Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey guys i have a few snakes and i just picked up my first ball python. He looks like a yellow belly and i picked him up from a pet store for . . well a hell of a lot less then a yellow belly would cost ($59.99). It looks A LOT like a yellow belly but i have no real way to prove it besides breeding (which i intend to do) but i do have some picture to show and perhaps you guys can give me your opinion if its a yellow belly or not.

thanks,
Russ

I'm horrible with a camera and most of the pictures came out blurry. . . . but here are a few decent ones of his underside. They are high res so ill just link to them.

Pics (copy and paste into browser)
http://my.fit.edu/~rpellow/SNake/P1010332.JPG
http://my.fit.edu/~rpellow/SNake/P1010333.JPG
http://my.fit.edu/~rpellow/SNake/P1010334.JPG
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Russ
1.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa (Apollo)
?.? Columbian Rainbow Boa (??)
1.0 Guyana Red-Tail Boa (Ares)
0.1 Rosy Boa (Athena)

Melbourne, Fl

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Tosha
JET Pythons

I'm no expert but judging from your pics I'd have to say that the belly doesn't look like a yellow belly. They have a very distinct granite like pattern along the sides of there stomach. He does seem to have some nice flames but in my opinion not enough of them. That being said people have posted yellow bellies that proved out that were very subtle so the above is just my very inexpert opinion. Does he have the head spot?
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I eat human infants. They, like everything else, taste like chicken. What?

For that BP to end up for 60$ at the petstore, he passed through many hands:

(Just a guess...)
1. Whoever caught him in Africa or hatched him out (almost definitely in Africa)
2. Whoever was his boss
3. Whoever was the African exporter
4. Whoever was the US importer
5. Whoever was the US distributor
6. Whoever was the reptile buyer at the petstore
7. Pet store manager
8. Pet store worker
9. Other customers that came in before you

So for him to end up costing you 60$, a lot of people had a chance to look at him and snatch him up first, or, more likely, pass him up. Not saying it doesn't happen, but its unlikely that a visible morph, even a subtle one, makes it through to a retail customer.

Nice looking snake.

Joel
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0.1 Ball Python
0.1 Corn Snake
1.0 Leopard Gecko
0.0.1 Blood Python

This is a good point, hover i am good friends with the manager of the reptile department at this store. I know exactly how they got the snake. It came in on a trade and the guy wanted to trade the ball, and a monitor for 100$ off a different animal. He accepted because he thought it was a YB (the manager) After speaking with the owner they came to the conclusion that they could not sell it as a YB because they didn't know FOR SURE because A) they don't know the parents of the snake and B) they would have to breed it otherwise to know. So it was then put up for sale for $200. Then today i came in and was looking for it (i kept my eye on it for a while) and i couldn't find it, then i finally found it in a bin for $59.99!!! the General Manager of the store had changed prices on the ball pythons without talking to the manager of the reptile department so i was able to swoop in and pick it up for $60.00 before anyone found out what had happened.
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Russ
1.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa (Apollo)
?.? Columbian Rainbow Boa (??)
1.0 Guyana Red-Tail Boa (Ares)
0.1 Rosy Boa (Athena)

Melbourne, Fl

Its just a nice looking normal but as for it being put out in the store for 200 if you find someone willing to pay that for a nice normal send them my way
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Damian Macioce
www.strongholdreptiles.com

It seems to have a lot of yellow speckles along its sides and next to the other snakes around it it stood WAY OUT. I checked a book in the store on ball python morphs and it gave 4 ways to see if it was a YB or not.

1st was what you mentioned, a light colored spot on its head
CHECK, it seemed that there was a lighter colored area on its head.

2nd was a light colored tongue
CHECK, it was a light colored tongue with only a black spot.

3rd was very dark eyes (black)
CHECK, eyes were black and you could barley see any pattern in them at all

4th was the light yellow speckles on its belly and that the speckles fade into the side of the snake.
CHECK, although the yellow on white was hard to see, it does have yellow on the very bottom and from the pictures I've shown it certainly has some yellow fading into the sides of the snake.

Its a beautifull snake and next to the other snakes it made it look without a doubt a yellow belly but even if it isn't its an exceptional looking snake for only 60$. Either way im going to try to breed it out next season to see if it is or isn't for certain.

thanks
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Russ
1.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa (Apollo)
?.? Columbian Rainbow Boa (??)
1.0 Guyana Red-Tail Boa (Ares)
0.1 Rosy Boa (Athena)

Melbourne, Fl

sorry nice snake but no YB look how the pattern on the belly looks all in a stright line speckeled.

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Vince Pramuk

See how the yellowbelly in the previous picture not only has more speckles lined up at the edge of the belly but importantly it has more than just the one middle row of scales between the speckles on each edge.

But I do suspect subtle morphs end up in the huge pet store volume all the time. I've seen a ghost that later proved that passed through a pet store undetected as a hatchling.

Here is my favorite pet store find (not proven).

It is a nice snake. I just don't think its a yellow belly either...but i am no expert...I still have troubles telling orange ghosts, ghosts, granites, fireballs etc from normal ball pythons.

Even using the wonderful site The hunter's Guide to Morphs, (see link below) I don't think yours in a yellow belly. Not all ball pythons with some minor flames, a bit of speckling on the belly and nice yellow saddles, will be a het ivory. My first female ball python had all those traits too, (though her eyes were super dark if I remember correctly)

Only way to know for sure is to breed him/her and see what happens.

A new picture of the above snake giving a good shot of the light spot on her head. She also has some blushing on her back, but I don't have any good pictures of it right now.

and, last but not least, the link to the hunter's guide.
www.nextworldexotics.com/hgyb.htm

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PHLdyPayne