TheOddBall

In 2007, I acquired a very dark ball python will a nearly full dorsal stripe! He looked like what people have called Ebony, so that is what I have called this male for the last 7 years. After breeding him multiple times, there is no yellowbelly in him, like Amir’s original Ebony. So once I hatch out more like the original male, I will probably start calling it something else. And I am very confident that I will hatch out more like him this season. I have held onto everything he has sired so far. Everything this guy produces is a black back  or granite to some degree. Here is a pic of the original male below. Since acquiring this male, I have seen a handful of other animals that are nearly identical to him, which leads me to believe that it will be genetic.

The Back Story:

This project is one of my longest projects to date. It started back in 2007 when I acquired the dark striped male pictured below. I knew from the second I saw him that he was going to be genetic. I hoped though that I would produce more like him sooner rather than later. In 2009 I hatched out a total of 10 offspring from him. Each one had either some degree of granite markings or were black backs. I kept them all and still have every animal he has sired since. In 2013 I had one clutch of F1 x F1, but the clutch was not fertile.

However, 2014 will be the year that I find some real answers in regards to his genetics. He bred to 3 of his F1 daughters and they are expected to lay any day now. Actually, one female has already laid, so now the long wait starts. I am willing to bet that roughly half of his offspring this year will look like he does. If that is the case, I fully expect this project to be one of the hottest and most desired mutations of the year. I am already thinking about getting this into pied and caramel albino. That is going to be a sick cross.