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Will someone explain to me what makes a pastel and a clown slider?

Hello,
I was the one who named "pastel colored" redbellies and yellowbellies" the term "Clown" Three years ago I purchased a orange redbelly with blue spots on its back, the head was all yellow with black stripes, not the usual black head with yellow stripes. This head and the colors on the shell gave me the idea of calling it a clown because it represented a true clown. It even had stripes that make it look like it smiled.
The next year I also recieved another clown. I have only gotten two orange shelled clowns. These have all been redbellies. They both came from the same turtle farm as well.
I , also in that time period, recieved "clown" yellowbellies.
These have been yellow shelled with bluish reduced pattern and the same heads as the redbellies.....
All those were born in a different farm, but all born in the same farm as well.
This leads me to believe it is probably genetic.
This year at one farm there were 7 or 8 of which i got two "clown" redbellies. These were yellow shelled though.
This is a bit more proof that they are genetic.
Pastel turtles on the other hand are just random pattern and sometimes body abnormalities. Some are perfect and have lots of color(name pastel comes from) but they are ALL induced by temperature. It may be possible to get pastels from breeding two like pastel red ears together but it hasnt proven any new pastels from what I have heard so far.
So to make it short Pastels lean more towards no genetic background, just temperature induced(this is also backed up by 50% are born wih body deformities such as one eye or none, really messed up scutes and shells, no mouths,kinked tails etc....)-that is why perfect pastels are in high demand and cost more
while "clowns" have all been perfect, maybe a split scute on one or two which isnt highly abnormal as lots and lots of turtles are born with that, and they have so far had a 100% survival rate. Clowns seem to be of genetic background/.
Sorry for making it so long but I didn't know whow to explain it without providing details.
Mike
M n R-Reptiles
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"Quality isn't Quality without customer service so I guess I sell quality"

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