New Caramel male!

[Will0W783]

I got this little fellow in a trade Saturday at the Hamburg expo. He is a 2011 caramel albino male, from Outback Reptiles. I'm quite excited to have such an unusual BP morph, as I'd sold off all my ball morphs a few years ago. Caramel, for those that arent' familiar, is a tyrosinase-+ albino. This means that while the animal is a true albino, with no black pigment and red pupils, it does display some darker pigments. Caramel BPs start life with russet, mahogany, dark purple, blush, tan and cream colors that fade out into a rich, buttery caramel and cream with purple undertones as they age. My little guy displays some pretty bright colors and lots of fire for a hatchling, so I'm hoping he turns out to be a great adult.

Alessia (alessia55) suggested a name for him that seems fitting: Cadbury. They make awesome candies, and the name sounds like a British butler, lol. "Sir Cadbury". :-P

Anyway, here are some pictures of the little fellow. He's already readily accepting f/t mice, so that makes my life a lot easier! It's really hard to capture his colors well with a photo, as he changes depending on the light source.

Cadbury at the show, under full-spectrum lighting:

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh115/Will0W783/e3e398e0.jpg
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh115/Will0W783/d0f175e0.jpg


And Cadbury at home, taken with my iPhone in the bathroom lighting:

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh115/Will0W783/0ea7b899.jpg

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh115/Will0W783/539866e0.jpg

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh115/Will0W783/b861ae35.jpg

[alessia55]

He is precious! And beautiful too. A great trade IMO. Can't wait to meet him in January! :)

[Will0W783]

I'm debating what to do breeding-wise when he grows up. Aaron_S has given me some great ideas, but I'm always open.

A caramel glow pied would be awesome (caramel x orange ghost x pied), as would the caramel spider (caramel x spider) or caramel bee (pastel x spider x caramel). These would all take several generations, unless I was able to find a female visual who was also het for caramel. Who knows- the sky's the limit, but for now I'm just enjoying this tiny little cutie. He's sooo little and precious. He's my first really young ball python...so every time I look at him, I just go, "Awwww"

[snake man12]

The third pic shows the red of his eyes. He is pretty cool

[Gungirl]

I'm not sure how much I like this morph but all baby balls are cute!

[jaleely]

soooo cute! what did you trade? just curious muwhaa.

and that is the best explanation i've ever seen of the carmel moph. cool!

[EasternGirl]

What a cutie!

[Terranaut]

...so every time I look at him, I just go, "Awwww"

So is everyone reading this ;)

[millertime89]

The third pic shows the red of his eyes. He is pretty cool

no joke, can't really see it except in that picture.

So is everyone reading this ;)

troof

[Will0W783]

In the pictures he does look very similar to a normal...when you actually see him next to one though, he's very different. He will lighten up as he grows as well. He's just a cutie and I like unusual things. Caramel balls are pretty rare, at least as far as I've seen. This was the first time I'd seen them in person.

[snake man12]

I don't know about you but in the second to last pic I can see the red of his eyes too. haha JK

[Will0W783]

Yeah, it's a weird form of albinism. He is dark, but the side pattern is smaller, somewhat like a pastel, and what would be black on a normal is a dark purplish-brown. His eyes are really different though- they are dark silver, with red pupils. It's startling. :)

[stephanbakir]

Grats Kim, cute snake!

[It'sKourtneyYo]

Oh.My.Gooosh. I'm so jealous! I was just talking about a caramel yesterday >.<
what did you trade for him?

[alessia55]

In the pictures he does look very similar to a normal...when you actually see him next to one though, he's very different. He will lighten up as he grows as well. He's just a cutie and I like unusual things. Caramel balls are pretty rare, at least as far as I've seen. This was the first time I'd seen them in person.

Who says he looks like a normal? :shocked: Impossible!

[jarich]

Very pretty colours, and those eyes are cool. Congrats!

[Ch^4]

Congrats, great looking snake!

[Norm66]

He's gorgeous. Congratulations.

[citysnakes]

Sweet Caramel Kim!

[TeaNinja]

looks amazing.

[alessia55]

Some new pics of Cadbury...
He was very difficult to photograph- very skittish and scared of everything. He'd jump back and hide his head every time I moved my camera.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v651/alessia55/IMG_1135.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v651/alessia55/IMG_1125.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v651/alessia55/IMG_1127.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v651/alessia55/IMG_1128.jpg

[Will0W783]

Great shots Alessia!

[mykee]

Nice looking caramel. Why is he so small though?
Also, know that any offspring you get from this little guy that shows itself in the homozygous form, 60-80% of them will be kinked.
One of the reasons why caramels have fallen out of favour with a tonne of breeders and the prices have come down so much.

[Will0W783]

He is a very VERY picky eater...I have only gotten him to eat live mice lately, and he won't eat them every week. I offer once a week, but usually he only eats every 2-3 weeks. I am actually considering selling him to a very good friend of mine who has a female 100% het for caramel that he wants to breed. I love the little fellow, but he is the only snake I have that won't eat f/t, and I don't have any females to breed him to.

[alessia55]

Nice looking caramel. Why is he so small though?

Out of curiosity, how could you tell he's small in the recent photos I posted? There's nothing in them for comparison :hmm:

[MoreliAddict]

Nice looking Royal! Good luck with him

[mykee]

"Out of curiosity, how could you tell he's small in the recent photos I posted? There's nothing in them for comparison "

Oops! My bad.
Didn't realize that this thread was ressurected from the dead.