A few breeding practice questions

So I haven't really looked into breeding much as I'm getting a young female and getting a setup ready that is really just for one snake, but I'm curious...do you have to own a male and a female to breed? Or can you own and female and use a "stud" snake? I know in other breeding practices (dogs, horses) many owners of females don't own a stud, or do out crosses if they do own one. Is this a common practice in snakes? What about "line breeding" or inbreeding to secure certain traits or colors?

Does anyone breed for temperament, secondary to morphs? Are hatchling normals ever euthed due to lack of demand? Just curious and didn't see these discussed anywhere (yet).

Breeding loans are fairly common, though as far as I know, "payment" is usually a mutually agreed upon split of the offspring or money made on that offspring.

And yes, line breeding is practiced.

Good questions Paperaith! I've been curious about these things too. I'm hoping to maybe get into breeding in 3-4 years or so and have been checking out all the new breeding forum threads. Building on the line breeding question, is it common to check a snake's line before breeding? I know with my mom when she was breeding Chihuahuas that she wouldn't breed two together if they were closely related (common link back as close as great grandparents, I think is what it was), other than dinkering is that common or normal with snakes too?

Line breeding snakes doesn't really have ill effects. Some people say that there will never be a problem, and others say only line breed a few generations. With dogs line breeding is frowned upon because it can cause issues with hips and things like that. You shouldn't cull normal offspring because they aren't in demand. You can try to find a home for them or try and wholesale them to pet stores.

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Originally Posted by paperaith

So I haven't really looked into breeding much as I'm getting a young female and getting a setup ready that is really just for one snake, but I'm curious...do you have to own a male and a female to breed? Or can you own and female and use a "stud" snake? I know in other breeding practices (dogs, horses) many owners of females don't own a stud, or do out crosses if they do own one. Is this a common practice in snakes? What about "line breeding" or inbreeding to secure certain traits or colors?

Does anyone breed for temperament, secondary to morphs? Are hatchling normals ever euthed due to lack of demand? Just curious and didn't see these discussed anywhere (yet).

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You can get a loan for breeder males. Line breeding is fairly common among reptiles. As Zombie said, their health isn't effected negatively. Line breeding in balls are mostly used to prove out certain traits or to see if there is a super form of a morph. And actually, line breeding in mammals is fairly common as well. My boyfriend's mother used to breed championship yorkshire terriers. The only accepted way to breed family is father to daughter. Not sure what was wrong with mother son, but apparently more ill effects come out of it? And as a biologist, I'll say that one generation of inbreeding isn't harmful. Even 2 may still be ok. I wouldn't go past that though......and it's not like animals in the wild won't inbreed.

Balls in general have an already good disposition. So they're mainly bred for their paint job. I did hear someone claim their ball came from someone who selectively bred for temperment, but I'm a little skeptical.

I wouldn't euthanize a hatchlings unless it was in severe pain or couldn't eat from a birth defect and such. Otherwise, there is no reason for euthanasia. However, I have heard that some breeders euthanize all normal type balls in their clutches by putting them in freezers. It's a cruel practice in my opinion. Why kill off perfectly healthy animals? Also freezing to death is a painful process...

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Thanks for all the replies! I don't think it's good to euthanize healthy animals, I was just curious if it was a common practice to do so.

I think that answers all my questions. =)