Worth "cleaning up"?

[Chkadii]

Below is my first ball python, a super pastel I picked up at a show in August.
While I had done research on the care and keeping of ball pythons, I had no idea what to look for when it came to morph quality. It's pretty evident when you look at him; he's "dirty" looking and speckled.

Now, first and foremost he's a pet and I do like his colors over all (I love the yellow/grey contrast and I like the blushing on his back- the pic doesn't do his coloring justice) but as I formulate breeding plans for the upcoming years, I'm debating whether or not it'd be worth pairing him up with anyone.

So basically my question is this: do you think it'd be possible to "clean up" his offspring by pairing him with a clean looking morph? I was thinking a high-quality fire.

With so many pythons available I'd hate to contribute lower quality individuals, and it wouldn't make business sense to tie up a breeding female without the chance of something better coming from the pairing.

As it stands I don't have any other snakes, so it's a matter of getting one that would do his offspring justice, or scrap the pastel project altogether and invest in different morphs instead (I've been falling in love with mojaves...).

[Don]

Fire does a really nice job with pastel. It is one of those genes that brighten up other genes. You should get some nice little fireflies with that pairing.

[snakesRkewl]

Worth cleaning up

[Anthony Renna]

If you love mojaves get a nice mojave and if you have the money and space get a fire as well

[Don]

Here is a firefly (pastel fire). See how bright they get? One of my favorite double genes:

[Freakie_frog]

Yep totally worth it.. here is a super pastel with a really affordable cleanup gene the enchi

[Exotic Ectotherms]

I've always liked how the Lesser/Butter gene interacts with pastels. A whole clutch of Pastel Lessers and Pastels would be pretty sweet. Plus if you end up getting a male Mojave you can pair it with the Lesser as well and hopefully get some Blue Eyed Leucistics.

[Chkadii]

Thank you all for your input! I've always heard that quality begets quality, and I was concerned that I'd be muddying up the higher quality snakes offspring.

The super pastel will always have a home with me- but now I'm excited that he could have a chance to "earn his keep"!

I'm in the process of finding a new apartment, so snake acquisition is being pushed to the back burner, but come spring I'll be on the look-out for fires... and mojaves... and lessers... and enchis (which I hadn't even thought to consider! Thank you!)...

[DemmBalls]

Totally worth cleaning up. He's not that bad looking of a Super pastel. Besides...Sometimes average morph examples throw nicer offspring. We have a Pastel that looks average and produces very nice offspring.

I would breed him to something like an Enchi or Fire as well.