Hi everyone,

I'm new to the board, but I've been lurking for a few weeks. I've absolutely fallen in love with BPs, but it'll probably be a couple of years before I acquire one. In the interim, I'm just trying to find out as much as possible about them.

I have sort of a strange question about temperament. I can't imagine I'll ever have more than a hobby-sized collection of BPs, and any snake I bring home will primarily be a pet to me. I've read a lot about "feisty" or "nippy" BPs, and it seems like snakes that hatch that way stay that way, and never really appreciate being handled. I would much prefer to have snakes that enjoy being handled on occasion than those that strike at me whenever I stick my hand in, but temperament is rarely mentioned in kingsnake ads, and it doesn't seem a big concern among most people. Is there any indication that temperament has a genetic component in BPs? Do feisty parents = feisty offspring? In dog breeding, for example, it's considered somewhat unethical to breed an aggressive dog--no matter how well he does in the show ring--because of the possibility of that aggression being genetic. Is there any evidence that this is also true of BPs? Or, are some snakes just born angry, even if their parents are both extremely docile?