I have read some very interesting threads on this forum and joined in on a few. But I do ask that if you post you will only put in constructive thoughts on the subject matter.
Not
"any one who cross breeds 2 different species is a "
or
"they should be buggered side ways with the blunt end of a shovel"

Just a quick heads up on myself.
I have been keeping Herps for 22yrs so I'm not a complete novice, I have bread and lost many different species in the past mainly boas and pythons, but always kept to "Local species" breeding. ie I have not been a morph breeder, although this side does have its fasination to me, and I do love the look of many.

My question is this, when is it acceptable to cross breed species??

For instance, I keep Dumerils Boas and have for many years but I also have a madagascan ground boa. They are both from Madagascar but different parts of the island. I have been told that Hybrids have been found in the wild, but is it ethical to cross breed in captivity??

The same question was asked in another Thread about ATBs x ETBs.
Also I have seen BURMBALLS, burmese pythons X Royals ( a very strange
mix in my opinion)
Royals X bornio short tails (very attractive).
But on top of this certain dwarf species of boas (that are quite rare in collections) x with BCIs or BCCs to breed in the dwarf trait or colour.
I have missed many out, please feel free to add them, If you have pics or links that will be great.

Deano....

i think some hybrids look really nice and as we dont put captive snakes back into the wild i dont see how it can be a bad thing if anything its like what has happend with dogs different cross breeds to make different types of dog all domesticated to fill a gap or do a job. the only time i dont like it is when the cross is damaging to the snake itself for some reason.
some people may say that it messes up blood lines for breeders but in a way it would make proven pure breeds have more value and also make some nice looking snakes for the pet trade, nothing different than dogs or fancy gold fish in my eyes

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corn snakes anery,amel,creamsical. mexican black king snake
http://snakesnthings.blogspot.com/

The problem is when the hybrids fall into the hands of the ignorant. They can then be misidentified and be inadvertently cross bred with pure bloodlines. Buyers will then be unknowingly getting mongrel pets. This will then start to materialize into unhealthy, infertile snakes. Nature generally guards against this, I think we should to.

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I think if two animals will breed naturally in the wild they are more commonly known as intergrades rather than hybrids. Their natural ranges must overlap for them to come in to contact to be able to breed, so many do not regard the offspring as true hybrids.

I think the main questions a hybrid breeder has to ask himself are...

1. Why am I doing it ? The answers will generally be "I have seen some and think they look beautiful", "They are sought after and worth lots of money" or "I want to breed a trait into another species that it does not have.".

The problem here is that even when breeding the same species, some of the hatchlings you get from it are stunning and some are ummmmm.... less so. The number of pattern variations from one clutch of eggs is phenomenal. With hybrids, this will be magnified even more. So you may get 1 or 2 of the stunning specimens you desire, but what about the other 10 that did not turn out as you hoped ? What are you going to do with them ?

The trait breeding is really just dishonest. Hybridise species A with species B to get say some leucism into the gene pool, breed the offspring back to species A for a couple of generations and nobody will ever know. This, I fear, is the way the corn market is going.

2. What about the welfare of the hybrids ? I think many hybrids are created without much thought to the consequences of it. Let's say for example that somebody hybridises a corn snake and a bull snake. It could possibly be done but when the hatchling matures and turns out to be the size of a corn snake and it proves to be fertile.... how big are the eggs going to get ? Just imagine a 4 foot corn sized hybrid trying to pass a bull snake sized egg... it would be like asking a woman to give birth to a child the size of a two year old.

I have heard tales of burrowing species being crossed with non-burrowing species. The hybrids did not have the hardened nasal area of the burrowing parent but did inherit its desire to do so. Consequently they ended up with very damaged and painful snouts.

In short.... to create hybrids, I think you need to be extremely well educated on what you are hybridising and the possible consequences of your actions before starting down the road

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http://www.herpcare.org.uk - Herpetocultural Care Guides

http://www.happinet.co.uk

Why would you want to?

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i have hybrid/intergrade Corallus hortulanus X Corallus ruschenbergerii here,i have them because i can,and they are kinda pretty too,other than that i have no experience of hybrids(that i know of)
regards gaz

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captive bred boas and tree boas a speciality

http://www.gazboas.co.uk

Bin rustler to the Queen

I personally don't like it as a general rule, particularly when it comes to mixing species such as the burm and royal pythons...which are entirely different species obviously, from different parts of the world, but then 'intergrading' as it happens in the wild, why shouldn't it be done in captivity? Just so long as the animals in question are labeled as what they are and never sold on as pure. I think that most snake species are beautiful the way they occur naturally and wouldn't wish to create 'mongrel' animals.

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1.0.0 Honduran Milksnake CB06 (Marley)
1.1.0 Crawl Cay BCI CB07 (Clarence&Alabama)
0.0.1 75%JJ Carpet Python CB08 (un-named)

I personally am against hybrids in most cases.

I went to Africa last year and had an unforgettable experience walking with Lions at a rehabilitation sanctuary in Zimbabwe, 35 years ago there were around 250,000 Lions in sub-saharan Africa, recent studies suggest somewhere in the region of 16,000 to 40,000.

We face the very real danger of all kinds of wild flaura and fauna being decimated in our life time, we may even have to re-introduce certain species into recovered eco-systems based on captive bred stock of certain animals and that is why in most cases i'm against hybrids.

I actually like some hybrids, and as long as they are always sold as hybrids can find no reason not to have them!! It is, as said, the hybrid offspring who are not stunning and are therefore sold as pure bloods that are the problem!! If you breed hybrids, and dont produce the stunners you hoped for, dont hoodwink the unsuspecting public, and still sell those less exciting babies as purebloods . Nobody wants a breeding programne, with years of work spoilt because they bought a snake that was an undeclared hybrid!
In general though, i think most hybrids are stunning!!

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2:2 Royal ball pythons.
1:1 Childrens Pythons.
2:0 Rosie boas.
1:2 Corn snakes.
1.1 Orange Tangerine Honduran Milksnake
1.0 Orange Albino Honduran Milksnake

Personally I dont even like morphs let alone hybrids, but as long as they are labled as what they are so people trying to breed pure do not use them, they have no genetic deformity/problems and most importantly are not a rare species then its just the normal course of domestication. And human nature is curious and we can not change that.
Hybrids and intergrades occur in the wild and give rise to new species so its not really totally unnatural. my only worry is that we will end up with a situation where no captive bred snake of species x can be gauranteed to be 100% and this will put pressure on wild populations as people who want pure blood snakes will start buying those. Its happened in the macaw breeding world where no cb green wing macaw is considered pure due to crossing with scarlets and blue and golds. To be honest this trend is mostly American and i think its the same with snakes

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1.0.0 Royal Python
1.0.0 Nelsons Milk snake
0.1.0 Hognose Snake
0.1.0 Yemen Chameleon
2.2.0 Dendrobates azureus
1.2.0 Red Eyed Tree Frogs
0.0.2 Yellow Bellied Slider
1.2.0 Emperor Scorpians
0.0.1 L. parahybana
0.1.0 T. blondi
2.1.0 Asian Giant Mantids
0.0.1 Idolomantis diabolica
0.0.1 Anemone reef aquarium
1.0.0 Cat
1.1.0 Budgerigars