Clutch #1 OUT!

First clutch of the season is out and about, my friends.

I am rather excited about it, if I do say so myself.

I really am enjoying seeing the tiny babies hatch out.

This clutch was the Pastel Lesser x Pastel pairing, and the results were not unexpected, per se, but the Lesser portion of the genetics was rather lacking...

Here is the outcome:

1.1 Pastels
1.1 Super Pastels
1.0 Super Pastel Lesser

This guy, who I was hoping was going to be a gal, is absolutely smoking! He is gorgeous, and similar in pattern to his older brother, who I have here to be a future breeder for next season.

Again, a group picture. The background isn't that great, and the colors aren't the best, but hey. It's a group picture!

 The Supers together...

And the Super Pastel Lesser alone in all his glory. 

He should be a great looking animal, like his older brother.

Isn't that the weirdest thing? These guys only have a year difference between them. The color change is staggering, but especially right out of the egg until now. Maybe we will do another color comparison after the first shed.

With joy comes sadness as well. My beloved Bobo, the white dumbo rat that I have had for many years passed away last night of old age. He was a good breeder and a good pet. Rest in Peace, my friend.

So with that, we have a great few days of nothing exciting happening quite yet, as the next clutch to hatch is due at the end of the month.

Have a great day, my friends!

Why people like Butters/Lessers better than Mojaves

Back in the day, when Mojaves, Lessers and Butters were scarce and often times not that frequently seen, I wondered why people were so much more gung-ho about getting Butters and Lessers.

Mojaves are AWESOME, I thought (and still do).

Mojaves make great combinations, do great things, and have a white super!

That's pretty awesome, right?

RIGHT!

And when mixed with Pastel? Even better...

So a few years go by, and I am able to pick up both Mojaves and Lessers, and subsequently create Pastel Mojaves and Pastel Lessers.

And here, we have photos of both.

And clearly, this shows why more people are more inclined to own Lessers.

 KABLOW!

Above is a Pastel Mojave, below a Pastel Lesser. 

The genes are almost exactly the same, but the colors are completely different!

The Pastel Mojave carries more of the dark dones and not so much contrast, wherein the Pastel Lesser is much more contrasted and outstanding in its yellow coloration.

Laymens terms? Pastel Mojave is darker than Pastel Lesser. 

Again, remember, these animals are just two gene animals of similar scope, with the variant being a BEL complex gene differentiation. Mojave versus Lesser. 

WOW, what a difference.

Please note that these animals are the same general age and size, so that is not an issue in terms of comparison.

So with that being said, what do you guys prefer?

I've noticed that the market tends to trend towards the Lessers and Butters rather than the Mojaves, but the Mojaves for project stuff such as the Crystal and Mystic stuff. (The darker the better for Mojaves in those projects, as the purples and yellows are deeper the darker the Mojave)

So in general, people like Lessers and Butters better than Mojaves. Just a general rule...

So if you are interested in working out a project, and want to be able to sell them to the general public, don't worry. Both Mojaves and Lessers do sell! But Lessers tend to be in demand just a smidge more.

Have a fantastic day, my friends!

Hmmmmm...

So again, I tried to catch a few locks, but only found one while the camera was on. 

Back to the basics. Albino to Het Albino. 

Hopefully this weekend I can catch a few more. I have palpated a few, and I have to say that I am really pleased at the progress of the first few females. We should see at least ovulations in droves in the next weeks. 

But of course, until then...

Photos! Above, a Hypo.

Below, a Super Pastel.

And of course, this female has been hiding for a while. 

Sulfur Mojave. No flash.

 

I am intending to get a great many photos this weekend, as I will have help. I need it to get the website updated as well. 

The collection page has to be updated like CRAZY.

Anyway, enjoy the photos, and have a great weekend, my friends!!!

Super Pastels? Yes!

 This was supposed to end out the week last week, and I didn't get to it, so here we are. 

Above, we have a Super Pewter (Super Pastel Super Cinnamon), my only gal, and a Super Pastel!

Below, we have a Silver Bullet, a Pastel Super Cinnamon. 

With these animals, I have to say that it is very obvious that there is a bit extra going on in the Super Pastel section of the combination.

As you can see above, the Super Pewter is SILVER. Very silver. 

And the Silver Bullet is more of a mottled darker grey. 

These animals are only a few months apart in age, so the color difference is striking without involving age difference.

With just adding another pastel element to this morph, it brings the color to a whole other level.

I have to say, it is very obvious, although given a year or so, we will revisit these critters to see what the heck they look like and if they have such a striking difference in color then. 

So again, what to take from this?

Super Pewters and Silver Bullets are awesome. 

Also, if you want a brightening element to a morph, Super Pastel-ling it would be a good idea. 

Of course, as we touched on before, other highlighter morphs are also worthwhile to integrate, such as Fires, Vanillas, etc...

But Pastels, being a base morph that is easily accessible, I suggest starting there for those who are beginning out.

Pastels make most things awesome. 

Super Pastels make most things even more awesome.

How can you go wrong?

Have a great day, my friends!

Super Pastels and Not-so-Supers

I could have done a video on this, but I didn't really have enough time this weekend to do it, so I did it blog style... Which is not to say that it won't be translated into one later on. 

But this is easier for me to do, so here we go... 

 Let's go over the general rules of Pastels. 

Above, we have one of my Pastel het for Pied gals, but she was the same size as the Supers, so we will go with it. 

First rule: Yellow. 

Second rule: Black.

Third rule: Light head, blushing over the sides. 

NOTE: They do NOT have to have green eyes. Lighter eyes, yes. Green specifically? No. 

Now let us touch on Super Pastels.

This gal is one of my holdbacks from this year as well. 

First rule: EXTRA Yellow.

Second rule: Not so much black, and plenty of blushing.

Third rule: WHITE head. Do you see it in this picture? 

Yes... White to very light grey when babies.

This changes as the animal grows. This is the easy part of identifying Supers and Regulars is when they are hatchlings.

This is another Super. You notice the white head? Yes... Not quite white, but pretty darn close. MUCH brighter yellows, and not so much black, but much more blushing and flames. 

 Now let us approach this from an adult stand point. 

Yes, in general, when babies get bigger, they tend to grow into different colors. They get darker overall, while the whites and blushing in the pattern tend to darken up slightly, making it not as dramatic. 

Note the female on the left. This gal is over a year old, and she is a Super.

She is indeed a Super, and there is no question.

But Heather, you say, this looks NOTHING like that female above! 

Agreed. But remember, this gal has a good 12 months on the other gal. 

Let us go over the rules for an Adult Super. 

First rule: YELLOW, but not so dramatic as when she was a baby. 

Second rule: BLUSHING. Lots of it. You can still see it. It's not as dramatic again, but this is a good indicator. 

Third rule:  Light head, but it is no longer white. It's still light with the star pattern, but not WHITE.

Can you see it?

Let us look at an Adult Pastel. 

You can already see the differences in color. 

She is darker, but still yellow. Less blushing, more black, and the color is a lot less intense in general. 

Note the eyes. Yes, this gal has green ones.

Most pastels do have green ones.

Isn't she pretty?

And yes, her head. 

This photo was taken specifically for the head color.

It is lacking in the star pattern, as well as the lighter colors that we would have seen. It is light, and yes, you will see that this is characteristic of Pastels in general. Lighter heads. 

Fantastic!

And here they are next to each other. 

Yes, that is the same Pastel from above, and the same Super Pastel from above her. 

This is the color differentiation you would see from above.

And this is a side view of these gals. You can see more of the yellow in the Pastel this way, and the Super still is very distinguishable from the Pastel.  In this photo, you can see the blushing and black contrast that I have been mentioning. The blushing is very indicative of the Super, while there is some on the Pastel, it is not a lot.

And once more, I have taken head photos. 

Which one is which?

First one is the Super, the other was the Pastel.

 So I hope this helps those of you that are confused, that need some guidance about Super Pastels and regular Pastels. 

 Have a fantastic day, my friends!

Share the love on this Valentine's Day!

 Have a great one!

Pics and Musings (Clutch #36)

So over the last few days, I have been swamped with things to help me get more organized. I am trying my darndest to get back into the right groove to know which way is up, but I've not had enough time to get my head on straight.

This gal echoes my sentiments exactly... Plus her head coloration and pattern are awesome.

Gotta love Super Pastels.

Anyway, with everything going on, I'm sure you guys noticed that I have been slacking on the clutch records and what has hatched and when.

I am actually getting a website revamp, and I am getting a page that will be dedicated to that exactly.

Hoooray!!!

As of right now, the available page, which I am fully aware was horrible for anyone without a super fast computer, is now new! New program, more info, more cool stuff. HOORAY!

Take a look and let me know what you think. I haven't updated any of the animals into it yet, but hopefully I will be able to do so over the next few days.

Plus, everyone is extra chubby right now because of feeding, so I am going to wait for a few days for pictures so that the bulges go away.

And here is a picture of my holdback Black Pastel het Hypo. Random, yes, but I uploaded it, so I wanted to post her up.

The second to last clutch of the season has hatched out as of yesterday, and they look great! I didn't get my Lemonblast het Albino female, but I did get:

2.0 Lemonblast het Albinos
1.1 Pinstripe het Albinos
0.1 Het Albinos

So the last clutch is due to hatch in two weeks, and I can't wait to see what pips out. This will be a Sterling to Het Red... Pewter het Reds are awesome!

Have a great day, my friends.

Super, not so Super, and Helpers

I have a constant shadow in my room with me if I let it in. Kona is always in the room if the door is open. I was cleaning a tub that I can't reach, and was on my stepstool, and look down, and there was a puppy on the ground looking up! She appears out of no where...

Unfortunately she doesn't help.

If she could, that would be much more interesting, but she just stares at the rodents.

Oh well...

Anyway, in terms of random photo shoots, I decided to do some BRIGHT animals to start out with.

This is my Firefly, the Fire Pastel. He is absolutely stunning, and I really really really like him. He was one of those once I saw him, I had to have him animals.



And this is my Super Pastel. She is a stunner as well, but a complete brat and loves to be angry all the time.



Here they are together to show you the difference in shade of neon yellow... The Firefly is still brighter, but the Super Pastel is still bright (and angry).



I really like how these photos show the difference in coloration between the two morphs. Both have Pastel, but both are different in nature. Once the Firefly is ready, I want to have a Superfly (Super Pastel Fire) to compare to as well. I'm sure it will burn my eyes in terms of brightness, and I can't wait to see it!



And what about Pastels compared to the Firefly?

No contest.

Pastels are still amazing in their own right, but... here is the obvious proof that there are some excellent brighteners in terms of base morphs to make things pop!

Remember, just add a Fire to the Pastel, and you can get something THAT much brighter! WOW!



Now if only these amazingly bright animals and others could help clean up...

Wishful thinking, I know.

Oh well.

Have a great day, my friends!