Well it is NERD we are talking about so a lack of updates really does not mean anything. I mean… I have not seen any updates on the “Magpie” ball combo either. Kevin just seems to mentally move on from things rather rapidly as he gets new ideas
Re: Pied. Depending on which animals you include in the grouping, there are primarily three or four genes that are responsible for piebaldism. We do not know which of these genes are the source of the morphs we like to play with (there is a paper out now speculating the gene in balls). Is it possible the same gene is responsible for Pied in retics and balls, sure. This is basically how we ended up with Albino Burmballs. But given the difference in phenotypes between the species, I am inclined to say they are likely different genes. That being the case, a Pied ball x Pied retic would most likely generate double het Balltics that you would then either have to breed back to each other (which then gives you the fun of figuring out which piebaldism mutation is manifest in the offspring and also what the double visual looks like) or breed back to a visual of one or the other species (which means you end up with visuals that are either 75% ball or 75% retic, and also 50% poss het for the other species piebaldism gene)