What morph(s) is this baby?
I just had my first clutch and while I can easily identify all of the other babies, this one has me a bit stumped.
Dad is a lesser banana, mom is a bamboo mojave.
This little guy is closer in color to his bamboo siblings, but the pattern is closer to that of a mojave.
Is he just a funky bamboo? Is it possible that the BEL mom might be hiding another gene that the previous owner wasn’t aware of?
(Last pic is them between their bamboo and mojave siblings)
It’s a bit tough to say without maybe knowing what the BEL’s parents are. I don’t know if photos of the parents will help because BEL and Banana can make some IDs super tricky.
Mojave can also have some high variation within itself. So it can possibly just be a different level of expression.
That’s wild. The color is consistent with bamboo, but the pattern is more consistent with mojave. I would say weird bamboo, but this would be a fun one to shed test.
Very true! I’m planning on shed testing mom soonish, after the expenses from new puppy are settled 
I’m definitely planning on keeping this baby until we can get this mystery solved.
If it’s just an interesting single-gene mojave, or mojave with a lightening gene that we didn’t know mom had, that’s alright, I just want the closure
This is exactly what I’ve been saying!?
Color is more bamboo, pattern is more mojave, it absolutely has me thrown for a loop!
I’m planning on getting mom shed tested to see what that reveals, hopefully that will give us an answer but if not then I might have to send in a shed on this baby too
All of the clutchmates have nicknames for their record cards like “Banana Twin, BEL #1, 'Nana Mojave, etc” this one has been dubbed “Mystery”
On a side note, I’m in a morph ID group on FB where I posted this baby for help and the amount of people I’ve had to explain to that it can’t be lesser/how alleles work is absolutely maddening.
The only way this little one could be lesser is if I somehow managed to pull both twins and an androgenesis baby in my first ever clutch- at which point, I should play the lottery
There are an unfortunately astonishing number of people who work with ball pythons who don’t grasp how genetics work. It is sometimes quite disappointing.
Omg yes. Or just have no clue what they’re working with at all too. It gets tiring having to explain that spider isn’t the only wobble morph or that 50% het doesn’t mean you have half of a mutation.
=_=;
I love when mysteries like this happen.
I picked up a mystery BEL and am pleasantly surprised with what he seems to actually be. But my choice was based on knowing how the morphs I work with interact.
Yes this exactly!
I can’t wait to get my BEL shed tested and see what else she’s hiding- I specifically wanted a BEL with genes I’d want to use in future ultramel projects, while also ensuring that I would be producing as few normals as possible.
I can’t imagine making smart choices for my collection without having a good understanding of genetics!
