New to morphs in ballpython, and I’m owning a Pastel Pied.
But I see a lot of just “Pied” that also have this yellowis color and some are brown. Does Pied change the color too?
Pied in general is known for causing some nice brighter color than a typical wild/normal/classic phase ball python. It’s why adding genes like pastel, fire, yellowbelly and orange dream to it are very popular as well.
The downside is most ball pythons will brown out as they get older so even some of the younger ones that show that brighter coloring may dull out as they get older. Again, adding brightening genes will keep them looking a bit brighter than average though.
Welcome @oliverborggren! Be u tee full pied you have there! Welcome to the family! There are lots of great people here who have lots of expertise in just about anything reptile related! Stick around if you can!!!
Thanx for the very good info. So a Pastel Pied and a normal Pied can look quiet the same in color, but as they get older the Pastel will keep it’s bright color ?
A little. Pastel will still get more brown/gray from when they were younger, but you’ll always be able to tell it’s a Pastel Pied.
There’s some fancier genes that stay more orange/yellow through the whole life of the snake. Trojan, Orange Dream, Desert Ghost, Ultramel, Monarch - to name a few will really age much more yellow or orange in Pieds as far as I know.
Generally speaking, with just a few exceptions, the brightest a ball python will ever be is just after its first shed out of the egg. Odds are your pied was bright yellow as a baby and lost the brightness as it got older. S age really matters as well when looking at pieds. Yellow/orange younger pieds will very likely lose most or all of that color as they age.