Reptile & Amphibian Forums

It seems like in any line of pastels there are "ugly" ones and "pretty" ones. I'm not talking about lemons vs blonds vs graziani but rather pastels within one particular line.

What causes this variability? Do "ugly" lemon pastels produce "ugly" lemon pastel babies? Do "pretty" lemon pastels produce "pretty" lemon pastel babies? When breeding pastel X normal, does the appearance of the normal come into play? I'm just trying to understand whether or not "ugly" and "pretty" are random.

Any pastel experts out there? I'm sure there are...

I am not an expert on pastels, but I do belive that if you select nice looking normals to breed into your pastels, you should produce better looking pastels. Jungle Carpets for example, have been selectively bred to bring out the yellow and reduce the "dirtiness" that develops as they age. I don't see why this would not work for ball pythons. Instead of putting a male morph with any female large enough to breed, be more selective about what animals to pair up. That is what I am trying in my own collection.

Thanks for the info. A follow up question- for those of you that have bred pastels before, do you find that pastel siblings vary much in their appearance? In other words, can you get a bright, lighter pastel in the same clutch as a darker, "dirtier" pastel?

I know in pieds the amount of white is random: two low-white pied parents could produce high white offspring. Are pastels the same way in terms of their brightness?

There are lots of factors in play with pastels. Yes an ugly pastel can make pretty babies and a pretty pastel can make ugly babies. Idealy to get the best looking pastels you would want a nice looking pastel and pair it with light normals or ones with a lot of blushing since pastel will increase those nice traits. If you are breeding even a nice looking pastel to a dark normal you will most likely end up with darker pastels wich don't look as nice.
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Nita Hamilton
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Ball Pythons
ballpythonworld.com

np