New to Morphs, and need some advice...

[Kona's Daddy]

Hi, all.

I have been lurking around this site for quite awhile, and finally took the plunge and registered.

Of course...I did so with a purpose in mind!!!

I'm about 4 months away from being ready to add a BP to my small (but cool, IMO) collection. I'm not new to Ball Python ownership and care...but I AM new to all these morphs, colors, and pattern variations. The few I've owned in the past were all typical normals.

In the interest of keeping this short (and holding your attention), here's my issue:

I DON'T KNOW WHICH MORPH IS RIGHT FOR ME!!!

I am not...and will not...be a breeder, so I don't really care about hets and/or possible hets. What' I'm after is a BP with a very unique look. Don't get me wrong...I love all snakes...but if I'm going to own a BP, I wan't it to be something special. Something you won't find at every Petco you walk into.

I've seen quite a few Pins, Spiders, Super Pastels, etc. - all of which looked amazing.

I suppose my question is this: If one were to spend $300-$500 on a BP, with the intent of having it be a healthy (top priority), hearty, and UNIQUE PET BP, what morph sticks out to you as a good choice?

I will buy my BP either from a breeder here, or perhaps at one of the shows coming up later down the road.

Since I'm new to this, I'm looking for any insight ya'll are willing to provide. I'm wanting to stick with my specified budget...but I'm not educated enough to know what all may fall into that particular window.

Thanks a ton for your time!

Kona's Daddy (Kona is my 3-year old Miami-phase corn)

[Mike41793]

Pastel orange ghost, super pastel, firefly, low white pied. (All males of course.) Those would all be the upper end of your price range, maybe a bit more even. If you want to stay under or closer to $300 id get a male orange ghost or male fire.

[Daybreaker]

Check out Kingsnake Classifieds and Fauna Classifieds: see which morphs you like and what fit in your range. There's a lot more on there than just Pin, Spider, and Pastel combos.

http://market.kingsnake.com/index.php?cat=32

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...play.php?f=499

[Kona's Daddy]

I suppose I should have been just a LITTLE more specific.

It seems to me that there are a lot of COLOR morphs that seem (to this novice) to be very similar.

A better question would be - What kind of PATTERN or color/pattern morphs fall into my budget?

Again...thanks for any help you can offer.

I'm familiar with fauna and kingsnake...but stayed on the cornsnake side of things. Thought I'd stick with BP nuts, specifically, to address this new hunt I'm on.

Thanks again, ya'll.

[BWyant]

You familiar with worldofballpythons.com and their genetic wizard/big morph list? Lots of pictures on there.

Kinda' just depends what colors you want, really. Of course, you probably know by now that male snakes will be less expensive than females, generally speaking.

You'll find the right one.

[rlditmars]

One you may consider is a female Desert. They are a truly exceptional looking morph. There is however a huge caveat to this choice so please research this very thoroughly. If as you say, you are looking for a beautiful pet, I think a female desert falls into that category and given their genetic disposition they are becoming increasingly affordable. It is fast becoming the accepted truth that a female desert ball python is an unbreedable animal, as it tends not to be able to reproduce and even if one does become gravid, in most if not all instances, it will die from being egg bound as a result of pregnancy. Just know and accept up front that you will never breed her.

I also think that because of the condition stated, it will become a less common morph in the future as most breeders will not work with that which they cannot replicate and sell for a profit, and so it will be more unique to have one. If that is enough, then it can be a beautiful and adored pet for many years.

[OhhWatALoser]

One you may consider is a female Desert. They are a truly exceptional looking morph. There is however a huge caveat to this choice so please research this very thoroughly. If as you say, you are looking for a beautiful pet, I think a female desert falls into that category and given their genetic disposition they are becoming increasingly affordable. It is fast becoming the accepted truth that a female desert ball python is an unbreedable animal, as it tends not to be able to reproduce and even if one does become gravid, in most if not all instances, it will die from being egg bound as a result of pregnancy. Just know and accept up front that you will never breed her.

I also think that because of the condition stated, it will become a less common morph in the future as most breeders will not work with that which they cannot replicate and sell for a profit, and so it will be more unique to have one. If that is enough, then it can be a beautiful and adored pet for many years.

exactly what I was thinking, Desert is the perfect morph for the OP.

I would email or call the breeders who deal with the morph and see if they would be willing to give you a female desert combo in your price range. Some breeders are still pressing along relying on males, but the female are pretty much useless to them. You could have a truly unique animal. But with females not being able to be bred, it's a pet only snake and let me say most of the ball python world is upset about this... its an amazing looking animal and the combos are just that much better.

[angllady2]

Pattern and color hmm?

Ok, serious thought here. So you've looked at spiders, pinstripes and pastels already. As you know spiders and pinstripes have some of the most divergent patterns in lower cost animals. An exceptional mojave or male pastave might be something to interest you. A high quality fire male is another good one. Yes, there are many that look like normals, but a quality example has a different look.

Lesser or butter is a BIG color change from normals, and some have amazing patterns. At the upper end of your price range, you might even find the odd male double co-dom hatchling like a bumblebee, lemon blast, jigsaw, kingpin, cinnabee or lesserbee. There won't be many at that price, but now and again you can find a good deal at a show. I've even seen a low white pied male hatchling for $500. And you can't get much more variant than a pied. Even low white have ridiculous patterns.

Gale