So in your own eyes is breeding a ugly pastel better than breeding a nice normal?

Not in the least. For the most part ugly parents = ugly offspring. You'd be much better off just getting a nice proven male pastel and selling the ugly one to a pet store IMO.

id much rather have a nice norm thna an ugly pastel

Yeah -- I'm going to agree with the others nice normal over ugly pastel.

Yeah -- I'm going to agree with the others nice normal over ugly pastel.

What Tosha said...^^^^

It depends on what you call an ugly pastel. I've seen some pastels that were pretty nice pattern wise, but were ugly color wise. It really comes down to which looks nicer, the nice normal or the ugly pastel?

Ugly pastel... Nice normal.... Whats the difference? They both look the same! And your sure as hell going to have the same luck selling the babys for both for the same price. you have to think, if your looking for a pastel, your going for yellow and something worth breeding. If you have someone looking for a pet, they are looking for the cheap normal alot of them times. Why would they buy a almost normal pastel for $50-100 more than a good ol normal?

nice norm.
got a few nice norms i wouldn't trade for a NICE pastel !
ck

It's all about the selective breeding. If you don't care about making the nicest quality animals you can, then you would probably prefer the ugly pastel as they will bring you in more cash. Personally, I'd prefer the nice looking normal that will help give some nice qualities to it's offspring. I have several normal females that I have picked out as breeding stock that have qualities I'd like to see line bred or mixed into some morphs. Time will tell if they're unique looks are genetic, but they should atleast produce something better than an ugly one would.

It's all about the selective breeding. If you don't care about making the nicest quality animals you can, then you would probably prefer the ugly pastel as they will bring you in more cash. Personally, I'd prefer the nice looking normal that will help give some nice qualities to it's offspring. I have several normal females that I have picked out as breeding stock that have qualities I'd like to see line bred or mixed into some morphs. Time will tell if they're unique looks are genetic, but they should atleast produce something better than an ugly one would.

Agreed 110% Lucid. :yourock:

I think ugly pastels actually have the potential to muddy up combo morphs. I think nice pastels are way underpriced, and ugly ones are overpriced!

Nice normal .
Toni

Nether, Why bred them?

I think ugly pastels actually have the potential to muddy up combo morphs. I think nice pastels are way underpriced, and ugly ones are overpriced!


Agreed!

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.....
Kevin Stoltz

Depends on what you breed the ugly pastel to. You can make some really nice pastels with an ugly pastel and some good looking normal females. But, if you're serious about improving he look of pastels in general, it's best to start with the cleanest looking parents you can find on both sides of the pair, pastel AND normal.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.....
Kevin Stoltz
Ditto that, what some consider ugly others might consider beautiful. Some like reduced pattern, some like busy patterns. Doesn't mean one is better than the other, just means people have different taste.

This made an interesting topic. I wasn't talking about myself here I just wondered what the response would be.

i'd take the nice normal.

onionboy

If people had taken care as to how they bred the pastel gene from the beginning I can only imagine some of the pastels we would have today.
Instead they put any and every pastel with every female they could get their hands on, pumping them out as fast as possible with little to no thought of improving the trait for the most part.
That's why we have the drab pastels with the muted colors being so common now.

It's all about the selective breeding. If you don't care about making the nicest quality animals you can, then you would probably prefer the ugly pastel as they will bring you in more cash. Personally, I'd prefer the nice looking normal that will help give some nice qualities to it's offspring. I have several normal females that I have picked out as breeding stock that have qualities I'd like to see line bred or mixed into some morphs. Time will tell if they're unique looks are genetic, but they should atleast produce something better than an ugly one would.

Personally I agree with lucid here. I think that the future of ball pythons is in selective breeding. Look at albeys selectivly bred pastels, hell some of his normal pastels look better than some poorly produced fireflys. I'd rather have a nice normal that I can plug into my breeding projects than an ugly pastel. Personally I am willing to pay two or more times the market price for a snake in order to get the best quality animals. Just my 2 cents.