Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Do you think there's any truth to the theory of perfect grey/black stripes running down the sides of the belly (on both sides) leaving a pure white belly are an indication of the ball python carring a certain gene?

Of all of my Ball Pythons, I have two like this. And both of the stripes are perfect as are the bellys on both of them.

I was told this is an indication of the snake possibly carrying the piebald gene.

Your opinion?

Thanks in advance

This has been discussed often, here and in other forums. So far, no evidence has surfaced to entirely prove this theory. But, this hasn't stopped some from "holding back" possible hets. in their breeding programs. Some breeders and keepers have animals whose genetics are known to be "normal" that possess this trait. If this does prove out to be a physical marker for a known recessive trait, the way the two are linked has yet to be found.

Personally, I have hets both with and without the "train tracks" or "stripes". I am not 100% sure that it indicates anything. It may be nothing more than an aberrance in pattern. For now, I'm filing it in my "Breeder Legends" folder.
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It's actually not that I love or even like snakes. I just hate rodents.

Marcus,

Where did the 2nd one come from? Does it have the white all the way across the three belly scales like your 25% chance het pied male or are the stripes down onto the belly leaving less white between them? Are the stripes as dark/thick/continuous as on the known pied line animal? I think that sometimes people confuse the stripes associated with some het pieds with more broken marks that are down on the belly leaving only one white scale between them.

I have a lot of confidence in the mark as displayed by the brother of your 25% chance het (there where 3 of them that where very comparable) and will breed him to my similarly marked 25% chance het girls as soon as possible (hopefully this winter the way he eats). He also has an almost cinnamon looking head. I talked to the breeder and he reports that both looks seem to come from his TSK 50% chance het pied father. He produced a couple 25% chance het girls that almost look like low white pieds. He is one of my favorite snakes so hope you are enjoying yours as well.

My 25% chance het brother to yours is the middle sized one in this picture. The biggest 25% chance het pied in this picture is shown too far forward to see the stripes in the last 3rd of her body.

Hi Randy,

I adopted this one from a reptile rescue and wasn't aware of the markings until I arrived to pick him/her up. The sex is unknown but the markings are very clean.

Tell me what you think, here's a picture of "Arrow"

The marks are nice and wide but not very strait. Hope it's a girl! If so I'd breed it to the possible het pied male. It doesn't seem likely to rescue a het pied female but you got to try just in case. Best of luck!