Transcription
There are countless incredible projects when it comes to the ball python breeding world. And for this week, we are going to be diving into the five hottest, most in demand, most hyped projects going into 2026.
[music] My name is Steven with Leviathan, and let's get to it.
Coming in at number five is one of my personal favorites, and that is the hypo puzzle project. So, the hypo puzzle project has been around for quite a bit, but in the last several years, there have been so many absolutely beautiful, incredible, amazing hypo puzzle combos that have already been hit that has essentially convinced everybody in the ball python breeding world that the puzzle project, and specifically the hypo puzzle project, is one of the hottest projects and one of the best projects to get into if you're going to be aiming for those triple and quad recessives down the road. And the reason why is that the hypopuzzle animals one age absolutely perfectly. They look so good both as babies and as adults. And that is one of the critical aspects when people are looking at these really longshot multi-reessive multi-year projects that they want to make sure that when they do produce that in result animal, it is going to look amazing its entire life. And hypo puzzle definitely does this.
Another big aspect when it comes to the hypo puzzle project is in previous years, Clown has been absolutely 1,000% the king of the pattern recessives. But because of this, there has also been quite a bit of stuff done with clown and there are a lot of people who are working the clown project. So the puzzle project provides an avenue that hasn't been worked as much and it has still been able to make some absolutely [music] incredible animals and puzzle combos. really really well with almost every other morph that it's [music] been paired to.
If you are wanting to see where the absolute pinnacle of the hypo puzzle project is right now, you definitely need to be paying attention to Barry Swopee of elusive propagations or Prague morphs. Both of these breeders are creating some incredible things in the hypo puzzle project. And I can't even think of all of the different combos that they've hit just right now in 2025. But I'm going to be throwing up some pictures and B-roll throughout this. But they are definitely, in my opinion at least, the absolute top tier hypo puzzle breeders that exist in the entire world. So if you're wanting to either expand your base in the hypo puzzle project or you're wanting to get into it from scratch, I definitely recommend going to one of these two breeders because they are going to have the absolute best animals in this project that exist. Period.
The fourth hottest project going into 2026 might actually be a little bit controversial because I think for a lot of people they would say that this project is 1,000% the number one hottest, most hyped, most in demand project and I can completely understand where they're coming from for that. But it is the desert ghost exanthic clown. Now, the DG Axanthic clown is obviously a beautiful animal, but I think that one of the reasons why it is so popular going into 2026 is it is the perfect blend between pattern, contrast, and color. And you might be thinking that's a little bit weird because it's a black and white snake and it doesn't really have color. But when I say color, I'm comparing it to a normal ball python. And the fact that a DGanthic clown is a completely different color palette than a normal ball python means that it is definitely a color morph as well, even though technically it is all black and white and has no color.
With all this said, if this was all that you could do with the DJanthic Clown, I don't think that it would be nearly as popular as it is right now. But in 2025, there have been some amazing DJ Exanthic clown combos that have been hit that definitely show that there is so much potential for these combos going forward into the future. I think that just about every single amazing clown combo will end up getting made in the DJanthic clown version and it is going to look incredible. I can't wait to see where this project goes during 2026.
But if you are looking to get into the project right now, there are two big breeders that I definitely recommend if you are eyeing a DGxanthic animal or getting into the project and that is Canova who is leading the charge for the project as well as Bob Vu of Bob's Balls. These two breeders definitely have the most amount of animals in this project that I'm at least aware of. And they are going to be producing the most amazing, the most high-end, the most leading edge animals in the DG Exanthic Clown project during 2026.
[music] Coming in at the number three spot is maybe a little bit of my own personal taste coming in here. And it might not have the market share as the DJ Exanthic Clown or the HypoPuzzle, but I think that it is primed to explode during 2026. And I think that a lot of people are paying attention to it. And that is the paint clown project. So during 2025, there have been some amazing paint clown combos hit, like the spot-nose yellowbelly paint clown that was produced by Recck Room Snakes. In addition to that, Antoine of DPR produced a spot-nose paint clown that looks absolutely phenomenal. I think that the paint clown, given the trend towards really busy, really pixelated clown combos, is going to solidify paint clown as one of the go-to multi-recessive projects for years to come, but definitely in 2026.
Now, when I am personally thinking about the future of the Paint Clown project, I really, really want to see the hypo paint clown version. Now, I also think that the DG paint clown is going to be absolutely incredible. But I think that DG cleans up the pattern a little bit more than Hypo does. And when it comes to paint animals, I personally really, really like the pixelated, super busy granity appearance. So, that's why I'm more excited about seeing the hypo paint clown than I am seeing the DG paint clown. Though, I think that both of these are going to be amazing.
Quick disclaimer, this is not a project that we are currently invested in, but it is definitely something we have been considering for quite a while, but at this point in time, we are really just looking for the exact right animal that can fit in with everything else that we are working with. But I can't wait to see where the paint clown project goes during 2026. And if you are thinking about getting into it, you should definitely hit up Recck Room Snakes, Antoine of DPR, Matt of Ebony and Ivory, or Cat and Row of Inked Lady Morphs. These are all people doing amazing things in the Paint Clown Project.
Coming in at the number two spot is another one of my personal favorites, and that is the sunset puzzle. So Barack Wagner had hit the first Sunset Puzzle a couple years ago and it blew the entire breeding hobby away. A lot of people who really disliked Sunset were turned and felt that the Sunset Puzzle was an incredible combo and it showed that there was an amazing avenue to go for both the Sunset project and for the Puzzle Project. Now, at this point in time, there's only been a couple sunset puzzles that have been produced, but recently Brock ended up hitting the orange dream sunset puzzle, and it looks phenomenal. In addition to Brock hitting the orange dream sunset puzzle, Jersey Guys balls recently hit a sunset puzzle hit hypo that is so bright, so vibrant, and it's not even the visual version. I cannot wait to see what the sunset hypo puzzle ends up looking like and that is definitely a project that we ourselves are chasing. Though we are probably at the bare minimum at least a year away before we can even have a shot at making the triple visual.
But if you are interested in getting into the sunset puzzle project in 2026, I highly recommend Brock Wagner, Jersey Guys Balls, and Brandon Nixon, who all have some amazing sunset puzzle project animals on Morph Market right now when we're recording this video at the beginning of December 2025.
The top spot going into 2026 is probably going to be pretty obvious for anybody who's been watching these videos for at least the last several months and that is the Ultra Sun project. So, the Ultrammell Sunset was hit a couple years ago over in Germany and it was a beautiful, incredible combo. Its colors are like tangerine orange. And when this animal was hit, we knew that this was a combo that we definitely wanted to produce for ourselves. So this year we got incredibly lucky and we ended up hitting three ultrasound combos and each one was actually different. We hit the base ultras, no other genes in it. We hit an orange dream ultras and we hit a super orange dream ultras. All of these animals look amazing. They look so good. And when it comes to the sex odds on this, we hit one male, the Super Orange Dream Ultras, and the other two ended up being females. We have already sold those two females. Huge thanks Vince of S Plus, as well as Jersey Guys balls for buying those girls, but that is definitely something we want to do in 2026 is produce some more Ultras, specifically females, and we want to hold them back this time.
So on the Ultras project, there hasn't been very many combos hit. So I am really really looking forward to the possibility that we might be able to produce the Bongo Ultras during 2026. Right now we are pairing a Bongo triplehead Sunset Ultramale Hypo Male to a normal double hat Sunset Male female, but the odds are not very much in our favor. Hopefully we can hit the jackpot again and hit another ultrasound and hopefully they also have Bongo cuz I'd love to explore the project and see what else we can do for this being the base.
Now, if you are thinking of getting into the Ultras project in 2026, we don't actually have very much availability at this current point in time. I think we only have one male and one female that are double heads, but nothing else in the project until we're able to produce our 2026 clutches. So, if you're looking for other people in the project that are doing some incredible things, I highly recommend Justin of Morph Jungle, who has multiple different shots at combo ultrasounds, and I can't wait to see what he produces. In addition, Brandon Nixon of Nixon Reptiles has an incredible ultrasound on Morph Market right now. And if you are overseas, not in the United States, and you are looking for ultrasound stuff, definitely check out Gavin of Balls to You or DJ of Reptiles for Centuries because both of them are creating amazing things in the Ultras Project.
So, that's my list of the hottest projects going into 2026, but this is definitely subjective, and I want to know what your opinion is. Leave a comment down below with what you think are the five hottest projects going into 2026. And if you're not following the channel already, don't forget to hit the subscribe button. But my name is Steven with Leviathan and we will see you next week.
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