What the--?!

Warning: Dead snake pics are in this post.

This year I finally got to pair my Pastel Clown (Strontium) to someone, and I chose a female Lesser (Rhodium).





Simple pairing, simple outcomes, right? I'm always hoping I'll stumble on something new or unexpected, but what are the chances of that?

Thanks to Murphy, something weird did finally pop up...in the clutch that was in the incubator when I accidentally turned it off halfway through incubation and didn't notice until the next morning (eight degree F temp drop in nine hours or less).

Great job, moron.

Anywho, the clutch finally started hatching Friday morning. Huzzah!

Wait a minute. What is that?!



I could tell it was a Pastel Lesser, but there seemed to be something else going on. The first Pastel Lesser to emerge was strange enough, but then the second one crawled out of the egg.



Ridiculously-pale head patterns. Flames and blushing galore.

The Pastel that came out just a little bit ago is clearly not "just" a Pastel either.



Not much in the way of blushing, but there's that odd, faded stripe thing going down the back, and it has the same faded head colors and connected stripes along and behind the head as the others.

The last baby hasn't come out yet, but I'm pretty sure it's another Pastel Weird, and I know it's still alive...unlike the last two. Despite that I lost two, they may be the key to this whole mystery.



The one on the left is clearly just a plain ol' Lesser. Nothing weird going on there. The one on the right...looks exactly like a Lesser Crystal.

I'll be the first to admit that I find it difficult to identify Specials. Still, I don't see any "Special" in Strontium, and Rhodium would be a Crystal if she had the Special gene. In addition, the two weirdo Pastel Lessers would be Pastel Crystals if they had the Special gene, but then why do they look like Super Pastel Lessers? Rhodium is clearly not a Pastel Lesser, and neither of her parents had Pastel in them either.

The only other weird thing that happened that may have an effect on colors/patterns is that the clutch was incubated at very low temperatures: 84-87F (it's a long story). I highly doubt this would cause such a drastic change in the morphs, though.

I'm at a loss as to what's going on. Any ideas? Is the baby Pastel actually a Special Pastel?