Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm not sure what to call these but I have a recently imported pair.

Normal..............

I have to disagree about it being a "nice normal". Almost any morph could be considered a "nice normal" until it is proven genetic and it's worth as a breeding project, for either the morph itself or a combination with another morph, is established. You'd be amazed at the Balls that I've found in petstores that were considered "nice normals", but for someone familiar with variations, are treasures. (Pastel, Burgundy Hypo, and IMG to name a few.) While to some these ARE nice normals, to me they both stand alone and are ingredients to producing as yet unseen morphs.
As for the snakes you have, I find the gray coloration very nice. I'm not sure how true the color shows in the photo, especially with the red background. I'd love to see them next to a "not-so-nice normal".

Jim
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PYTHON PALETTE
The Living Art of Ball Pythons

Hi Jim. I took a bunch of pics. Some with a daylight buld, flash, reduced flash and no flash. The pic posted is as close to "true" as I could get and its pretty close, maybe a tad darker. I will post more pics. She is a 900 gram animal so those are adult colors.She has no black at all. The other I have is even more awesome. She has a wide faded blushing stripe and the same "browned out" coloration. I don't know weather to prove them out or put a pastel to her??? Wouls be a great combination. I agree, what is a nice normal? Thats a very general statement. 30 years ago, we sold a "nice normal" for $5 more than the others! So instead of selling for $15 each, we could get $20 for that one! LOL Who'd of ever thought someone would have paid $45,000 for a Ball Python??!! It's a crazy buisness, but you gotta love it!

Hi Bill,
Thanks for posting the pic! That looks like a very nice
snake. I too have picked up a lot of animals and out of the
bunch a few really stand out. In my mind, they are not 'normals'
but are different. Does that mean they are worth 1000s of $$?
Probably not. But I for one agree with you that your pic does
not look like a normal ball. It seems like there are always a
handful of people out there that are quick to post their 'Nice
Normal n/p' messages whenever someone posts similar pics.
I do agree that there are often times when people post pics that
do look like ordinary normal ball pythons, but there are other
times (like yours) when I think the 'Nice Normal' comment is not
warranted. Here's a pic of some interesting adult females I
picked up recently. The one on the bottom right is just in
there for reference and she is what I would consider a 'normal'.
Now if I could just hire someone to come up with some fancy
morph names for them I could try to sell them...
The one on the top left is a tan and black snake that doesn't
really look brown in person, and the one in the middle has a
greenish color to her. I know that they really stood out among
a large number of animals I got in a shipment, so that is why
I consider them 'not so normal'.

Have a good holiday!
ChrisS - SanJose

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Hi Chris, thanks for your comment. I really like the one to the left. I just bought a male on kingsnake that matches 2 other females I have. Same pattern and coloration. People forget about "visible hets". A pastel is a visible het for a super pastel. Phantoms have procuced Lucy's so who's to say. Its only a "nomal" until you make more to prove it out and then come up with a catchy name for it! Bill

Many "nice normals" can prove to be genetic. Het red axanthics look like just "normal" blackbacks. Before the pewters, I thought Greg Graziani's cinnamon pastels looked pretty normal. In 2003 Ralph proved a banded trait that is found in many "normals" and people are indeed proving reduced and banded ball pythons.

I think the danger in this realm is marking something special before it's "proven." Then people just laugh at you. But if you can indeed reproduce something "normal" such as banded appearance or a light ball, then you have something to squawk about. Just think of the possibilities with anything that's "normal" but exceptionally pretty. We have just begun producing designer ball pythons. Some of these traits, as plain as they seem could help produce killer animals.

Good luck Bill!