Bought this girl back in 2011, and I’m looking to start a breeding project this year so I’m trying to identify its morph/genetics.
was told it was a normal buy from the seller but he was unsure if it had any hidden genes (het).
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It’s a unique looking normal, but I don’t see anything else there but normal. Nice (probable non-genetic) black back on that individual though.
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It’s probably just the lighting but it looks almost axanthic to me. Again, it’s probably the lighting
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I was thinking maybe HRA. It lacks a little yellow, but not so much I’d think it’s axanthic (unless it’s a poor quality one, some of those look almost normal). Either way, there’s no way of knowing what that look is or whether it will get passed down or not until she’s bred.
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I was thinking this as well. Just don’t think it’s the greatest example of the gene. Pictures on a solid background would help the picture is in natural light makes it hard to judge the color for me at least lol
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het red Axanthic?
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Yes, I had to look that one up 
Yep. There’s a lot of variation in het red axanthics, some of them look almost normal, so it’s not an easy gene to identity imo. Kinda like how people seem to confuse cinnamons with normals all the time.
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Here’s a caveat, if it was sold as a normal it’s most likely a normal. I feel like people who post things like this are fishing for magic genes that aren’t always there. Ball pythons naturally have a lot of variation. Just because it may look HRA does not mean that it is, and none of the opinions above should override what the animal was initially sold as unless an obvious error was made (and no obvious error was made in this case).
Nongenetic black backs were one of the first variations that were sought after when ball pythons were first imported to the United States - yes, I’m that old. This was pre-pastel and pre-spider, two of the first true heritable genes discovered. HRA was also one of the earlier genes discovered because people were working a lot with black backs back in the day, but most black backs are not a simple gene that can be inherited and the vast majority of black backs were non-genetic, it’s just a common variation found in ball pythons.
It’s a normal unless you breed it to a red axanthic, then breed a son back to mom, and get a red axanthic (super form of HRA). That will take several years of effort. Until then, it was sold to you as a normal and it will remain thus.
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