I got a new snake last night!!!!

A pastel Ball Python!!! My first morph!!! He's gorgeous! And yes I have breeding plans for him in the future! For anyone who knows ball python morphs, he's a Lemon Pastel, his father came directly from NERD. I picked up my pastel male from a friend of mine.




This is my favorite picture! A pastel ball python, is yellow and stays nice and bright. A "normal" ball python is the wild type, and are brown. Here's a picture of my pastel male, with a normal female I got to pick out for free to go with him. (without flash)

Gorgeous snakes!

Cool snakes. But have a question - explain the "morph" part to me?

Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

Cool snakes. But have a question - explain the "morph" part to me?

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Yeah i know nothing about snakes so erm.. i would like to know to lol
Jess x

Originally Posted by CATTYBIRD

Gorgeous snakes!

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Thanks I love him!

Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

Cool snakes. But have a question - explain the "morph" part to me?

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Originally Posted by junior_j

Yeah i know nothing about snakes so erm.. i would like to know to lol
Jess x

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Oh dear, I was worried someone would ask about that My best answer.... a Ball Python Morph is a gene that has been proven to be genetic rather than just by chance. There is a HUGE list of Ball Python morphs, in cat lingo I suppose it would be sort of like a breed of Ball Python. But, if you call a ball python morph a "breed" to someone that's a snake keeper you'll be put in your place right away! Trust me on that one, if a ball python breeder reads this they might have a cow Don't ask me what the difference is......

I'm very new to the ball python genetics, but I can tell you a little about the pastel morph. A pastel morph is a codominate gene, which means they are a visible gene carrier (a normal ball python cannot carry the pastel gene because they aren't pastel). If I breed this pastel guy to a normal female I have a 50% chance, on each egg, to have a pastel. If I breed this pastel male to a pastel female I would have a 25% change of getting a super pastel (much lighter and almost washed out), 50% chance of pastel, and 25% chance of normals.

I know it's a lot to soak up.....try talking to breeders with morphs that are dominate, recessive, 100% het, 66% het, possible 50% het, etc. (het means they carry the gene, but they need another het of the same morph, or a visual of that morph to make the desired morph). There is so much to breeding!!!




Here are some pictures of the snakes I want in the future (dream snakes)

The next morph I will be getting! I LOVE Mojaves!
(sort of affordable, but I hope to buy one from a friend next year) they are usually lighter than this

(two of these would make a white snake with blue eyes)



another "affordable" morph, $150-$200 (pastel is also affordable)




if I bred two pastels together I would get a super (lemon is the line of that pastel, NERD developed them)




I was offered a GREAT deal on one when I bought my pastel, but a "great deal" is still $300....I had to pass







(also affordable)



Two yellowbellys make:




And my SUPER dream snake:
(this is a $2,000+ snake, I would like to get some het pieds, they carry the gene and are much more affordable!)



And for fun
This is a $5,000+ snake (on the low end for designer morphs!)




If you are interested in seeing more morphs, here's a link to all the pictures
http://www.newenglandreptile.com/ner...ollection.html


Sorry if it's all too much!

An easier way to explaining it to them may be - you can breed for specific colors in cats and you can do the same in snakes... though in cats that would tend to fall more under traits.
You'd actually have less than a 50% chance, btw, because normal is more dominate. It would depend a lot on what your normal has in her history, unless you know it just consider her a pet as you'd have a lot of normal babies out of her you'd have to sell/place.

I haven't heard anything bad about NERD, though I think I might prefer a smaller breeder. I used to have some breeder's site bookmarked (lost it) that had absolutely stunning snakes... and the prices were high of course. Their pastels looked to have more of a pink color? Though that could have been the photos - but I suspect it might have just been from incubation and how they kept them.

Originally Posted by strange_wings

An easier way to explaining it to them may be - you can breed for specific colors in cats and you can do the same in snakes... though in cats that would tend to fall more under traits.
You'd actually have less than a 50% chance, btw, because normal is more dominate. It would depend a lot on what your normal has in her history, unless you know it just consider her a pet as you'd have a lot of normal babies out of her you'd have to sell/place.

I haven't heard anything bad about NERD, though I think I might prefer a smaller breeder. I used to have some breeder's site bookmarked (lost it) that had absolutely stunning snakes... and the prices were high of course.

Their pastels looked to have more of a pink color? Though that could have been the photos - but I suspect it might have just been from incubation and how they kept them.

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My normal female was also from a pastel clutch. I wish it would increase the odds, but that's doubtful. But it is a 50% chance with a pastel because they are codominant, just as dominant as the normal gene.

NERD has some awesome snakes, but yes I agree I would prefer a smaller breeder. However if I ever bought my het pieds, I'd really consider buying from NERD.

They could have taken the pictures before their first shed, for some reason the lighter morphs are really pink until their first shed.

^No, these were full grown snakes. As I said, it could have just been how they're kept or the camera they used. Some digital camera software makes colors look a little different - mine makes reds look very bright.

Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

Cool snakes. But have a question - explain the "morph" part to me?

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I did a google search.

The term "morph" is used to describe a ball python that does not have a normal appearance. It looks different than the standard ball python.

Here is a page that shows qualities of a ball python that would constitute it being considered a "morph"

http://www.ballpython.com/page.php?topic=makemorph

So pretty. I do like snakes. They talk to the biologist part of my brain. Nice.

Originally Posted by strange_wings

^No, these were full grown snakes. As I said, it could have just been how they're kept or the camera they used. Some digital camera software makes colors look a little different - mine makes reds look very bright.

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Huh, that is weird Now if they could make a pink ball python! I saw and ivory at the Des Monies snake expo in shed and it was a fantastic pink color! They guy selling it didn't like the pink though

Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

I did a google search.

The term "morph" is used to describe a ball python that does not have a normal appearance. It looks different than the standard ball python.

Here is a page that shows qualities of a ball python that would constitute it being considered a "morph"

http://www.ballpython.com/page.php?topic=makemorph

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That's a good easy explanation!

Originally Posted by binkyhoo

So pretty. I do like snakes. They talk to the biologist part of my brain. Nice.

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You know, I didn't care for them, but I was always interested. Now I love them and think they are just gorgeous!

Pretty snake! I used to keep a few different species of snakes, but I no longer have any. I only had one BP (a normal). My DH always wanted to get an albino, but we never did due to space/$ limitations.

Very beautiful snake!!