Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Can any one explain a ringer to me?

So far it seems to be a way for someone to make a little more money off an otherwise normal ball python.

Hopefully you will get an explanation from those who know more about them but if you are just looking for a picture here is one that I produced this year and sold at a sale yesterday for $40. He has a 25% chance of being het for piebald and I've heard that maybe they show up in piebald lines more but I think also completely separately. Hopefully the lady that bought him will change her mind and breed him. When she told me she wasn't planning to I tried to talk her into another but she wanted this one.

I know there are more extreme ones out there but this is the only one I’ve seen in person. Basically with him there is a place between where the yolk was absorbed and the vent where the belly is whiter and the white comes up the side a little. There is an orange band around the back starting at the edge of the white and the black pattern is waffley around the white.

Whether its cause is genetic or not I can only speculate. However the white up from the belly, the orange around the white, and the waffley black pattern are all seen in more extreme examples in piebalds. This little guy also has the white belly near the tail with black stripe around the edges that is rumored to be a sign of het seen in SOME het pieds.

And don’t ask, I just sold my last male with the striping edge to a pet store for $25 and can’t ship anyway.

I took this small explanation from arbreptiles.com They have a page that list's all known Ball Python variants.

"Every other imaginable variation in normal color and pattern has also been issued one or more flashy names to boost sales.
Ringer is another like it. The term originally was used for an otherwise normal patterned ball with a piebald like ring around the body, normally towards the tail. Now I see it used to describe normal balls with a white outline around the gold blotches. A pathetic misuse of the term in my opinion."

They tend to vary in price according to how distinct the ring is. I thought that the ring was only white,but now I am hearing that the ring can also be Orange.Sometimes the ring isn't a ring at all,the orange one I saw had like a half-moon orange ring.
I hope this helps some.

Thanks to every one for there time to respond and for the info. I think I agree it is just a way to make a bit more money on a normal ball.

Thanks again,
Angelo