When will we have to register snakes like we do dogs?

[spasticbeast]

I am not against hybrids, but with the possibility of muddied genetics in the future, I wonder at what point they will have to be registered to be considered "Purebred", balls or bloods? Any opinions?

[MasonC2K]

I am not against hybrids, but with the possibility of muddied genetics in the future, I wonder at what point they will have to be registered to be considered "Purebred", balls or bloods? Any opinions?

I don't really see it happening. Especially since it doesn't really work for dogs.

For example:

The American Kennel Club (AKC) is the oldest purebred dog registry in the US. AKC registered more than 1.3 million purebred dogs and more than 550 thousand litters in its 145 breeds in 1997. The top 10 breeds accounted for more than 560 thousand of the total individual registrations.

Most people who breed purebred dogs claim some affiliation with a registry as a seal of quality for their puppies. Many use that affiliation as a marketing tool, but buyers often learn the hard way that an AKC puppy purchased from a pet store or a backyard breeder is highly unlikely to be of the same caliber as an AKC registered puppy purchased from a reliable breeder.

AKC registration works like this: When puppies are whelped, the breeder registers the litter; AKC sends a blue slip for each puppy in the litter; the breeder signs the puppy over to the buyer, who then registers the individual puppy in his name and is sent a registration certificate. Cost of litter registration is $20; cost of individual registration is $10.

AKC registration means that the parent dogs were registered. It could be that an irresponsible breeder lied or was mistaken about the breeding that produced the litter, or that an unprincipled breeder was commiting outright fraud to raise the value of the puppies. Registration itself is neither a guarantee nor even an indication of quality. No one examines the parent dogs or the puppies to see if they really qualify for registration, and AKC depends on breeders to be honest when applying for a litter registration. Some unethical breeders apply for registration forms for puppies that have died or were never born, and they then use these certificates on puppies of doubtful parentage.

To complicate matters further, a female dog can be impregnated by several male dogs during her fertile cycle; if the dogs are not watched closely and appropriately confined, some puppies in the litter may have different fathers than other puppies. Thus, in kennels where males and females of different breeds typically run together, mixed breed puppies can actually be registered as purebred. This is not uncommon with puppy mill dogs or with backyard breeders who have several breeds, and has led to many complaints that the puppy purchased as a particular breed has grown into a dog that looks like something else.

AKC will investigate and may revoke the litter registration if the puppies or adult dogs do not have the appearance of the breed they are registered as. In the past, proof was difficult to obtain, but the advent of DNA testing has given inspectors a new weapon. If there is doubt about the parentage of a puppy, the AKC inspector can require a DNA test.

So the dog system is faith based just like ours, just more formalized. It still has the same problems.

[spasticbeast]

Has any DNA testing for the purity of snake species taken place? I agree that the system isn't perfect, but a ton of pet breeders have adopted a "papering", system (to make more money, if nothing else) and I just don't see it NEVER happening. There are always going to be unethical people around to squeeze every penny out of any situation they can. I hope your are right, but I think it would be pretty cool to get a six generation certificate with pictures of my BP's ancestors and information.

[MasonC2K]

Has any DNA testing for the purity of snake species taken place? I agree that the system isn't perfect, but a ton of pet breeders have adopted a "papering", system (to make more money, if nothing else) and I just don't see it NEVER happening. There are always going to be unethical people around to squeeze every penny out of any situation they can. I hope your are right, but I think it would be pretty cool to get a six generation certificate with pictures of my BP's ancestors and information.

A lot a big breeders do this to an extent. Smaller breeders usually don't have the resources to. Like I get my stock from CL, small breeders on this site, and reptile shows because they are more affordable to me.

As far as Ball Pythons are concerned, only hets are questionable as visual morphs and hybrids are pretty well obvious. Colubirnds are bit trickier and mlik snake, kingsnakes, corn snakes, and so on can have similar appearances and hybrids happen even in the wild and can be hard to distiguish.

[purplemuffin]

Well, also, how pure are we talking? Species? Locality? Lines(Lemon pastel)? I know with boas and certain other snakes locality is a very important thing(except for those just breeding for them morphs), however ball pythons are just 'ball pythons', except for now the advertising for the Ghana balls. Even then they get bred to all the other balls in a collection!

I often wonder what normals would be like if the localities had been kept separate. We all know that variety in normals is what happens, but I wonder if we'd see a more common size/color in certain areas? Too late now, but it's fun to think about!

[loonunit]

Oh, I thought you were talking about licensing them through animal control, not AKC purebred stuff. Which is a whole other thing...

I actually think the purebred stuff is worth considering for Angolan pythons in particular, because there are so many more ball pythons in captivity, so it'll be easy for the Angolan genes to get muddled. And it would be cool for rare sub-species like dwarf Sonoran and Pearl Island and Hogg Island boas. I love Sonoran boas because they put the lie to the "non-native invasive species" classification for boas, but it's hard to get a real, full-blood Sonoran.