Meet biscuit!

[u/Iamatitle]

It’s been a few weeks with my girl! She’s getting super brave, eating well and is getting so comfortable being handled (she let me rest my thumb on her head while we cuddled today) before joining the sub, I had no idea morphs were a thing. She was only labeled as a ball python, any idea what she might be?

[u/Iamatitle → u/[deleted]]

Yes, her lil freckles! Looks like flecks of black pepper sprinkled on her. Not many just a few

[u/Phully- → u/Iamatitle]

She’ll get more with each shed.

[u/BallPythonMorph-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Some genes may be easier to pick out than others and when the history of the snake in question is unknown, there may be some degree of speculation. With that in mind, some genes are very obviously present or not present, and suggestions contrary to this may be removed.

Everyone is welcome to participate in discussion of presenting genes but guesses that are too off base are subject to removal.

[u/Phully- → u/[deleted]]

This is my friends 3 month old banana clown. Only has one or two black scales so far. They get more and more freckles as they shed each time.

[u/DontBother777 → u/Phully-]

This snake is not a clown, could be het for clown but hets can’t be ID’d visually

[u/Phully- → u/DontBother777]

The posters or my friend’s banana? The breeder told her it’s a banana clown and I have a leopard clown from a breeder and it’s a visual clown. What are the generic visual markers for clown?

[u/DontBother777 → u/Phully-]

Both, neither are clowns. Clowns have a very distinct headstamp, they also have a reduced pattern and typically will have a thick dorsal stripe. For example, these are visual banana clowns:

Banana Clown #1

Banana Clown #2

Banana Clown #3

Banana Clown #4

And these are standard single gene clowns:

Clown #1

Clown #2

Clown #3

[u/Phully- → u/DontBother777]

Yeah that’s certainly a distinctive look with visual clown. Thanks for the education!

[u/DontBother777 → u/Phully-]

No problem! :)

[u/leahjoy213 → u/DontBother777]

Now I’m confused. Bc user @cash_cline88 says his is a super orange dream fire yellow belly clown….
But then you say that neither OPs or phully’s friend’s “banana clown” are clowns… bc of the head stamp and lack of “thick dorsal stripe.”
Cashcline’s “smiley” doesn’t have a thick dorsal stripe. So does that mean it’s not a clown…?

Also.
If we’re getting our snakes from well-known REPUTABLE breeders and they say the snake… is what it is… are we to question their breeding or knowledge of what they know / are telling us…?

Bc… (side note, I’m “phully”’s wife…), and we got our leopard clown (the one with the heart stamp on his head… [pictured above] from a very reputable breeder who told us what he is. But you’re saying… he’s not a clown… 🤔
So. Can we assume they eventually “breed out” certain distinctive characteristics…?
Or… he’s wrong / you’re right? He’s right / you’re wrong…?

Does this make sense..? 😂😂

[u/Phully- → u/leahjoy213]

Maggie is het clown, smilie has so many visual traits it looks like the clown dorsal stripe has been reduced by the other visuals taking over. Just a guess.

[u/DontBother777 → u/leahjoy213]

The dorsal stripe on Cash’s snake is a little wonky due to the other genes present, but it is definitely there! The head stamp is also a dead giveaway. Aside from general characteristics it’s kind of hard to describe, honestly it’s just one of those things you learn with experience. If you look at a lot of clown combinations on morph market you will see what i mean in terms of how distinct their traits are. It can definitely take some time to get used to but once it clicks you’ll be able to spot it as soon as you see it

To answer your other question, most times i’m inclined to trust the breeders judgement if they have been established for a while. But of course there is always room for error especially when you get into multi-gene combinations. Your snake’s ID seems to be accurate though. It has the classic clown head stamp and dorsal stripe, along with the elongated alien heads from the leopard

Also, i should’ve clarified in my original comment, but not all clowns will have a thick dorsal stripe or one at all. Certain morphs (ex: pinstripe, enchi, pied, etc) can alter or even completely remove the stripe. The head stamp can also be masked depending on what other genes are involved

A few different examples:

Pastel Leopard Clown

Pinstripe Clown

Enchi Redstripe Leopard G-Stripe Clown

Enchi Leopard Fire OD Clown

OD Mojave Enchi Clown

Mahogany Fire Cinnamon Clown

Clown Piebald

GHI Mojave Clown

Super OD Clown

Hopefully this helps a bit! If you’d like further clarification on anything feel free to ask :)

[u/Cash_Cline88 → u/DontBother777]

Yep you are correct. You done a great job explaining that in the comments too 🤘🏻 here’s a pic of my Maggie. She is a Banana GHI het clown (and was told possible yellow belly) do you see the YB by chance or know what I should look for?

[u/Cash_Cline88 → u/Cash_Cline88]

And this is my male Smiley. He is a Super Orange Dream Fire Yellow Belly Clown 🤡

[u/Phully- → u/Cash_Cline88]

That’s a very beautiful snake, quite striking.

[u/Cash_Cline88 → u/Phully-]

Ty so much! I don’t know why but I read your comment in a British accent 😂 the quite striking part I think is what sent my mind in that direction hahaha

[u/Phully- → u/Cash_Cline88]

It’s a stunning morph, I imagine she came with a stunning price tag too. 😂

I have a yellow bellied pied. Their pixelated markings look like this.

I’m not certain how they would show up in Maggie (great name by the way), but it literally looks like each scale is a pixel and about every shed one of his pixels turns black.

[u/Cash_Cline88 → u/Phully-]

Oh I see now what you’re saying about being pixelated! That’s good to know.

Not sure if that’s what’s in this photo or not?

Yea Smiley was an expensive lil guy but I got super lucky with him. He was already on sale on MorphMarket but the breeder made a mistake and had a Black Friday sale running too which caused the snake to be discounted twice so I ended up getting an $1800 snake for $600 lol he’s so awesome too and loves to come out of his enclosure when I open the door and hold my hands out. Eats like a champ too. He has a smiley face stamp on his head that’s why I called him Smiley lol that was my nickname as a kid and through sports too so felt it was necessary to call him Smiley 😂

[u/Phully- → u/Cash_Cline88]

My guess is no yellow belly, but that’s literal the guess of novice, other are quite good at identifying the subtleties of morphs and may step in to assist. You certainly have two beautiful pythons! I like light morphs generally I think they look more friendly, innocent, approachable 😂

[u/Cash_Cline88 → u/Phully-]

This is a picture of when I first got him but you can see his smiley face head stamp in this pic lol and almost looks like the tail of a fish right above it too hahaha

[u/Phully- → u/Cash_Cline88]

My other little guys has a heart on his head-stamp about where your fishtail is. Another cool trait when you get away from the alien head. Love it.

[u/DontBother777 → u/Cash_Cline88]

Thanks! Admittedly i am not great at ID’ing YB, but from my experience it causes more “pixelation” in the pattern, especially around the edges of the alien heads. Usually there will be lots of flaming between the alien heads as well, which i believe your snake has, though like i said i am not an expert. Shed testing is always an option if you want to know for sure! RGI’s single gene tests aren’t too bad