Pastel Lesser and Pastel Butter goodness

So apparently I had a good plan for the Super Pastel Lesser and the Pastel Butter Spider.

I bred them to things.

And here is what I got!

This here is the Super Pastel Lesser to Normal clutch.

I haven't sexed them yet, but we got:

4 Pastel Lessers, 1 Lesser, and 4 Pastels.

Not too shabby...

And here we have the Pastel Butter Spider to Pastel clutch. This hatched out this weekend as well.

1.0 Super Pastel Butter Spider, 2 Butter Spiders, 3 Killerbees, 1 Super Pastel, 1 Pastel Butter, and 1 Pastel. 

This guy is my Super Pastel Butter Spider. I did sex him, and he is a He.

I'm not sure what that means for me... but it's good to know, eh?

So there you go! Lots of Butters and Lessers and Mojaves and stuff this year. It's gunna be a fun one!

Have a great day, my friends!

YPBMC continued

And again, we discuss those in the YPBMC club.

This here is my Pastel Pied male, surpassing 700 grams with no problem, he appears to be afraid of the ladies.

He has been spending time in the corner, enjoying the look of his scales as he hides his head within his coils.

While he is a gorgeous specimen of snake, he is also not a breeding machine as of yet. Fear not, my friends. I'm sure he will get his bearings soon, but as of today, he has yet to lock with any females.

And of course, the notorious two year in a row Yet to be Proven Breeder Male Club head, Homey D. Clown.

Homey has no interest in females, to the point where I felt the need to check his parts to confirm his maleness. He is for sure a male, but I have to say, he has no interest in using his said parts for anything as of yet. I am really counting on him to do something, as he is now almost three years old, and I have several clown projects that require his services.

He is the ONE male that would make me devastated if he didn't breed this year. My clown projects have been suffering (yet the females growing) for years due to his lack of interest. I have yet to hatch out any Clowns myself, cause I am giving Homey a chance to shine.

SHINE, HOMEY, SHINE!!!

And one male who decided to shine beyond the YPBMC club is the Super Pastel Lesser male. 

Albeit after several excrement filled moments and tail wagging, the Super Pastel Lesser male is doing his job with this Pastel Yellowbelly female. I am excited!

One crossed off the list...

Several more to introduce into the list, but hopefully to cross off soon.

Have a great day, my friends!

Fun with Photos!

I know I mentioned this before briefly, but I am participating in a Calendar for charity that the theme is "Heels for Herps"

I love it! 

So of course, for charity sake, I had my friend Lewie come over and take some photos of my heels and my Balls!

We have many different shoots, so I am showing you the ones that didn't quite make the cut. Every month is another female herper with her animals and her heels. It's a great idea, and this year is going to be awesome!

Here is the link for Last Years Calendar. 

Make sure to check back in about this in November, when I believe the next years Calendar will be available. Of course, if you are interested, I will remind you on the blog. 

(Even if you aren't, I'll probably still do it. I'm all about helping charities!)

That there is the Super Pastel Lesser being shy..

Do you love it? I had a lot of fun with this, although some snakes were less interested in participating, and as we snake owners well know, getting a snake to cooperate is sometimes impossible.

Also, I had some photos taken of the collection for those that were not in shed and that were ready and willing, so not everyone (if you couldn't tell) got their picture taken. 

Here are a few that I liked a lot that did. Of course, they are uploaded on the collection page.

Pastel Butter Spider

I am going to get a better camera by the end of the month, and I plan on learning how to take some more classy photos. It's going to be a good time! 

Especially considering all of the pretty critters I have to pick from... 

But I gotta do the things I promised first. Hopefully tomorrow night I can get some good photos. Fingers crossed for legitimate blog topics with applicable photos.

Super Pastel Mojave

Have a great day, my friends!

Out early...

Well, one of the Crystals is out. 

And out early. It has an umbilicus still hanging, but I don't expect it to be a problem. 

And guess what? 

With all that pink, it's a GIRL!

I hope the other one comes out with Penes, but we shall see...

Most of the clutch is still tucked in the egg with no movement, but two heads have been peering out, and they look like Mojaves. 

Fingers crossed that after this weekend I will have something more to share about the clutch than just this gal!

And of course, the first clutch to hatch is taking its sweet time to shed. So I took a picture of the jumble just for the heck of it. 

They should also be shed by Monday.

So Monday will be the day to see what is really going on, my friends. I expect another clutch or two of eggs as well, I think. 

Should be a good day.

Can't wait to see what more is going to pop out!

Come on, eggs... Really. I'm tired of waiting. 

Let's get going with some live action!

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!

Pastels and Super Pastels in combos

Let us continue from yesterday by touching on a similar topic, one which I actually intended to combine, but decdiee against to allow for more subject matter. 

Pastels and Super Pastels in Combinations. 

Now in this case, I only took out the Pastel and Super Pastel Lessers. These guys are tougher than just Pastels because the Lesser element of the combination allows for blushing like crazy and a very light over all color to begin with.   

Take a look at these guys. 

You, being an avid blog reader, know these two from previous pictures. 

But have you seen them together?

Now you have. 

The one on the left is the Pastel Lesser, which I recall more people saying that they liked, and the one on the right is the Super Pastel Lesser. 

Now let us touch on the overall color. 

The Pastel Lesser is a brighter animal overall due to it's contrast. There is more dramatic black to yellow, and therefore appealing to most people.

The Super Pastel Lesser is a bright animal, but has lighter tones of mauve to purple, with the occasional grey tone, but no black anymore. It loosk more "washed out" as some would say. 

Does this make it ugly? NOT A CHANCE.

Here is a closer picture of the two. You can see that the Super Pastel basically washes the black into brightness, while the Pastel keeps it there in the pattern. The blushing in the Super is again, much more pronounced, and the over all color is brighter, almost hypo (ghost-like).

And the head colors? 

Well, same as any Super Pastel. 

White with the X. Can you see it above? 

Yep! There it is. It's there in all Super Pastels. 

And of course, what is a comparison blog with out a comparison shot?

Here we have the Pastel Lesser's head shot. The white section is there, but it is not white, nor is the cross defined. Compared to a normal pastel, however, this animal has the lighter head, so be aware that combinations of morphs, especially those with lighter tendancies may render the "white head rule" defunct. 

Examples are Fires, Vanillas, etc...

So there you go, my friends. 

I hope you enjoyed this series on Super Pastels and Pastels. 

I had a fun time shooting it. 

I will do it again real soon, I promise.

Have a great day!

One of these is not like the others

For the past couple of days, it has been photographs. I have been having a good time with my camera, and I have been enjoying my new babies.

Now to tie all of my photos together, I have to be clever. I talk about colors, patterns, specific morphs and their combos. 

And I am going to do it again today. 

It's Friday, so I was thinking about doing something cool... Maybe have a hunt for the morphs that tie things together. 

So this blog was born.

Above is the Pastel Pied. He is a cutie patootie, as well as being an awesome looking morph as well.

Below is the Super Pastel Lesser Male. VERY yellow, as I discussed in a previous blog. 

 And this guy below?

This is my Pastave holdback girl. Pastel Mojave for the win!

Gotta love that morph, seriously. 

But Wait... What's this? Does this tie in with anything else?

At first glance, it looks like a Pewter. That's a Cinnamon Pastel, right?

So everything on the blog has Pastel in it, right?

Well, no.

This is the Black Pastel Lesser, which technically, if you want to be a smart-ass, has "pastel" in it due to the name.
I'm sorry, but that doesn't count.

 

This gal right here doesn't count for the Pastels that have been previously shown, and this one is not like the others. 

YAY!

Did you like that tie in?

 

Yeah, I'm good. 

HAH!

I hope you enjoyed the photos, and I will be back with more on Monday.

Have a fantastic weekend, my friends.

Comparisons

 There is always a question of "what does this look like in comparison to that one?"

So I decided to take some comparison shots of what I think are important, as well as some great animals with good contrast.

Example One: You know how much I love Spotty McGillicutty, and how awesome I think he is... Well, here he is compared to another (albeit younger) Bumblebee. Usually, Bumbles look better as babies than as adults. 

Who do you think looks better?

And as I have done in a previous blog, I had the Super Pewter and the Silver Bullet side by side to compare colorations, as well as general overall pattern (or in this case, lack there of). I plan on doing this again as they grow.

These two are a bit different.  On the left, is a Pastel Lesser. On the right, a Super Pastel Lesser. In general, the overall coloration is yellower in the Super, as well as with more blushing. I realize that the contrast in the Pastel Lesser is much more striking, which makes this an interesting photograph to share with you all. 

Which do you like better?

And although the colors are a tad bit darker than I would like, the Crystal and the Pastel Crystal comparison shots. The Crystal is overall darker, but more yellow. The Pastel Crystal is more peach, and with a lighter head. The difference between the two is much more prevalent now as they are a bit older as when they were just hatched. 

I look forward to sharing them growing up as well!

So there you go, my friends. 

I plan on doing a few more of these for animals that are similar. If you have any suggestions, feel free to let me know!

Have a fantastic day, my friends!

Yellow

 I've noticed in the Ball Python Morphs that Yellow is the color to be. The brighter the better. 

Yellow is a great color, really. 

Did you know that in Chinese, my last name (Wong) means Yellow? 

So next time you see me, you can be like "Yo, Yellow!"

And I would be proud of that. 

Yellow is a great color. 

Especially in Ball Python Morphs. 

Pastels are the perfect example. 

They combine with so many things to make so many other things! All of them YELLOW(er)!

And Butters, Lessers and Mojaves.. All have shades of yellow.

Take this fine specimen of a male. 

Butter Enchi. Both yellow morphs, combined to make a super awesome yellower morph. People think it is stunning, and I do agree.

A Super Pastel is pretty darn yellow. So is a Super Pastel Lesser! This guy exudes Yellow. 

I absolutely love these guys. 

And most people do too. 

Shades of Butter Yellow, Lemon Yellow, Canary Yellow... All in contrast with oranges, purples, greys and blacks. THAT, my friends, is what Ball Python morphs are all about. 

Colors and Contrast. 

Maybe we will do an expose on Colors... I like it. 

The Ball Python Color Rainbow.

I will get on that. 

Have a fantastic day, my friends.

Naked boys and new terminology

Well, not really naked...

Shed out and ready to take on the world!

I've been waiting on this guy, the Pewterbee, to shed out just to see his colors more. They are an interesting dusty pinky bronze....

And of course, as he is "ready to take on the world", he decides to be shy...

But he and I had a talk, and he complied with the photo with him spread out.

This photo shows more of his yellows. I am very curious as to how this guy will color up as he matures. Should end up being a very nice high yellow dusky gold.

We will keep up with his aging in photos as the year progresses.

Same thing seems to go for the Super Pastel Lesser boy as well. They must have been collaborating with each other about how to look cute and shy..

He was less willing to unravel, so I just shot his sides, which are an amazing array of colors.. Yellows, peaches, purples, browns...

I love this guy.

His pattern still trips me out a bit, since he is so busy, but still so Lesser-y.

Yes, apparently there is a term Lesser-y. Lets just chalk this up to Heatherisms...

Definition: Lack of pattern, but lack of overall alienheads. Floaty bubbles (patterns that do not attach to the sides and belly) and stripes over the spine.

Thus sayeth the Heather.

HAH!

Anyway, this is going to be a long weekend, and I'm going to be honest. I NEED IT BAD.

So, I will be unavailable for most of the weekend. I need to unplug, and Joel and I are going to do it together.

But yes, there will be a blog on Monday, albeit maybe a bit later than the typical 6AM.

So, have a fantastic weekend, my friends, a glorious Labor Day for those of us who labor, and remember that Anahiem is only a week away now! ACK!

Sheds and admiration

So, things are shedding out from the clutches from before, and I can't help but admire some of these critters I hatched out.

Here is the Super Pastel Lesser I hatched out. He's got a wild and wacky pattern going on... I'm intrigued!

His sister does too... This is the female Pastel Lesser I hatched out. She is crazy with the blushing on the sides.

And the other brother, another Pastel Lesser, one that I thought may have been a Super.

Also very interesting blushed out sides... not as orange as his sister. I'm not sure why, but hey, I'm not complaining!

And to complete the group, the Lesser. This guy is very very pretty. I really like him! All of the Lessers in this group came out wierdly banded and interesting.

Gotta love genetics!

And just for kicks, here is the POG that shed out.

He is the only one I have ever produced, but he is a hottie for sure!



So to console me from my recent bad luck, here I was, taking pictures of cool animals.

And there will be plenty more to come, I hope.

Here's to having more cool 2010 animals to photograph.


Have a fantastic day, my friends.

I am so behind...

I have not had enough time in the day, my friends.

I really need a day of catch up, and I have yet to acquire it.

But, here we are, Friday, and I really hope to be able to get things in gear for this weekend, which is a Snake show here in LA called the LA Pet Expo. Should be a good one, and I will be there wandering around on Sunday. If you see me, stop and say Hi!

But before that day happens, and before the weekend arrives, I have to get my butt in gear and show you all some of the babies that hatched out these last couple of days.

Let us begin with the Pastel het Pied to Het Pied clutch.

1.0 Pastel Pied
1.2 Pastel 66% poss het Pied
2.0 66% poss het Pied

Yeah.

Here are the boys

My very super excited to have Boy

And the Girls

So there we have it.

And of course, there is this clutch...

I'm going to be very honest with you all. I have no idea what is in here other than a Super Pastel Lesser male, some Pastel Lessers and maybe some Lessers, and a Normal.

Boys on the bottom, Females on the top. 3.2

I am waiting until these guys shed to make the call on this one.. Unless for some godforsaken amazing reason I may have not hit on any Lessers (or Pastel Lessers), I'm going to wait it out.

If you have a guess, please feel free to share.

And then this guy pops out of the Pastel Yellowbelly to Normal clutch. I know what this guy is, and yes, he is a BOY.

Pastel Yellowbelly number one to hatch out this year.

He's a hottie!

And, to not spare you the gory details, here is Clutch #36

This female waited until the LAST minute to do anything about anything, and I was really actually expecting some slugs out of this one. She was doing NOTHING for a while, so I let her do that. But, she came thru and laid these gems.

Yes, this is my Albino Pinstripe project attempt. Lets hope that I can see some results from this clutch with some actual LemonBlasts...

Fingers crossed.

Have a fantastic weekend, my friends, and I hope to see you around on Sunday!