Reptile & Amphibian Forums

It seems in ball pythons so many people are striving to get someone to tell them that their normal, that may be a tad different, is some new and upcoming morph. Yeah it could be, but we have to be realistic. its kinda dumb when everyone thinks they have that great new morh--that looks like a normal bp. I love the way normals look-but everyone trying to get some hype for their normal is crap. Along with all these stupid names they give them. It cheapens them. Any thoughts?

It's a case of wishful thinking and jackpot mentality.

There's a lot of variation among normal ball pythons, yet some of them, for some reason, prove to be genetic while others do not. Some, including snakes that look very much normal when bred together produce totally unexpected supers. Many people have difficulty understanding how to tell a normal apart from a yellowbelly, which is no doubt why they have become so affordable. "Normal looking snake" (to the untrained eye) that when bred together, produces an Ivory.

The Het Red Axanthic is another co-dom that looks normal to the untrained eye, yet produces a Red Axanthic.

Having ball pythons is a lot like having an instant lottery ticket, only "instant" can take 2 to 5 years to prove out. Because you really don't know if your snake is going to prove out or not there's that fantasy and hope that makes some people see things about their snake that the trained eye doesn't see.

Time will tell.

I agree with you that giving an unproven morph a name, publishing it out in the open, and even offering it for sale as something when it is not proven, is ridiculas. What they're really selling is a very expensive lottery ticket that will either prove genetic or won't. If it does, you hit it big. If it doesn't, your out your "investment."

I think Tom Baker did it right. Mohave to a normal looking female that proved to have something special and unexpected about her. This caused the Crystal to be produced. He named it (who wouldn't) and held onto it to see if it would prove out. Now that it has been duplicated and proven genetic it really is a new morph. Best wishes Tom.

We all hope our normals prove just as genetically exciting as Tom's normal female. None of us will know until something is produced. Until then we have interesting looking normals but there's lots of potential.

Good luck proving those new morphs!
Python Joe

The Spotnose was the same way. No one thought it was anything magical and BAM...the Super Spotnose turned out AMAZING.

You never know until you breed it out and hopefully get lucky.
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-Man fears the beast in the Wolf because he does not understand the beast within himself.

any recent pics of the super spotnose?

The super spotnose died a few months after hatching.

I LOVE the lottery and I have found myself playing the BP version myself,there was a time when my untrained eye weilded the "does my snake look different ?" and there may be times when i still choose to play but on a more private level hahahaha,I have seen some normals that even I said WOW and had to take a second look because I was unsure,a perfect example 2 of my het orange ghosts are ABSOLUTELY IMMACULATE (the BEST looking normals I have ever seen IN MY LIFE) but they still look somewhat normal. My advice to you is if your asking "is my snake a morph" your intentions are to either sell it or breed it,BREEEEEEED that bad boy or girl, prove him/her out and lets get to business.Now another way of asking without bringing unwanted smacks in the face as people in this forum HAVE proven to do in the past iiiiis say hey look at my new girl or boy that I picked up from the petstore or got from my friend today she looks awesome,then you may get some OMG that looks like a yellowbelly orrr hey thats a cool looking harlequin and the classic, great looking snake good luck. Either way you got the snake for a reason and it shouldnt matter if its a morph or not but just an added bonus if it is

DISCLAIMER:The opinions expressed here today are that of the sole individual and do not necessarilly reflect the opinions of others

With everything that has happened with ball pythons in the last few years....WHO KNOWS what EACH and every NORMAL BALL PYTHON carries within its genes....NO ONE !!!. I think Most everyone is caught up in the BALL CRAZE. Just think of it this way... If NO ONE ever THOUGHT a BALL PYTHON that looked different would produce something KOOL, then we probably wouldn't be where we are today. The more KOOL LOOKING MORPHs that come out of NORMAL appearing ANIMALs the MORE people will look for Ball pythons that look odd, But the bottom line is WE DON'T KNOW what is in WHAT. You might breed a wild collected NORMAL LOOKING female to an albino and get NOTHING but Normals Het Albino, and then you might breed that same female to a PIED and get nothing but Normals het Albino, Then you might breed it to a Mojave and get the CRYSTAL BALL... That is all I am saying...WE NEVER KNOW and it may not line up with one morph but it MIGHT line up with something else. I understand we are talking a pretty LONG shot, But if someone is Breeding BALL PYTHONS then why NOT pick ANIMALS that look a certain way or have clear bellies.... after all WE DON'T KNOW WHAT ARE IN THE GENEs of IMPORTED AFRICAN BABIES or anything else that comes in. Just remember the Ball Python World is CRAZY now so YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT YOUR GONNA GET. I understand what you are saying about people posting Totally NORMAL LOOKING BALL PYTHONS and asking if it is a MORPH, But We still don't know what is in that snakes genes no matter how normal it looks...Maybe whoever has that snake will never line anything up, But then again look what has happened with the ball python market.....Morphs everywhere and all in a VERY SHORT TIME. Just my opinion, Thanks David
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WRONG... The only time I was WRONG is when I thought I was WRONG but I was really RIGHT.....LOL...LOL...LOL

im not just talking about people thinking they have something special. but sometimes normals are just that normal. Myt biggest complaint is those people that are selling normals as some morph that they made a name up for. Like at a floridia show i went to this guy had like 50 diff normal hatchlings each with its own morph name. thats just rediculous. it seems so many people aree just trying to get some money and rip off the uneducated people. yeah we all want to make money but what happened to honesty and ethics?

>>yeah we all want to make money but what happened to honesty and ethics?

GRRRRR....God I hate it when that happens

Unfortunately,greed kicks in. Happens in EVERY business. Some may say it's a fact of life. I, for one, just wish it weren't.

Quig

Was making fun of all the names by naming the NORMAL LOOKING balls the names he named them. I have seen this before, but it was just to poke fun at the ball naming. just a thought. Thanks david
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WRONG... The only time I was WRONG is when I thought I was WRONG but I was really RIGHT.....LOL...LOL...LOL

Then there was that turd in the deli cup....sheesh
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Charles Glaspie

Tanstaafl:
"There ain't no such thing as a free lunch".
An acronym created by my favorite author Robert A. Heinlein.

Turd in a deli cup? Did IT have a name??

Quig

..actually ..i think it did. lol..but it escapes me now.
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Charles Glaspie

Tanstaafl:
"There ain't no such thing as a free lunch".
An acronym created by my favorite author Robert A. Heinlein.

Here is an idea for you, when you see a post that says "Is this a morph or a normal," you just do not open it.

Dave

i just think we are cheapening ourselves

There are people new to Balls that come to KS on a daily basis. They eventually buy a pet store animal, or maybe they already have a Ball, and they see pics of the Granite, Yellow Belly, Woma, Axanthics, Fires, etc., and as a newcomer, look at their animal and "see" a morph. One out of a thousand will actually be something cool, but the questions will not stop just because you do not like the question....it is not usually people with 50 Balls that are asking if their normal is a morph.

Dave