I want to first say that my intention is not to discredit other's accomplishments or say that I have any clue as to what exactly a "pastel" is. I will however say that I think the whole pastel craze has gotten, well, crazy. I posted this originally over on Ralph's site (can we please get some more boa fans over there?! the damned bp lovers are in total control, scary stuff ) and thought it may spark some interesting debate over here.

"I think these are super dupers? Ruby Pastels? Yo' Mama pastels?! Who know's... everyone and their brother has pastels it seems. I'm not trying to start a war over "this is a pastel and this isn't" but I hate seeing 40 posts a day on the classifieds offering NORMAL boas as "Pastels". I realize if I don't like it, don't buy it... but it almost seems like ppl are trying to tag a flashy label on every boa... like the scummy bp guys on the bp classifieds with every spot and alien as a new morph or oddity.

Stef's post is what triggered this... and I mean no disrespect to you Stef, but that boa looks to me like any other above average colombian. It's indeed a GREAT looking animal... but to label it a "Carmel Pastel"? I don't profess to be some godly boa breeder, but I've had a fair number of litters over the past 4 years now and in EVERY one... there are normals that are as nice if not nicer then the boa that was posted.

I guess this really solves nothing, but it just bothers me that I see some breeders offering normal boas at $50-$100 and calling them as they are. While others offer the same animals as pastels and ask $250-$500. Again, if he can get it good for him... and round and round we go "

Like I said in the old post.. it solves nothing, but I'd love to hear some other people's views on the Pastel situation. Most people are in agreeance that a morph is not a morph until it is bred true. Now therin lies the problem with the pastel... if you breed your "Pastel" boa to a normal... and half or more of the offspring look above average and the other half is average... is that a "genetic" morph or just simple heredity at work? Does that now need to be a new line of pastel?

I posted these guys below last year when I first produced them... I still have no idea exactly what's going on as there are "normals", "pastels", and some kind of pastel anerys. I repeated the breeding again this year so hopefully I'll see if I can produce the same stuff. Maybe it's something, maybe it's nothing.... it's all fun though













Thanks,

Guy Scavone II
Living Art Herpetology

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