So I purchased this as an orange dream yellow belly black pastel leopard clown, RGI test came back negative for all of the known yellow belly complex and orange dream! Here is a belly shot, as you can see it is very orange and has the classic look of yellow belly checkering. Is this possibly orange belly or another unknown type of yellow belly? RK Asphalt is something that RGI said it could be. Also it really looks like OD as well. Are all OD types mapped out or is the OD test not known to be very accurate? Any info on this could help a lot. I find it hard to believe this animal is just black pastel leopard clown. Thanks all!
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Did you only test for YB complex and OD?
I’d do a full panel test if thats something you haven’t done already.
Mind sharing more photos too? That belly looks interesting but it’d be more telling if we could see the full snake.
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To date, there is only one known OD allele and no other similar morphs in contention
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Ben is very transparent about the accuracy score on his tests and they are all listed on the site
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This right here. A picture like the one you have, in a vacuum, is not particularly helpful in determining ID. Multiple, clear, full body pics with good, proper lighting are needed to be able to determine possibilities
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Now, with all the above said, please allow me go on a small rant. Honestly, what I have to say below probably belongs in over a hundred threads on this forum, today is just the first time I have actually had the mental bandwidth to finally get it all out
Since the advent of the testing area, I have begun to notice an overwhelming collective laziness in the hobby when it comes to understanding both the basics of morphs and the realities of testing and results. There is a huge subset of the hobby that are (almost willfully) ignorant of how to identify even simple morph traits. Hand in hand with this is that, almost universally, people have adopted two very flawed beliefs; 1) That these tests are infallible and 2) That a test result that goes against expectation almost inevitably leads to what myself and others used to call “magic thinking” back in the ‘Dinker Era’ (e.g., “There has to be something else happening here, because I refuse to accept that my expectation is not reality”)
Taking all of the above into account, the more proper way to frame a situation like this is to hold it up to Occam’s razor and evaluation things in the simplest terms:
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Did you ask RGI to do a rerun, just in case there was an error or mix up with your results?
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Did you ask RGI if their YB panel applies to OB?
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What was the actual pairing that produced this animal?
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How reliable is the breeder/seller when it comes to morph identification? Are they someone that has been in this hobby for decades with an eye for the subtleties of certain morphs in complex combos? Or are they some newer breeder that is making guesses based on their “gut feel”?
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How reliable are you when it comes to morph identification? The same questions about the breeder above are equally applicable to you. And if I am being completely honest, the wording of your post makes me believe you lean more toward the “gut feel” end of the spectrum
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It’s only letting me upload one pic at a time lol.
Yes I asked RGI about the OB he said it was possible. The pairing was BP OD YB LEO clown x OD het clown. Breeder Id it same as the parent visual clown. I’m fairly good at iding morphs but I am for sure questioning the breeders because of the test results. I know the tests are not 100% and he may prove out to be both OD and YB, I really hope so. The breeder is Mike Wells and he has been a breeder for well over a decade and works closely with very good lines of orange dream, and from what I see, he may have an unidentified line of orange belly as I have seen evidence in other animals of his.
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This is a clutch mate of my guy, labeled as OD leopard clown. I think Od is for sure possible but I also think that it could be orange belly, not only because it has a very orange color, but the lower third is much brighter with color like flaming, an indicator of OB vs yellow belly which has the color and the black specks of flames.
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I replied, but I accidentally did not reply to your comment
Yellow Belly and leopard will give a colored belly effect. I just sold a Leopard YB Sandblast with a yellow belly. I wish I took more photos of it. His ringer was orange on the belly as a hatchling.
From the pairing, I wouldn’t be able to really tell you what gene it could potentially be in the YB complex if testing negative… But it could also be a potential reaction to the OD. If your snake does test out as het leopard, the influence on the body pattern is low expression. The belly does have that BP Leopard look to me tho. Especially if that YB is there as well.