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I am in the market for a 600+ gram nice pastel male/female and was wondering which lines were the best in terms of retaining the yellow brightness/high contrast (seen in babies) into adulthood. Bell? Graziani? Blonde? NERD? NERD Lemon? Thanks for your help.

Jim

well NERD says theres is the best, and Graziani says theirs is the best, and....

It all depends on the animal, by the time they are 600g you can pretty much tell what they will be like as adults.I like the pattern and blushing on Grazianis the most, but out of all of them I think they hold there color the worst(imo)

I just bought a NERD pastel!!

I'm partial to the Graziani line, specifically the high-blushed specimens. As far as browning out, that's somewhat difficult to predict. I have an 1,100 gram Graziani that has retained his yellow color. I used to have a Bell pastel that browned out before reaching 300 gram, but that doesn't mean that all Bell's brown out and all Graziani's retain their color. It's a gamble in most instances. Selective breeding of higher colored animals may work, just look at ASF's offspring every season, they are known for outstanding pastels from several lines.
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Paul Snyder

Home

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How about the VPI and BHB lines - any comments on them? I have heard the Blonde's get better as they age but have not substanited that just yet.

Jim

"I have heard the Blonde's get better as they age..."

Blonde Pastel breeders tend to say that a lot.

Chris
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mean people suck

>>"I have heard the Blonde's get better as they age..."
>>
>>Blonde Pastel breeders tend to say that a lot.

This is my '03 male blonde...I've seen many a graziani and other lines that are very brown by this age, and mine's still lookin' great. I'm not going to make a blanket statement, but from my experience, my blonde has held it's color incredibly as it aged. You can find this in a few examples of other lines, but IMHO, not a prevalently as you can in blondes.

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Jeremy Conrad
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...Can't...stop...must...get...more...balls...

that the Blondes stay or get better with age. Very nice example!!!!
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Greg Holland
GM HERPS
www.imageevent.com/gmherps
gmherps@sbcglobal.net

>>that the Blondes stay or get better with age. Very nice example!!!!

I actually had another pastel who was a great blusher...looked great, but I picked up this blonde. I paid nearly three times as much for him (an adult proven breeder), and I'm so glad I did. The comment below is so true...find an adult you like and get it...pay for it...it'll pay for itself in the long run.
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Jeremy Conrad
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...Can't...stop...must...get...more...balls...

I would say buy a nice looking adult, or you are taking a chance that you will not like your Pastel as an adult. As far as different lines aging with more or less brown, I think it depends on the adult animal, and the animal it was bred too. I think a Bell line male x high gold normal female might give you better offspring than line Z bred to an ugly normal female. Also, there is alot of "marketing" going on with different breeders of different lines. To me, most lines are pretty darn similar as adults. Do not buy into the hype. If someone lined up 10 Pastels side by side, I guarantee, with the exceptions being maybe Ruppels line, or the Enchi Pastel, nobody could tell the difference in the ten animals.

>>I would say buy a nice looking adult, or you are taking a chance that you will not like your Pastel as an adult.

Well said. "saving" a few hundred here and there is the difference between a great collection of quality animals and having an unimpressive collection of a lot of balls.
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Jeremy Conrad
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...Can't...stop...must...get...more...balls...

I'm working with 2 lines of Pastels Graziani and Bell and like both of them equally.
I think that selective breeding with nice looking normals is very important.
My nicest Pastel is a female 100% het Ghost, Did she maintain her color because she's a product of Ghost X Pastel breeding???
I would like to see other adult Pastel 100% het for Ghost to see how they look.

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Adrian
AFR
http://imageevent.com/afreptiles

How big/old is that female in the pic? She is a perfect example of a pastel (no matter which line we are talking about). Did you produce her yourself? If so, can we see pics of the sire and dam?

Thanks!

Brandon,
She is over a year old and 1200 grams.
She was produced by Mark and Kim Bell, Pastel X Ghost breeding.
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Adrian
AFR
http://imageevent.com/afreptiles

I've had a similar question about "normal" pastels from a Super-Pastel X Pastel breeding. The ones I've seen seem to have more even color and whiter blushing on the head. One breeder even said his best normal pastels came from SuperXnormal Pastel pairing. I'm in the process of acquiring a killer looking female pastel from Ozzy Boids with a super-light head, again, the product of a Super to normal Pastel. Has anyone else found this to be true?
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Paul Snyder

Home

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Thanks for all of your comments and pics. I can see there are lots of great choices out there. More research to do... but this is a great jump start. Jim

What about Ruppel Pastels? I think this one is very nice.

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Allison Maynard