Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am trying to learn as fast as I can, but I think time will help more than speed. Anyway, my son just bought a spider ball python and as I desperately try to grasp at the genetics I learned way too many moons ago I am slowly trying learn my morphs. My current question is "is there a distinct set of guideline somewhere for a good vs poor specimen of each morph?'. Or is really an opinion as long as the basic requirements are there? SImce the spider does not really appeal to me I guess that makes it harder. She is just a baby so I guess she'll grow on me.lol
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I would say the main two things when it comes to knowing if you got a "Good one" would be as follows:

1) The type of morph

2) The personal taste of the person purchasing/owning said animal

3) Health of said animal (which we won't take into account as this was a morph question).

With regards to the type of morph, in your case you are asking in regards to a "Spider" morph, usually what is considered desireable is a reduced pattern, and high white on the sides. Main reasoning for this stems from the nature of the morph itself. The two main features tend to be the reduced patterning, and the white flaking on the sides. There are some spiders that come out with some spotting in the patterning, and some with low white on the sides, but these usually are considered by MOST to be less desireable (but not all, as I said its personal preference). You will hear people talking about certain traits that "Clean up" the color or patterning in particular morphs. Such as a reduced pattern type morph (Clowns, SPiders, Womas come to mind as some of the most obvious) would be enhanced with selective breeding of reduced patterns into them. Things like high white sides so far seem to be random, much like the level of white in pieds. For the spider morph in particular, also the health of the animal would be a determining factor, as most/all spiders exhibit some level of "moongazing" or wobbling of the head, and weird inverted behaviors, but these also have been shown for the most part, to not be negatively impacting the overall health of animals, I don't think any keeper would be happy to have a snake they plan to breed that exhibits this trait to a high degree. Another example would be the kinking prevalent in alot of Caramel Albino lines, and the "Duckbilling" that seems to happen within the super forms of the Cinnamon and Black Pastel lines.

Overall, its personal opinion and both ends of the spectrum tend to have their own positives (As in pieds, some people favor the high whites, and some favor the low white ones).

What it comes down to is preference, and future breeding plans for a particular morph. Another good example would be albinos, most people would be aiming for a high contrast albino, but those looking at making a "Snow Ball" (albino axanthic) are purposely going after an ultra faded type of albino.

Hope that helps, and hope it makes sense, just typed it out real quick for ya but thats the general gist.

i think that is a fine example so far at its age, if its still relatively youg the white will come in ever more so by the time its a sub adult size. its a good example of what a spider should look like
the image below is of my spider with moderate high white sides