Determining a pastel

Hey guys. I just wanted to clarify something here. I have heard that a "pastel" is also called a "high pink" boa. Now, I have seen some information concerning the pastels, seen some pictures, but I am a little confused. What truly makes a pastel a "pastel"? I will get some pictures up soon of my male, but I was wondering if I may get some input on these wonderful boas along with some pictures. The reason I am asking is because I got this male boa off a young man that had no clue to genetics, breeding etc, he had this male as a pet. I have had a few people look at him and tell me he is a pastel, now I have not claimed this because I do not know this to be true. Give me a couple of days and I will post some pics of him. Thanks!

Jeremy

Here's a thread started by the founder of the Pastel Colombian...

Pastel Dream Boa


If that will help you any.

The pastel Boa, as well as Coral and a few other terms, have become grossly misused in our industry. Sometimes it's an accurate call, sometimes it ain't.

"pastels" should come from known pastel lineage. There are a lot of pastel-type boas out there and many people use pastel as a descriptive term and not always referring to a specific line. Pastel is reduced black, especially seen on the laterals. Pastel does not mean pink, but the reduced black usually lets more color come through. Pastel is a line-bred trait, meaning, it is not a recessive or dominant morph but a product of years of selective breeding.

This is my high pink boa, Jeff Ronne said he would consider her a pastel and she has thrown some very pastel-type boas but she'll always just be called high-pink.


I agree that both terms Pastel and Coral are way over-used.

Thank you guys. Very helpful. Just to clear things up for me, a pastel is only a pastel if it has came from a proven pastel line. Not just if it "looks" pastel, right? Thanks again!


Jeremy

I'd agree to that.

April - sorry to go off topic but who'd you get your boa from? It's gorgeous!

Originally Posted by mxracer4life

Thank you guys. Very helpful. Just to clear things up for me, a pastel is only a pastel if it has came from a proven pastel line. Not just if it "looks" pastel, right? Thanks again!


Jeremy

Not necessarily. You can do the work to prove your own line, thats how the established lines were done. A few years ago, the term pastel was so misused, you couldn't find a normal boa for sale. EVERYTHING was listed as a pastel. There were 60+ lines of unproven pastels on the KS classifieds alone. Its a bit of work but with proper breedings you could prove your own line.

How would you prove your own line? So a pastel is just a type of color on a boa, or colors, and it varies with each person's line? I mean, I kinda understand genetics, a little, but would it be something like, if you have a possible "pastel", when bred, you then bred him/her to one of the babies from that litter, and so on? Please explain.

p.s. Also, whats the difference between a salmon and a hypo? I have always though or been told they were the same, but recently a friend of mine said there are small differences, are there differences genetically? thanks!

Originally Posted by mxracer4life

How would you prove your own line? So a pastel is just a type of color on a boa, or colors, and it varies with each person's line? I mean, I kinda understand genetics, a little, but would it be something like, if you have a possible "pastel", when bred, you then bred him/her to one of the babies from that litter, and so on? Please explain.

The Pastel trait is not described very well. While Ronne took a stab at it, you can get lost in the definition as he rambles. I do believe it is some sort of inheritable trait but not like co-dom , dominant, or recessive. It also depends on the line as well. I know of a couple that when bred to normals etc. the pastel gene is expressed regardless of how ugly the normal is where as a line bred trait is usually bred back to each other with very select animals added to freshen up the mix but may not carry a clean up gene.

A good indication that your animals carry something is determined by what it is bred into. If you breed it to a melanistic normal and the babies look like pet shop bait, likely you need to work it with cleaner animals in a line breeding project. If even a few of the babies come out with an overall reduction in the black part of the pattern and the dark wash over the background color, those would be held back for further breedings.

A good Pastel will clean up anything its bred to ( clean up gene ) where a line of clean animals bred to strictly clean animals will likely be just clean normals. Pastel is a funky trait, it does exist but no one that I know has been able to determine the true nature of it.

p.s. Also, whats the difference between a salmon and a hypo? I have always though or been told they were the same, but recently a friend of mine said there are small differences, are there differences genetically? thanks!

Salmon is just a name for Rich Ihle's line of hypos. The only difference between a hypo & a salmon is generally locality that the gene originated from. Some tend to differentiate between the two because of the pattern abnormalities of salmons but I've seen other hypos throw similar pattern abnormalities. In the end, all hypos are hypos and Salmon is just a name coined to describe the color of the animals Rich originally produced.

Hope that helps.

Proof reading karate is not strong today.

Originally Posted by mxracer4life
How would you prove your own line? So a pastel is just a type of color on a boa, or colors, and it varies with each person's line? I mean, I kinda understand genetics, a little, but would it be something like, if you have a possible "pastel", when bred, you then bred him/her to one of the babies from that litter, and so on? Please explain.

The Pastel trait is not described very well. While Ronne took a stab at it, you can get lost in the definition as he rambles. I do believe it is some sort of inheritable trait but not like co-dom , dominant, or recessive. It also depends on the line as well. I know of a couple that when bred to normals etc. the pastel gene is expressed regardless of how ugly the normal is where as a line bred trait is usually bred back to each other with very select animals added to freshen up the mix but may not carry a clean up gene.

A good indication that your animals carry something is determined by what it is bred into. If you breed it to a melanistic normal and the babies look like pet shop bait, likely you need to work it with cleaner animals in a line breeding project. If even a few of the babies come out with an overall reduction in the black part of the pattern and the dark wash over the background color, those would be held back for further breedings.

A good Pastel will clean up anything its bred to ( clean up gene ) where a line of clean animals bred to strictly clean animals will likely be just clean normals. Pastel is a funky trait, it does exist but no one that I know has been able to determine the true nature of it.

Fixed it.