Maybe I’m putting too much priors on assuming the breeder was honest and trying to look for something that disproves it, vs looking for something that proves it from an assumption it’s a normal. Like you pointed out, the pictures aren’t the best so maybe I’m not seeing the true colors.
For me it was comparing normal and spotnose, if there’s a potential for another gene at play I’m not sure.
The indicators that I saw that it wasn’t normal were the funky pattern (outside the large range of variance in normals) and the head stamp.
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For me, it is the headstamp, the overall business of the pattern and the overall coloration. I would have liked to see a more prominent and typical headstamp, but what is there doesn’t just look like an odd Normal headstamp. When you combine everything together, it supports the morph more than it doesn’t.
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Thanks @erie-herps, @graysnake and @crypticoils-pythons for replying back. This is why i ask, so i can learn what others are seeing to bring them to one conculsion or another. So my collection consists probably of about 60-70% spotnose combos and i have certain things i look for when id’ing them. First is Color, spotnose tend to have this goldenish hue and very deep dark blacks in the overall pattern. Headstamp is one of those things that is either it is there and really stands out or it can be muttled depending on single gene or combo. All but one of these are “single” gene (most are het clown) spotnose. But the presence of a head stamp does not always mean spotnose is present. Many normals and other combos can produce a “headstamp.” As far as the snake in question goes i would have a very hard time selling that as a spotnose. If it is, it is extremely low expression based on pics provided.
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Have you ever considered yours maybe easier to identify because you are working with quality examples from the beginning? Quality in quality out.
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Maybe but that is not always the case. Even so called QUALITY animals can produce rubbish examples. Also i have found that the term "QUALITY is highly subjective
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It depends on what you are breeding for.
@wreckroomsnakes I agree with you with what you look for. But I also look for hooking on the dorsal which all of your examples have.
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You are exactly right. Quality is subjective. What is quality in a Pied? Is it high white, medium white, or low white? What makes a good Fire, besides brightness? Should it be reduced or busily patterned?
Also, if I may step up on the soap box for a moment, perhaps we need to be more thoughtful as we slam someone’s baby because it doesn’t meet our minds eye example of the morph. Let us consider that we are not always playing on a level field. As the OP stated, they do not have the luxury of being picky because the morph is not readily available in their part of the world, and as I was educated on it a bit further, much more expensive than here in the states. This is not a condemnation of anyone but myself, as if you read through this post, I was the first one to comment about the OP’s animal, to which I am a little ashamed for my ignorance. Just a personal growth moment.
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My appologies if my reply came off as a slam towards the OP animal that was not my intention by any means. Please @graysun96 i sincerely appologies if my reply came off as harsh in anyway, i truly meant no disrespect towards you. My post was just to help others when looking for future reference when looking to purchase an animal.
I have shipped several animals to korea and thailand thru an import/exporter so i fully understand the difficults faced by someone outside the states to obtain different morph not readily available to them
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I guessed it was spotnose because of the altered pattern and what looks like a slightly brighter yellow coloration combined with the slight head stamp, but only in the context of a pairing known to contain spotnose. If I saw this snake at a petsmart I probably wouldn’t be able to identify it as anything. So definitely and easily could be wrong here
I don’t think assessing the “quality” of a morph is a mean or a judgemental thing to be taken negatively, it’s just part of raising and breeding animals. It’s not uncommon for breeders of other species to sell lower quality animals as “pet only” and anyone who has ever shown knows that while having your animals objectively judged against others can be rough, it shows you a pathway towards better breeding. You can love, enjoy and value an animal while still ackowledging it’s not the best example of the species/breed/morph/etc. Obviously everything can be interpreted differently, especially online, but I personally don’t think it has to be a negative observation
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