Ball Python morph

Recessive

Piebald

Ball Python (Python regius)

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What Piebald looks like

White patches with normal pattern

Causes large areas of unpigmented (pure white) skin interspersed with normally patterned sections. The amount and distribution of white is highly variable, ranging from low-white (mostly patterned with small white patches) to high-white (mostly white with small patterned sections). Het Pieds sometimes show subtle markers (slightly higher white on belly, "train tracks" on belly pattern) but are not reliably visually identifiable.

How to identify it: Unpigmented pure white patches on body. Normal pattern and color where pigmented. Amount of white varies dramatically between individuals. Head is almost always patterned. White areas have no pattern or color at all (not faded, truly white).

How Piebald is inherited

Piebald follows a recessive inheritance pattern, carried on the Piebald allele (locus Pied).

What does het piebald mean?

Because Piebald is recessive, an animal needs two copies of the allele to show the trait visually. An animal with a single copy is called het piebald (heterozygous). A het animal looks normal but carries the gene, so pairing two het piebald animals produces, on average, one in four visual piebald offspring.

Combo morphs with Piebald

  • Panda Pied

    Black Pastel + Piebald combination.

Predict Piebald pairingsOpen the Ball Python calculator preloaded with a het x het pairing.Identify a Ball Python morphUse the morph identifier to match photos to visually identifiable traits.

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