Special Royal Pythons
Special lightens a royal python and breaks its flanks into grainy, blushed blotches with pale flame edges. Most keepers want it for its combinations: paired with a Mojave it makes the Crystal, a pale snake that still carries some of its pattern.
About the Special gene
Special is a gene for colour and pattern that pales a royal python (ball python) and gives its flanks a grainy, heavily blushed look. It is a quiet morph on its own. Because it is the gene behind the Crystal and a long list of combos built on it, most keepers buy it for what it does in the Blue Eyed Leucistic complex.
Appearance
A Special has a lighter and brighter look than a normal and features a pattern with granite texture and pale flaming that is prominent along the sides. Between the misshapen and grainy alien heads, there is heavy blushing. Because the head stays close to a normal royal python's, you should look at the flanks and body instead. The tail is taken over by the dorsal stripe, which is usually a brighter shade than the alien heads.
Genetics
The Special gene is incomplete dominant, which the hobby still loosely calls co-dom. A Special appears with one copy, while two copies result in a Super Special. This gene sits in the Blue Eyed Leucistic complex. It is allelic with Mojave, Lesser, Butter, Bamboo, Mystic, Russo, Mocha and Daddy Gene. When Tom Baker bred his Special to a Mojave, he produced the Crystal, the first of its kind. Special combined with Mojave or Mystic produces a pale animal that still shows some pattern instead of a clean white BEL. The combination of Mystic plus Special is sold as Mystic Crystal. Other named combos built on it are Pastel Crystal, Cream Diamond, Special Blast, Titan and Titanium. A shed test exists for Special. Tom Baker of Tom Baker Reptiles proved the gene out and named it because there seemed to be something special about the snake. Special (NoCo) and Special (TCR), along with Super Special (NoCo) and Super Special (TCR), are listed separately from Tom Baker's original line.