Ball pythons destroying the hobby?

[Jeremy Browning]

Personally i think BP's do a little help and a little bad. the wide variety of morphs and ease of care brings in new herpers but seen as there so popular amny more rare species fall out of captivity.

[Bellabob]

I don't understand what you mean?

[Denial]

I dont think there destroying the hobby there will always be people that love them and people that dont really care for them. I do hate going to shows were you basically have the same thing on every single table though.

[Raptor]

I dont think there destroying the hobby there will always be people that love them and people that dont really care for them. I do hate going to shows were you basically have the same thing on every single table though.

Not sure what you mean with that one. The last one I went to had: BPs, corns, bloods, RTBs, retics, bearded dragons, geckos, emperor scorpions, tarantulas, preying mantises, frogs, turtles, and probably a lot more than I forgot. There was maybe three or four out of about 30 tables that were purely BPs.

[Adam Chandler]

I believe Ball Pythons are a great "gateway" snake. Great for converting people who have a fear of snakes due to ignorance (as I once had). I mean if you've never interacted with a snake you are much more likely to have a blind irrational fear of them.

Anyway my point is once people start learning about and keeping Ball Pythons and find out snakes are not "bad" as the media portrays them they are much more likely to explore the hobby and end up learning about and keeping other species as they become more experienced.

In conclusion I believe BP's help the hobby, but that's just my humble opinion.

[Aes_Sidhe]

Destroying Hobby No... make it less diverse Yes... with all endless color mutations pop up every year and go up Morph Crazie.. a lot of people concentrate on ball pythons...

And typical way is...
1 I want Snake... I'm Buying Ball Python...
2 Ohh That one is cool and this and this and this... (people catching Pokemon syndrome) with leading to point 3
3 Hmm I have few cool snakes let breed them to make some money back.. and after 3-4 years another small table with Ball pythons only pop up on show...

Don't get me wrong.. I dont see anything wrong with that but more and more people concentrating only on ball pythons push other species in deep Shadow...

When You have seen last time on small show ( i dont talk about big ones like Daytona or NARBC) European or Asian Rat Snakes??? When You have seen last time Central American or Cuban Boas??? (from Tropidophiinae family) When You have seen last time Elephant Trunk Snakes, African Racers, Or even Cribos??

On last White Plains Show I bough House Snake for 15$ !!!
Same House Snake I could order from same Breeder over internet for 40$...
They Just want to get a rid of him because people are not interested in other things..
Everybody wants ball pythons, want more morphs of ball pythons and wants them cheaper...
Is like Perpetum Mobile..

I just wonder when This machine reach critical mass...

So yes in My Opinion Ball Pythons are great "market" thing for a hobby... but make it less diverse...

[purplemuffin]

I know a LOT of people believe BPs are destroying the hobby due to the morph-centric nature of them. The craze for new dinkers and morphs have started spilling into other species who do not have as many safe mutations and end up creating snakes that die right out of the egg...But the snake looks so cool that they try again and again and again year after year and end up with hundreds of dead snakes just to hope for one successful baby that grows..which will what...make more dead baby snakes? Then, like we've seen in super dwarf retics, carefully preserved localities of animals who we can no longer collect in the wild are starting to disappear, replaced with hybrids of localities that happen to have the morphs people want. Animals who have no found morphs also start to be worth less, despite being incredible captives and beautiful snakes in their own right. Their argument is that "It's not about the snakes themselves anymore, it's about if you can make money off their mutations and patterns, even if they cause kinks, infertility, or neurological problems"

Honestly, I can see what they are saying. There are a lot of INCREDIBLE animals who are great pets who no one is breeding because they don't come in albino or pied. The few people who want them end up getting wild caught specimens who die because of parasites/stress of being wild caught, and they get the impression these are not good snakes to have. Not to mention, in a morph minded world, line breeding is often pushed out the window-sure there is a NICE lesser that could improve your lines, but there is an okay lesser yellowbelly for the same price! Stuff like that. Sure, line bred snakes REALLY stand out...But the potential new breeder sees how gorgeous someone's carefully bred enchi cinnamon is, and mistakes that line breeding as "Oh, what a great combo morph!" and they buy a boring enchi and a cheap cinnamon and hope they get the same thing. Now this isn't everyone in the hobby, but good lord it happens a lot.

I don't think they are killing the hobby, but I can see how if things keep going in a bad direction...well.. It wouldn't help anybody, except the bp breeders.

[DooLittle]

I believe Ball Pythons are a great "gateway" snake. Great for converting people who have a fear of snakes due to ignorance (as I once had). I mean if you've never interacted with a snake you are much more likely to have a blind irrational fear of them.

Anyway my point is once people start learning about and keeping Ball Pythons and find out snakes are not "bad" as the media portrays them they are much more likely to explore the hobby and end up learning about and keeping other species as they become more experienced.

In conclusion I believe BP's help the hobby, but that's just my humble opinion.

I agree. I once was scared if snakes too. Now I love my bps. They are very good natured and good for a house with children, who also love snakes. We have had many family members and friends who were scared of snakes come around a bit after interacting with our bps. And why are these people on bp.net and hacking on them? Its not all about the morphs. Its about a good natured pet.

[JRSCB16A2]

If it wasn't for bp's I would have never got into having snakes, and looking into other kinds of snakes to own, so the snakes that you think are killing the hobby are exactly what got me into the hobby.

[Freakie_frog]

You know its funny but I feel sometimes this way as well never mind my first reptile was a Leopard Gecko. But lately it seems like everything I see or hear is Ball related. But I get reminded by people like Ron Tremper (gecko guy) or Heather Pitts (corn snakes) that there are area's of the hobby, professionals that have no interest in Balls. I think because this sites name is Ball-Python that tends to be a major focus. But you go to some other forums that don't focus on Balls and you'll quickly see how vast the Herp hobby really is..

P.S. I love sand boa's and in the future I will work with sand boa's I find them fascinating animals. I have also longed to have a group of Uromastyx's. My brother who does our rats like's Tortoise's, so some day we may have a few torts running around..