Just got this Fire Ghost possible Mandarin ph Albino and Ultramel girl in today! I’m leaning towards her having Mandarin, but I’m no expert on it so if anyone can help me figure it out, or point me to someone who can, then I would be grateful. The first 2 pictures are the best at showing off her oranges and purples, but the others show her pattern better. Luckily she’s already almost 1000 grams, so hopefully it won’t take much longer to find out for sure. But even if she doesn’t have it, she’s still gorgeous and will be an excellent addition to my breeding plans!
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Your best bet is going to be Michael Freedman, he has pretty much been the primary source of NR Mandarin in the US
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That’s actually who I got her from! He wasn’t sure if her oranges were from Mandarin or if it was some kind of het influence from the Albino and/or Ultramel, not to mention the fact that Hypos are already pretty orange to begin with, which apparently makes it even harder to ID Mandarin. I know that they’re some others who work with the gene, so I was hoping that someone here would have it and be able to help. I know that it was a long shot since it’s still really expensive and not many people have it yet, but I figured that it was worth a try.
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I know zero about the gene but she is super interesting looking for sure!
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I did quite a bit of research on the gene before I decided to buy her so I’m fairly confident that she will prove out, but I’m trying not to get my hopes up too high just in case lol. I compared her to her Mandarin Ghost and Mandarin Fire Ghost siblings, along with regular Fire Ghosts that I saw on MorphMarket , and she does look more like a Mandarin than not in my opinion, so fingers crossed! But even she isn’t, she still looks really interesting like you said and I’m looking forward to breeding her!
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I think there were two of these he had available. When I saw one had sold and I was debating on the remaining one. I debated too long, I ended up getting a male. I’m super interested to see if she proves Mandarin.
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I had been eyeing her for a while until I finally decided to grab her, I’m glad that I did now lol! I hope she proves out, but I keep going back and forth on whether I think she has it or not. When I first pulled her out the bag after she came in I thought to myself ‘there’s no way that she isn’t a Mandarin’, but when I look at her inside a building under different lighting I start second guessing it. Only time will tell if she proves out I guess lol.
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Do you have a male planned for her yet?
Even if she doesn’t prove mandarin, she’s a really nice ghost fire with 2 possible hets.
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I sure do! I plan on pairing my Pastel Chocolate DG Hypo to her to make some Hypo het DG combos, which will be really awesome if she proves to be Mandarin, but will still be great if she doesn’t. After that I might pair my Enchi Leopard YB Pied to her to make some double het Hypo Pied combos. I don’t have any Albino or Ultramel males right now, but I do plan on getting a male Ultramel for my female Pastel Ultramel, so I will probably use him to try and prove out the pos het Ultramel in her as well.
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Bringing this post back up to say that I got my first clutch from this girl! I paired her to my Pastel Chocolate Desert Ghost Hypo and got 5 eggs, although 2, unfortunately, went bad during incubation. They’re due to hatch around June 26th. Fingers crossed that I get at least one Mandarin!
Here are some pics I took of her this morning.
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Ooh pretty girl! Hopefully you’ get those mandarin babies but either way she’s so cool looking!
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Thank you! I love how she looks too, definitely a great addition to my collection, especially if she also ends up being het for Albino and/or Ultramel, I’ll know the answer to that by the end of the week (thank you genetic testing!). Plus, she’s back on food and looks great despite only recently laying eggs!
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Can’t wait for the results!
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Unfortunately she didn’t test positive for het Ultramel, at least not the most common type. Apparently, there is a rarer type of Ultramel floating around in some collections, but it’s more than likely that she just isn’t het for it. Honestly I’m pretty disappointed by that, since I was hoping to eventually pair a double het Ultramel Pied combo to her, but that’s how it goes with these pos hets sometimes. Not sure about the Albino yet, it’ll be a few more days until I get that result.
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Update: she isn’t het for Albino either, so het influence isn’t involved in her color. It still isn’t guaranteed that she’s Mandarin, but it seems more likely now. I’ll hopefully know for sure in about a week and a half when her eggs hatch!
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I’m honestly leaning towards fire being the reason. Some of the fire ghosts are beautiful.
But I really do hope you can prove out mandarin regardless! Sometimes a low expression momma can have some beautiful expression in the offspring. 
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It could be just that she’s a good quality Fire Hypo, I’ve never had one or seen any in person to compare her to. But I would feel a little ripped off if that’s the case, since I did pay a bit more for her than a normal Fire Hypo. The person I bought her from is known to work with Mandarin quite a bit, so I know that it isn’t some scammer just trying to make a buck. The problem with Mandarin is that it varies sooo much in expression. I compared this girl to her obviously Fire Mandarin Hypo sibling and another pos Mandarin Fire Hypo sibling, and she looks like a combination of both of them, which is another reason why it’s hard to tell what exactly is going on with her lol. It’s fun to speculate and guess though. Even if she doesn’t prove to be Mandarin, at least I will know for sure and can go on from there.
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Fingers crossed
Can’t wait for your next updates
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Update time! All 3 babies have hatched and had their first sheds!
I don’t believe I hit any Mandarins, unfortunately, but the third one has me scratching my head a bit. I don’t know if it’s a Chocolate Hypo or a Mandarin Hypo. It’s probably a Chocolate Hypo, but I’m just trying to hold on to a bit of hope
. But they are all beautiful regardless, and I love them! I believe that the first one is a Fire Chocolate Hypo, second is a Pastel Hypo, and third is a probable Chocolate Hypo.
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It’s very hard to tell if mom is Mandarin.
Mandarin’s are dark Orange, but the Fire & Hypo brightens her up so much.
I agree with your first two I.D’s.
This third one MAY be a low expression Mandarin Hypo. The way the “alien heads” look are similar to Mandarin. I don’t see Chocolate IMO.
I would breed her to something thats non Hypo at some point… maybe another recessive and make Double Het’s. It will be much easier to see the Mandarin without the Hypo, if she does have it.
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