feed or freeze???

[jasumo]

Originally Posted by rapunzel

Some people ..... came across on that forum as quite rude, arrogant, and bullying...

I hear you Rapunzel. But I think we've seen a degree of 'rudeness' on this forum too, right here in this thread.....

"they sound like some kind of garter snake nazi's.. "

"i wish somebody would stick them in a freezer and let them see what it feels like.. sick bd's."

"these people on that forum are the garter snake nazi's... "

"theyre acting like facists.."

[ant29nhampton]

i dont beleave in haveing them put to sleep thay should be able to live there are alot of peeps out there that do like the crosses
i made a mistake twice with a rat snake and corn and thay are stunning now and are being bred there is no halm in it if people no what thay are
i would take a pair just to see what thay would produce later on in life when they there old enough

[Ssthisto]

I see both sides of the argument as well.

The emotional side of me says it's not the baby garters' fault that their owner made a mistake, and that they should be homed SINGLY to individuals who will not breed them (just to avoid missexed animals breeding). Heck, if they were over here, I wouldn't mind one - my first snake was a garter described as a "Redheaded Garter" (Locality? No clue. Nearest photo I've ever found is a San Francisco, and damn I hope it was a cross, not a pure locality, given it was sold to a 12-year-old as a pet).

On the side of curiosity, I do wonder what future generations of them would look like if and only if they were bred within their OWN gene group.

And on the side of logic ... these animals must not threaten the native population of either of the parent species. Shipping 'em over to us in the UK or Europe is one thing... then even an escapee couldn't spoil the gene pool of local animals. As long as they were sold as hybrid animals, that's fair enough.

I don't think I would kill them under any circumstances. I think I'd make sure they went somewhere where they could do no harm, clearly labelled as intergrade/hybrids.

That said, if we're going to be concerned about the purity of native populations, then people living in the States should only keep animals native to the area in which they live, so that any escapees do not threaten the gene pool.

Also, for those folks who mentioned the Nazis... please look up "Godwin's Law".

[Thrasops]

Couldn't have said it better myself, Ssthisto!

[Thrasops]

Originally Posted by Mark75

The problem is we do play god with snakes to produce different morphs.

I ain't saying killing them is right though.

I agree, which is why I am opposed to many morphs! I know some of them are naturally occurring, and I have no real bugbear against people who like to delve into that aspect of the hobby - there are some admittedly beautiful animals produced, and a lot of great genetic work done - but frankly they do not interest me in the slightest.

Obviously this is only my opinion, but I prefer (for example) normal, run-of-the-mill Royals (available for £45-50) to any colour morph I've seen with a £20K price tag!

I think we both agree, though, that killing any living creature for no good reason would be wrong.

And to be fair, some of the comments posted on this thread have been a bit OTT - but I think it's the emotions speaking.

[ian14]

What were the parents, out of interest?

With regards to them being from an area where the two would never naturally meet, why the fuss?? I haven't seen anyone raising this issue with, say, pueblacorns - pueblan milks and corns will never meet naturally yet are intentionally produced and sold in the UK.

I read once that eventually, with all the cross breeding, inbreeding and selective breeding that describing and breeding a natural wild type corn will be as impossible as describing and breeding a natural wild type cat!

Given the hundreds of breeders of all different morphs of different species, many of which are hybrids, creamsicle corns and albino grey banded kings a prime example, I just cannot see why this should be an issue, providing the breeder of any of these hybrids is honest and says exactly what they are.

[bluerain]

Id go for the rehomeing thing too. Theres bound to be plenty people out there who would just like one as a pet. Not everybody breeds their snakes. There are also alot of folk who are not so honest and just sell their hybrids without informing anybody of the mixed genes. At least anybody who gets one will know exactly what their getting.

[ian14]

I would happily take a couple on, depending on how far you are from me.

[Sid.lola]

I understand where everyone is coming from on the freezing thing but someone made a very good point (don't know if it was on this forum or the other one) about feeding them to king snakes - that may horrify snake keepers but think how mouse keepers/enthusiasts must feel knowing that we freeze mice and feed them to our animals.


Don't really know how I feel personally on this issue though.

[Ssthisto]

Ian, the original breeder in the post over on the other site is in the 'States - probably a bit too far away to consider rehoming 'em to us-over-here who'd have 'em!