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a can of worms

1K views 20 replies 15 participants last post by  Brett 
#1 ·
#4 ·
Unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you see things, the more genes are discovered and worked with the more problems are unearthed. This mutation can be looked at in two ways.

1. It's known to be fatal in nearly all cases as none have survived til this one so leave it alone don't bring an animal into the world only for it to die.

2. Try this cross, mix in other genes to try and figure out WHY it ends in death and then see if something fixes it.

It's intriguing to know that one has survived where others haven't, maybe it will grow and breed or maybe it will perish as all others have only time will tell.
 
#5 ·
Controversy aside I think its very refreshing to see someone in the BP world sharing their experiences in an honest way.
Theres far too many secrets when it comes to breeding BPs and 9/10 times this would have been someones little secret especially had the snake died.
 
#7 ·
Hmm,

It's intresting it survived.

But, even if I had the chance I wouldn't have tried the cross with either spider or sable to be honest.

Fingers crossed she thrives though.


dr del
 
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#11 ·
It's because of the type of Royal Python she is. There are lots of different coloured and patterned snakes which have been created by selective breeding. These are called morphs.

This particular snake is a super champagne morph. All previous known morphs of this kind have died. The exhibit very bad neurological problems. The breeder claims she 'spins', this trait is known in this morph. Other morphs also exhibit genetic defects such as the 'spider' which is know to have head wobble and the 'cinnamon' having kinked spines.

Essentially humans have messed about with snakes so much that some are messed up genetically. It's not unique to royal pythons either.
 
#15 ·
The original spider had a wobble, the original champagne had some sort of neuro problem too, these problems were passed onto subsequent generations, they were created by nature. Humans are responsible for reproducing the problem not creating it.

I personally dont want anything with spider in and agree with your stance on not breeding these morphs with known issues, but then i think its not massively different than breeding british bulldogs for example, which have leg and breathing defects but continue to be bred without people kicking up a fuss.
 
#16 ·
I keep spiders and spider combos as the snakes wobble varies from snake to snake and the worst examples often don't survive and/or aren't bred from anyway but certainly my bumblebee only has a slight wobble at feeding time (if he hangs around sniffing the rat long enough, normally he just snatches it lol) and he feeds brilliantly and he's breeding females now with no problems at all. Champagnes the same. I don't keep them because i'm not a fan of how they look or of their combos personally, but i wouldn't have a problem keeping them if they looked better and had wobbles.... but putting the 2 together when it is already known to be lethal is just pointless in my opinion.. I don't quite get what they are out to prove... I wouldn't want a snake in my rack spinning and wobbling uncontrollably... it would distress me majorly! Not to mention this snake LOOKS deformed anyway to me... it has a weird shaped head, it is long and skinny looking - pretty ropey really and i really don't like it... And it will probably die anyway :(
 
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