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RE: Interesting Breeding Project.......
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by ichabod on January 15, 2007
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I have alot of dealers in NC and I didnt know if you were in a RV dealership. It would have been cool to know someone. I am a Technical Research Liaison for a RV manufacturer in Northern Indiana.
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RE: Interesting Breeding Project.......
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by Rob_Carmichael on January 15, 2007
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Personally, I think all of these crosses taking place sounds like one big genetic nightmare and I honestly just don't see the value or importance of such projects. We seem to keep on screwing up captive gene pools by diluting with multiple crosses of different species - philosophically, I just find it a bit disturbing. Just my little problem I guess since it's running rampant these days.
Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center
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RE: Interesting Breeding Project.......
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by dale3833 on January 15, 2007
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Ok, I respect your opinion. However, let me ask you this. If a black person has a child with a white person. Then that child grows up and has a child with an asian person,..........maybe I'm way off here, but how is that any different than what is going on with my snakes? Both snakes are very healthy adults that will produce healthy offspring. Where's the problem in that?
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RE: Interesting Breeding Project.......
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by ichabod on January 15, 2007
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Rob,
I unfortunatly do not agree with you on this one. I feel that the crossing of pythons or boas bring us so many more beautiful colors and patterns. If a two pythons are able to mate and create viable offspring, with no lab help, I dont see it as problem. Now if some crazy scientist tried to mess with nature and breed a boa and a python (by the way I know is completely impossible) that would be wrong. Yes I also know a burm and a retic would never meet in the wild, or a blood and ball, but if they did they could breed. Do you also have a problem with the morphs of the Ball Python, and breeding for abnormalities? Because that is what it truely is. I dont think that you will find a spider ball, or a leucistic ball in the wild. You need to find two for lack of a better word sub standard (meaning they wouldnt live in the wild very long looking like they do.) Ball Pythons and breed them together. Not always as easy as I make it sound, but the idea is there.
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RE: Interesting Breeding Project.......
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by ichabod on January 15, 2007
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Rob,
Ok, I did skip a very important line in your post. With that line I do agree, I believe that keeping certin lines pure due to the availability and the extinction factor. I dont believe that there will be a time when we cant find a true retic or ball. The snake I am speaking of is the most beautiful boa on the planet, that is the Hog Island boa. There has not been a siting of one in the wild since early 1980, and finding a true Hog is extremly difficult. I have had several Hogs, and only one truely pure one, so I will say that you are half right in my humble opinion. LOL
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RE: Interesting Breeding Project.......
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by Cro on January 15, 2007
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This subject is a rather difficult one. I agree with Rob that the crosses do dilute the captive gene pools.
It seems the motivation to cross breed is based mostly on money. If you produce a great looking animal, you will be able to sell it for a lot of money. It has been taken to the extreme in the Ball Python market. Some of the animals the crosses have produced are really stunning looking animals, like the Gaboon / Rhino Vipers that are showing up more and more frequently at shows.
For many years zoos would keep the blood lines of natural mutations going, as in the Albino Western Diamond-Backed Rattlesnakes that have made it to the public and are quite common now. But a zoo would probably never intentionally cross animals to create a mutant form. Different motivations at work here.
I myself am working with a line of amelinistic Cottonmouths to keep the line going, but I would not deliberatly cross something like a Copperhead and a Cottonmouth. And I would not try to cross a EDB and a Timber.
Mankind has always manipulated things. Look at all the different flavors of dogs in the world, all with common wolf like ancestors. Man has created everything from huge wolf hounds to tiny designer dogs, and everything in between.
Is crossbreeding captive snakes proper? For me, no, but at the same time I will keep a natural mutation bloodline going. I personally think all the interest in things like the multi flavored Ball Pythons is just silly. But to each their own.
Best Regards JohnZ
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