Was just making some observations and thought I would try to add to the body of knowledge regarding the Leopard gene in Ball Pythons.

Leopard Gene in Ball Pythons

By
Mark Martinek

Breeder of Ball Pythons since 2006.

In 2008 a male visual pied (#92) was purchased from Gateway Reptiles, Gateway Reptiles reports that the snake was derived from the Pete Kahl line of pieds. The Pete Kahl line of pieds is widely considered to be genesis of the Leopard Gene.

Research has been inconclusive as to if the Leopard Gene is a separate Gene from the pied gene, or if the Leopard gene is required to be combined with a pied gene to become visual, or if the leopard gene is a special type of pied gene that is compatable with a standard Pied gene. For example, it currently unknown if a Pastel Leopard Het Pied is a combination of 2 or 3 genes. It is proven that a Het Pied to Leopard Het Pied will produce a visual pied. It my gut feeling that it is a separate gene from Pied, but it will take years to be sure with any certainty.

As of 2011.09.25 4 clutches have been sired by Leopard Pied (#92). After careful analysis of the resulting offspring several prominent characteristics that define a Leopard het pied have been observed. All Leopard offspring available for this report are 100% het pied thereby precluding the making of any inference as to if the leopard gene is a standalone gene or a type II pied gene. Note that is a difficult proposition to prove if the Leopard gene is a separate gene from the Pied gene when starting with a Proven Leopard Pied. This would entail breeding the Proven Leopard Pied to a normal (or any snake without a pied gene). Then to take any resulting Leopard 100% Het pieds and breed them to a snake without a pied gene (this is required to have the possibility of a snake that has the leopard gene without a pied gene), then to take any of the visual Leopard 50% het pieds from this pairing and breed them to both visual pieds (het pieds can also be used, but results will not be as certain) and also to any snake 100% lacking a pied gene, and then carefully observe the outcome of these breedings. If there can be found a Leopard 50% Het pied that NEVER produces a Pied offspring when paired with a Visual Pied (thereby proving that the Leopard 50% het pied is not actually het pied) AND can produce Leopards when paired with a snake 100% lacking a pied gene, then and only then, and only after enough clutches have been observed, can it be assumed with some degree of certainty that the Leopard gene is a separate standalone gene from the pied gene. Starting with an adult proven Leopard pied, it will take 5 to 7 years to accumulate enough data to reach a reliable conclusion.

The common characteristics observed are set forth as follows. Note that all inferences have been 100% derived from 4 clutches that produced 12 snakes that carry the leopard gene, all clutches were sired by a male visual pied that proved to be a Leopard Pied. Of these there were Leopard 100% het pieds, Pastel Leopard 100% het pieds and Pastel Leopard Pieds, While observations of other Leopard Ball Python photographs available on the internet support these observations, they are not considered to be a part of this report.

Sire and Dams

#92 (Sire-Bruce Lee) Purchased as a male Pied (currently proven to be a leopard pied) from Gateway Reptiles in 2008

#57 (Dam-Dutchess) Purchased as a Female 100% (currently unproven) het pied from Paul Edwards in 2007

#3 (Dam-Isis) Purchased as a Super Pastel from Shane Kinney in 2007

#6 (Dam-Cleopatra) Purchased as a Female Pastel 100% (currently proven) het pied from Dan Wolfe in 2006

#20 (Dam-Shelby) Purchased as a Female 100% (currently unproven) het pied from Paragon reptiles in 2006

Leopard Offspring (all hets are 100% het pied))

#147 of clutch 8.3 from 6x92 Leopard Pastel Het Pied
#143 of clutch 8.3 from 6x92 Leopard Pastel Pied
#144 of clutch 8.3 from 6x92 Leopard Pastel Pied
#145 of clutch 8.3 from 6x92 Leopard Pastel Pied
#150 of clutch 9.7 from 57x92 Leopard Het Pied
#155 of clutch 9.7 from 57x92 Leopard Het Pied
#170 of clutch 8.11 from 20x92 Leopard Het Pied
#171 of clutch 8.11 from 20x92 Leopard Het Pied
#177 of clutch 10.12 from 3x92 Leopard Pastel het Pied
#178 of clutch 10.12 from 3x92 Leopard Pastel het Pied
#179 of clutch 10.12 from 3x92 Leopard Pastel het Pied
#180 of clutch 10.12 from 3x92 Leopard Pastel het Pied

Color

Leopard het pieds have a slightly green, slightly darker look to them as compared to Normals. It is a Khaki Green coloration that is easily observed with the naked eye. Unknown at this time if leopards are lacking a spectrum of color, or if they have more of a spectrum of color that gives them this effect.
Pastel Leopard het pieds also have a slightly green look as compared to other Pastels in the same or other clutches.
Leopard het pieds and Pastel Leopard het pieds are of a higher color contrast than normals and pastels in the same and other clutches, the dark of the banded pattern is very dark and is lacking or completely without blushing.
Pastel Leopard het pieds have an overall more faded head than other pastels, to the point that the head is almost white as compared to the light grey of a pastel.
Pastel Leopard Pieds do not seem to have as white a head, it is a vibrant yellow as compared to the more white head of a Pastel leopard het pied, or pastel het pieds in the same and other clutches.
The Belly of Leopard het pieds and Pastel leopard het pieds has the coloring of a yellowbelly, it has a definite but faint shade of yellow to it. Pastel Leopard Pieds have a white belly, comparable to a normal pied.

Skin

The Skin of Leopard type snakes as babies seems to have a certain irredescent quality, their skin seems to reflect light differently than other Ball Pythons, When taking pictures of Leopards they seem to be more shiny and reflect light more so than a normal ball python this is especially noticeable on the top of the head. In the right light a Leopard Pied baby will show slight purple reflections, similar to water that has a sheen of oil on it.

Scales

The Scales of the Pastel Leopard Pieds are interesting, among the scales of the snakes, many seem to be different. Where as most of the scales are like a normal pied, there are many individual scales that look dull and slightly darker, these don’t seem to be a shiny as the rest of the scales.

Belly Pattern

The Belly Pattern of the Leopard Het Pieds and Pastel Leopard Het Pieds differs noticeably from Het pieds and Pastel Het pieds from the same clutch. Whereas the Het pieds and Pastel Het pieds have dramatic nearly full length dark lines along each side of their belly, the Leopard Het Pieds and Pastel Leopard het pieds have a broken stripe pattern down each side that appears to be a dashed pattern of alternating light and dark splotches similar to a Yellowbelly.

Body Pattern

This is the most noticeable attribute of the Leopard het Pied trait. It is what makes the Leopard such a desirable morph to work with.
A Leopard Het pied has a jumbled and stretched looking pattern as compared to a normal ball python. This effect is most pronounced near the tail where the lower pattern is commonly completely broken up into little splotches of dark pattern. toward the tail the pattern on the back of the snake turns into a long light colored stripe. Overall the Leopard het pied pattern has longer continuous areas of light and dark colored pattern than a normal, it has the appearance of a melted normal pattern. The Alien Eyes commonly associated with a normal pattern are nearly or completely absent. The light belly coloring frequently continues up the sides of the snake more so than a normal Ball Python, ringer type patterns are more common, especially near the tail, near the cloaca the ringer trait is seen more commonly than not. Interestingly it appears that the overall pattern of light and dark on a Leopard het pied is close to 50/50, it is this ratio that contributes to giving a Leopard het pied its attractive look.
Leopard het pieds, Pastel Leopard het pieds and Pastel leopard pieds most commonly have a small “Y” pattern on the top of the snake where the spine meets the head, there is a small stripe that runs up the spine toward the back of the head that splits into a “Y” where it meets the head, this “Y” has not been observed in het pieds or pastel het pied siblings.
While the Leopard trait is easily observed on a Leopard het Pied, Pastel Leopard het Pied and Pastel Leopard pied, it is hard to see on a Leopard Pied. As the normal Pied pattern and coloring so effectively masks the leopard trait, determining if a visual pied is a leopard or not becomes very difficult. After careful examination it seems that perhaps a leopard pied may have a faint head pattern not normally seen on a normal pied, but with a lack of subject matter at this time is only a thought.
Of the 3 Pastel Leopard Pieds observed there are some common traits to them all. They are all very high white, two of the three have only coloring on their head, the third has only two small patches of color other than the head. Two of the Pastel Leopard Pieds have some black freckles, tiny small spots of black on the white portion of their body. It has been observed in Pieds that these Freckles can grow larger and appear from nothing as the snake matures, I dont feel that freckles are an indicator of a snake carrying the leopard gene or not as I have observed it on pieds that do not produce leopards.
On the Pastel Leopard Pieds the heads have a striking pattern of black splotches on a vibrant yellow background, this is in stark contrast to the nearly completely normal looking head of a Leopard Pied.
It is observed that the Pastel Gene works well to dramatically enhance the effect of the leopard gene in Ball Pythons.

Observations

The Leopard gene appears to be a solid, high quality gene. No birth defects, neurological disorders, or striking personality defects have been observed to date. All have proven to be aggressive eaters with above average growth rates. As a trait that increases color contrast and reduces blushing it will be a desirable trait to mix with any color morph, as a trait that creates such dramatic patterns it is a desirable trait to pair with any morph as well. Depending on why a Leopard has a green hue it could be able to create some dramatic new colors not seen before, if it has a green hue due to a lack of a certain pigment it could have dramatic implications for axanthic, albino, caramel and many other available color morphs. If it is due to the increase of a pigment it will have exciting implications as well.

Cheers!

Mark Martinek