What is the best example of....

[snakesRkewl]

A few I think are exceptional examples

This hold back female pastel lesser is my ideal of this combo...


Our wild caught line of yellowbelly's is my ideal yellowbelly, dark and sexy


Bright and blushed like mad, I kind of dig this Butter female...


My ideal lesser has no spots...

[h00blah]

I'll agree with jdoug. I know there are certain "standards" of some morphs but theres also a lot of opinions on which type looks better. I would be just as happy with a pastel who may have a little more brown but crazy blushing, but that isnt consindered a good example of a pastel.

I kindof agree with jdoug, but there are definitely some things that can make a certain morph more sought after than others. Blushing in pastels is something that some people go for. Others will go for high vibrant yellows and contrast. Some people will settle on not the brightest pastels, but perhaps the pattern is intriguing to them!

Spiders are a similar story. Some people like HIGH white sides! I personally do not. I prefer medium sides. Low white sides make the spider look like a woma to me, and I personally do not like womas =p. Some spiders are also REALLY dark brown where some others are high in gold. Some people like dark morphs, and some people like light morphs =p.

However, even with both examples given, as well as taking into account other people's personal opinions, I have to say that there is definitely some standard when determining the quality of morphs..

When I describe a pastel to someone, I just say it's a yellow snake that has blushing in the dark black patterns... So when you go to look for a pastel that exemplifies this, you will look for the brightest yellow pastel you can get which will most likely be the first thing that stands out to someone. THEN you look for the blushing in the pattern which a trained eye will probably look for..

When I describe a spider, I say it's a brown snake with a crazy reduced pattern! It's got a thin dorsal stripe that can sometimes be curvy, and very thin and sharp black patterning will descend from that stripe to its belly! It also has white scales from the side to the belly, and a distinguishable head pattern!

The same logic can be passed down to the combos... When describing a bumblebee, you say it has a spider pattern with pastel colors. That is, a YELLOW snake with a reduced pattern, white sides, and a distinguished head pattern! When you look for a bumblebee, you want a CLEAN bee.. the blushing will come after since you want that color to grab people's attention. I've seen extremely yellow bees with little to no white sides, but it had that obvious spider pattern and a great amount of yellow, which is the first thing you spot when you see that morph that you're looking for..

[Zombie]

I agree, I always try to look for quality. Even when it costs a little more. A lot of people I have come across locally just don't get it. They wanna pay the same for high quality as they would for poor quality.

Here's a few of mine...

My pewter is bright and he has great pattern (sorry he's in shed in pic


Spider female #1, she has an amazing neon yellow dorsal stripe and high white sides.


Spider female #2, black back, her black is also more if a chocolate color than black...


Mojave female, love how her yellow stayed on her dorsal and how she kept all her color. She is breeding my pewter now...


My pastel lesser is smokin with a great reduced pattern. She is my favorite.



Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Tapatalk

[pigfat]

Personally, I think my juvi albino girl is pretty nice...but I may be wrong.



And most people will probably agree that my pastel is not the best example of a "great" pastel...

[snake lab]

Who sets the standards? These morphs ate pretty much works of art. Whag one likes another wont. So it basically comes down to interpretation. Like jon said he likes a busy pattern and thats his standard over reduced. But others may like reduced so whos right by said standard? The breeders that care about what they are doing produce a certain look. This is their finger print on the industry that represents them and their animals so again i ask who sets the standard?

[Royal Hijinx]

The group sets standards. Are you telling me there are zero standards?

[AKballs]

Those are some sweet snakes! Here's my ideal Pastel YB



And this guy has everything I wanted in a firefly nice big, bright and clean pattern.

[Royal Hijinx]

The yellow is INSANE on that Pastel YB

[RobNJ]

The group sets standards. Are you telling me there are zero standards?

The only standards are between the breeder and the buyer. People who consistently produce beautiful animals and have produced beautiful animals are known for that, but plenty of people make sales on what would universally be considered "less than desirable" animals.

Even with something so basic as pastels...NERD, Graziani, Ruppell, Bell, etc...all different animals, but what do you look for? The common sense answer is bright, vibrant yellow. However, plenty of people will forgive a bit of browning out for a crazy pattern, intense blacks or blushing, or something else.

My opinion on the matter is that balls haven't been selectively bred for long enough(or with enough care) to be able to sit down, discuss, and validate what sets "the standard". And with what really amounts to a 15 year breeding craze, and people breeding what they like, or just breeding with no regard for desirable traits, a standard is impossible to set. If you want a place to look for a nice example of each morph, there's World of Ball Pythons, but anything you'll find to hold to those examples will likely vary greatly.

[snake lab]

The group sets standards. Are you telling me there are zero standards?

So if in said group, 50% like a high white pied and 50% like a low white pied then how do you decide what the standard should be and where the bar should be set for a pied? If you want to get technical the first animal produced of each morph should be the standard of that morph. But i dont think you will ever find the standard animal of esch morph. Its all on prefrence and interpretation