new ghost

[moperri]

This is a new ball I aquired some time back, not sure what morph she is but she looks like a ghost to me.

[Tim_Cranwill]

Looks nice.... maybe a burgundy hypo?

The pic is pretty small though. Do you have a larger one?

[Piers]

very nice whatever it is. Be great if it turned out to be one of those 25000 morphs.
Piers

[Wish fire]

oh, very nice!really pretty:).

[WALTER]

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/500/297IMG_1668-med.JPG

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/500/297IMG_1669-med.JPG

This is the ?? ball beside a reg.

[BoidKeeper]

Looks like a normal to me. Very light but next to dark one most balls would. If you don't know it's orgins all you can do is breed it and try and prove it out. Very nice no matter what.
Cheers,
Trevor

[C.Marshell]

Sweet! you were sending her to me right? LOL!

[malaysianbloods]

to me it looks very similar to the Desert Ghosts on NERDS web site http://www.newenglandreptile.com/ball_desertghost.html go look for yourself by the way how much did you pay for it.

[CHRISANDBOIDS14]

It does look like the desert ghost, but the desert ghosts have a more regular pattern whereas this one has an irregular pattern and the desert ghost has elongated spots on is back. Pretty cool!

C.

[Scales Zoo]

Originally posted by BoidKeeper
Looks like a normal to me.

Then I think you need glasses.

Mo, that's a very nice snake, I hope it proves to be genetic .

Ryan

[BoidKeeper]

Very funny Ryajn you know I wear glasses.lol I've got one upstairs that is almost that light. The reason I don't think it's a ghost is because the black is faded enough. A ghost is a hypo axanthic which mean no yellow and reduced black. That black in that snake is not reduced. You know what it looks like to me, an artic ball. That's what it looks like to me. Hey I've been wrong before and God knows I'll be wrong again and for the sake of the owner I hope I am. But like I said we'll know for sure once it's proven out.
Cheers,
Trevor

[sapphire_moon]

ok, gotta ask.

Artic ball?Whats that?

[Tim_Cranwill]

Originally posted by BoidKeeper
A ghost is a hypo axanthic

Actually isn't it a hypo-melanistic???? ;) :p :D

Well, it doesn't really matter what ANY of us think. It's a darn-nice ball python and the proof WILL be in the pudding. :)

Best of luck with her, Mo! :)

[Chrisbreeder]

Very nice i like it

[BoidKeeper]

Tim,

What I was doing was drawing on my understanding of corn genes.
Amel= No black
Anery= No Red
Hypo= Reduced black
Ghost= Anery + Hypo. In other words no red and a reduced black.
I assumed that the same held true for balls. Only with balls a lack of yello is called axanthic. So I assumed ghost in balls was the same thing, a hypo axanthic. Does that makes sense?

Sapphire,

Check out Ralph Davis's web site he works with artic balls.
Cheers,
Trevor

[sapphire_moon]

ohhh I see. It does look like the picture on Ralph Davis site.

[Tim_Cranwill]

No trev, it's different with balls. Hypos are called ghosts, hypo+axanthic is called true ghosts. :)

[BoidKeeper]

Well just when you think you know what you're talking about Tim kicks you the knee!
Thanks for setting me straight,
Trevor

[justinO]

looks like a normal to me also, i have one just like that, i've heard it refered to as a "blonde" ball..... there's lots of them, they are just from a different part of africa.

When i put mine next to a normal it looks like what people are trying to pass off as axanthic these days!

Jessy

[Scales Zoo]

Trevor, the reason I said you need glasses was in reference to "it looked like a normal ball to me.

It does not look like a "normal" ball python to me at all, it is very very light, and looks, to me, very much as different as many of the genetic traits being sold for more. It will be fun to wait and here to see if it proves genetic in the future.

We've got what I would call just a normal ball, which is much lighter than a regular ball python. I've seen others like these, I think Tim has one - not sure, Tim has something, I remember when he got it.

This is our lighter one

http://www.scaleszoo.com/pics/more%20reptiles/rep25.jpg

http://www.scaleszoo.com/pics/more%20reptiles/rep22.jpg

Ryan

[Corey Woods]

It maybe a Green Ghost. A sure way to tell if they are a ghost or not is to check their sheds......if their sheds are clear like they came from a patternless snake then you have a ghost. You could have a green ghost. It's a nice looking normal until you prove it out as something genetic.

Corey

[Tim_Cranwill]

But the whole clear shed thing doesn't really make sense to me.

If the snake is HYPOmelanistic, then it has reduced black. But reduced to what degree?

If we put the amount of melanin on a scale of 1-100, albinos being 1 and a jet black ball being 100, where would each snake fall?

Statistically a normal ball would fall between say, 25-75, hypos between 2-24, IMG's or HYPERmelanistic between 76-100... does that make sense?

Anyway, I'm just rambling and thinking out loud. HYPO means reduced but is there a defined amount of reduction needed before it can be called a hypo, or does it have to be genetic?

Any thoughts, guys and gals? :)

[Corey Woods]

Tim,

Hypos are a decrease in black..........however, they are also an increase in yellow to give them that washed out faded look. The yellow masking over everything gives them their clear sheds.

Corey

[Tim_Cranwill]

I know what it is, Corey. It is reduced black, like I said in my second sentence. But how exactly do you know or what makes you think it's also increased yellow?

Taking out the melanin will allow the yellow/reds/whites.... all other pigments to show through. THAT makes more sense to me than hypomelanism also being linked with hyperxanthism.

[Stav.T]

Whatever it is its really nice ! Hope it proves out to be genetic.

Stav

[RandyRemington]

Let me start by saying that I've only seen a couple ghost/hypomelanistic balls briefly so I'm not expert. I have been wondering about this for years though.

I've heard that some genetic ghosts (I wouldn't bother putting a name to it if it turns out not to be genetic) might have a little dark pattern in their shed so the comments about degree are probably accurate. But if someone wants to confirm (admit :)) to seeing a genetic ghost with pattern in it's shed I would like a second opinion on the subject.

As far as if ghost actually increases yellow or just lets more yellow through I don't know. However, I don't see how extra yellow could be covering up the black in the shed. I'm wondering if there isn't something weird about the layers of a ghosts skin such that the black is at the wrong layer to show up in the shed or something like that. One of the genetic ghosts I saw had some pretty strong black but it had the ghostly sheen to it and was not normal at all. I'm not sure that just reduction in amount of black is enough to account for the look and sheds of ghosts.

[Tim_Cranwill]

I have also heard that some ghost lines don't shed clear. But you would never hear that from the breeder or else it would make their line look like lesser-quality ghosts.

Interesting points, Randy. :)