal and try to improve his looks (if he is indeed a pastel), but just the fact that you have to question if he is or isn't....well, that sort of tells you whether he's the quality you want to breed or not.

Here's an example of the traits I'm looking for even in a somewhat brown baby. This happens to be a lemon pastel, that tend to go through an ugly duckling stage before they develop into a swan - even though he's brownish in this picture - his lips fade up, and he has a faded head:



This is him after he got some size on him.



He's now in Ed's collection (Freakie_frog) and he can post some pictures of what he looks like now if he sees this thread.

[rabernet]

its a pastel, no doubt i have one sith higher yellow on the sides but same kinda darker back. his tank got in the sun a little and he got darker on one side which is funny but for the most part he is beautiful light yellow to dark back. and pastels tend to have light green almost hazel. like light brown in normal light and noticably green in the sun.

but beware!! as i have learned the hard way! no sun! the yellow will turn and thats not what u want in you pastel

The sun has nothing to do with the color change on ball pythons. But a tank should never have any part of it in direct sunlight, because of the "oven" effect of the tank in sunlight.

[kell_boy]

I wasn't planning anything yet really, although it would be good to breed with spider for bumblebees, I bought him over a normal because i preffered him, (so my gripe is i payed an extra 60 pounds!!)

When you just need to know you need to...You know!! Thanks for the input though! seems to be mixed opinions :-s

[JayCee]

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=62699