Yellowbelly Gravel

[JodanOrNoDan]

Has anyone figured out how to reliably tell the difference between a yellowbelly and a gravel?

[rlditmars]

Breed it to a Yellowbelly. If you get Ivories, it's YB. If you get Highways, it's a Gravel.

[JodanOrNoDan]

Breed it to a Yellowbelly. If you get Ivories, it's YB. If you get Highways, it's a Gravel.

LOL. Yes. Absolutely. That is the route I am taking. This is definitely the long way around though. I should have specified visually. There is no one I know of that can do it visually.

[rlditmars]

I knew what you meant but I don't know anyone that can 100% of the time, identify them accurately. A friend of mine just had two clutches that were sired from what he'd purchased as a gravel. Sadly, he ended up with five Ivories out of the two clutches. Ivories are nice, but not when you're anticipating Highways.

[meganmarkita15]

Whats the price difference , approx. between a gravel & a yellow belly ? Because , i know here in NB Canada , I can get a YB for 75-80$ ... But dont know about a gravel


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[JodanOrNoDan]

I can only say that it is going to be more than a Highway(yellowbelly/gravel) . My wife just dropped about 2k on a breeding size male highway. Isolating the gravel gene is the issue. I have been looking for a single gene Gravel male or female for awhile. I think Super Gravels are running around 9k. Too rich for my blood. As per this discussion and many others I have had the only way to guarantee gravel and not yellow belly is if one of the parents is a super gravel. It is for this reason you will pay a premium. I am still looking for a single gene female.

[MidSouthMorphs]

I am not sure anyone can. I spoke with the guys at Florida Reptile Ranch, they discouraged me from buying a gravel that came from a YB x Gravel clutch since nobody can tell. I thought about giving it a shot, but decided against it in the end. Check out Todd Constable, he has it singled out and it producing a lot of Supers this year.

[JodanOrNoDan]

I knew what you meant but I don't know anyone that can 100% of the time, identify them accurately. A friend of mine just had two clutches that were sired from what he'd purchased as a gravel. Sadly, he ended up with five Ivories out of the two clutches. Ivories are nice, but not when you're anticipating Highways.

That seriously sucks for your friend and it is the same dilemma I am having in my head but in reverse. I do not want to end up selling a yellow belly as a gravel or vise versa. BEL complex stuff and albinos I know. My current projects surround producing RELs both normal albinos and lavenders. Everything is calculated and I know exactly what is going into the animals. Up until now, I have pretty much ignored the Super Stripe Complex. They just didn't do anything for me. We were looking for another project this year and my wife talked me into Highways. She really likes Highways. To me they are just blah. Then she tells me to look at the Super Gravel. Now that's a snake. So I gave her a go and she bought a Highway male and an Ivory and tells me to make her some Highways. I figure no problem. Highways and Ivories I will be able to get rid of and might make a couple bucks, but I want to chase the Super Gravel. I'm showing my ignorance of the Super Stripe complex at this point but it is what it is. So, I am asking you guys to blow a hole in my thinking. This is a challenging project to say the least. I am dealing with isolating a co-dom I cannot see without breeding the animal. As far as I can tell without having a gravel female to put against the highway male I am two generations away from isolating Gravel. If in addition to the Ivory I put the Highway male with my big normal female I will end up with about ten eggs that are either gravel or yellow belly and I cannot sell any of them because I don't know what they are unless I breed them. Is my thought process correct or am I missing something?

[JodanOrNoDan]

I am not sure anyone can. I spoke with the guys at Florida Reptile Ranch, they discouraged me from buying a gravel that came from a YB x Gravel clutch since nobody can tell. I thought about giving it a shot, but decided against it in the end. Check out Todd Constable, he has it singled out and it producing a lot of Supers this year.

Thank you for the lead. I will check it out.