What is the best example of....

[RobNJ]

Red Axanthic from Oz of Ozzy Boids


Pastel Butter from Jon Courtney of Cold Blooded Addiction


Genetic Stripe from Ian of Outback Reptiles

Back to your question as to why I like these particular examples. The red axanthic has great coloration, a nice blushed black back, nice uniform doughnut pattern 1/2-2/3 of the way down with the doughnuts then mashing up into each other, nice smudging within the doughnuts(not too much), and though you can't see it, a crazy belly pattern. The broken pattern at the base of the head is also trademark of het reds/red axanthics.

As for the pastel butter, the white combined with flash really washed him out, but this guy is really yellow. His head is very faded, and the blushing is pretty intense. I like how the pattern bleeds into the white 2/3 the way down. I also love the irregular, mashed up alien heads. The more I look at BEL stuff, the less I like uniformity of pattern.

And with the g-stripe, it's pretty obvious. Full bright stripe, nicely balanced on the spine, dark outline of the stripe, and super reduced sides.

Even with just these 3 examples, I'm all over the map. I like the uniformity and perfectness of the g-stripe as much as I like the irregularity of the pastel butter.

[Royal Hijinx]

I am more concerned that the center stripe is not broken in a Pin. If you get both a unbroken center and unbroken sides, then even better.

[snake lab]

Hey jinx. That jig is killer. Love it

[MakiMaki]

I think it is fun to see what other people see as their ideals. Sometimes it helps me see beauty where I didn't appreciate it before. There have been some amazing morphs discovered by breeders seeing something beautiful where others saw nothing. If we set standards, I'm afraid it could discourage that kind of independent creativity, and make us blind to new ways of appreciating these morphs.

So, with that disclaimer, I'll share some of my favorites. My ideals always seem to have clean or reduced patterns and bright colors.

This Super Pastel Male (from Garrick DeMeyer) seemed so perfect to me, that I bought him even though I'd been looking for a female. I love his reduced pattern, his blushing and his clean yellow color.


This Matrix Blonde Pastel female, unrelated to the male above, is the nicest one I produced for her clean bright color. While there are many different qualities to like or not like about a pastel, I think the most important one is that clean yellow color.


This Hypo Male is one of my favorite snakes with his cool reduced pattern and super clean color. He is my ideal hypo.


I love all the colors of a nice calico. Thick bright gold/orange highlights the chocolate brown, which contrasts with the brilliant white of a nice specimen. This female from Dan Wolfe started my love affair with this morph.


This not great pic of my lemon pastel lesser platinum was taken when she was older, but you can still appreciate her color and pattern. I like the broad blushed bands in her pattern.

For pure pastel lesser platinum beauty, though, I like this citrus pastel lesser with her classic pattern and really clear yellow.


I'm going to finish with a departure from the norm for me. I'm usually not partial to busy patterns, but this citrus pastel yellowbelly (from Amir) is too bright to believe and displays the best traits of both morphs making her my ideal.

[buddha1200]

i think variety is what makes bp's so attractive.
If u set standards then everyone will be striving for that standard and some where down the line everyones bp's will start looking the same.
I for one look for uniqueness in my bp's i dont want a bp that looks like everyone elses.

For example i personally have never seen a black pastel that i liked,so i have never considered purchasing any,been to quiet a few shows and in my opinion(my opinion)i have never seen a very unique looking black pastel,even the mojarity of photos on this site most black pastels look the same(most seem dark as babies and just regular as they grow.

And another thing what would the standard be set upon,Adult versions or juvi versions,because from what i see most juvies(that catch peoples eye)do not look the same when they get older(some look better and some look worse)and i dont think alot of us cant predict how most juvies will turn out as they grow,we hope they get better but we cant be 100% sure they will.

just my 2 cents

[Royal Hijinx]

I think there is a misconception here that having a morph standard does not allow for variety in the morph. That is just not true. It would just establish MINIMUM guidelines for a good example of the morph.

In the end this could actually help breeders better cater to what the customer base is looking for. In addition, we already see that exceptional examples command higher prices and if you consistently put out exceptional examples, well you get where that is going.

[WingedWolfPsion]

To me, an excellent Woma has a bright, rich, light orange/tan color overall, with bold stripey markings and minimal dots.

(I do think this is an excellent woma):



His only 'flaws' are a dot by his tail, and one small tiny freckle. I look for color more than pattern, as I think that finding excellent color in womas is less common than finding decent patterns.

On the other hand, when looking at 'excellent examples of the morph', would animals carrying additional genes be excluded? This woma is het for orange ghost, and while hets don't have definitive markers, there are trends, and the orange ghost gene COULD be influencing color, pattern, or both.

[Royal Hijinx]

I think that some hets definitely improve the overall appearance of a given morph.

[Rhasputin]

For carriers/hets

A Mouse which is blue, can carry yellow. This sometimes causes the blue to be dull, but not always. This mouse is held to the standards of the other blue mice. It should be dark, even, and richly coloured.

[rabernet]

My collection has built very slowly, because I look for MY standard of the best example there is of any given morph. It took me 2 years to find my lesser and my cinnamon, since my ideal enchi was stolen from the seller before she shipped to me, I'm still searching for anything that comes close to her. My POG is amazing, as are my two fires.

Here are just a few examples of MY personal standard for morphs in my collection:

Pastels:

DeMeyer Pastel



Lemon Pastel - produced here



Enchi - the one I'm trying to find one that compares



Lesser male - produced by John Vandegrift



Lesser female - produced by Louis Kirkland



Cinnamon male - produced by Tim Bailey





Fire male - produced by Justin Kobylka



Fire female - produced by ? Not sure - purchased at Repticon Myrtle Beach
Need to get more pictures of my only MOUSER in my collection! LOL She's much more yellow now:





POG - produced by Deborah Stewart on a breeding loan with my het hypo female - thanks again Deb! Need new pictures of this handsome boy!



Spider - produced by Ed Duepree - perfect head marking for me!



Clown - almost perfect -would prefer completely reduced - produced here from het to het breeding.



And don't forget the normals that you work with - they really will impact the quality of your offspring. Take the same care when chosing them as you do your morphs.

This girl with my cinnamon produced black back cinnies and black back normals



Here she is as an itty bitty baby! LOL