Warning world of ball pythons .com has been hacked.

I just tried to visit it and got this;

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...Phacked_cr.jpg

I'm quite new to the python world, but I'm surprised that this kind of stuff hasn't been brought up in all of my searching before. Maybe I'm just searching the wrong places, but this is honestly the first time I've seen something stating this kind of thing. Obviously we want breeding conditions to be ideal for the animal but that's a lot different than what they're getting at.

Huh, the Ball Pythons hobby? Not the puppy mills or fur trade? huh...

How strange that they would take that approach to ball pythons and target a website mostly devoted to displaying genetics. It seems that "activism" like this would be better pointed elsewhere, like at puppy mills or certain livestock raising techniques. Even using terms like "genetic manipulation" is a little extreme in this case, but then I guess judging by their methods this person/group is extremist already.

Waste of effort, if you ask me.

Wow crazy!

The animal rights movement has even more misconceptions about the reptile hobby and exotics than they do about most other animal-related issues. I was vegan for several years (dietary, not ethical... hard to be an ethical vegan with a freezer full of dead mice) and ended up seeing a lot of the propaganda and such.

Fantastic. You can hack a website that has a genetics calculator on it. I'm rather sad that they didn't put a favicon up.

I would caution that those breeders who maintain websites make sure their security is up to snuff, because wackos like this will be likely to hit them next. They'll probably hit big names first for the publicity, but better be safe and back up your content if it isn't already.

I don't think that they will go for any more, I'd be surprised if they are willing to waste their time. But yeah, if they're going to target anyone else they are likely to go for the big names. Possibly BHB Reptiles.

Quick note, the site is back.

I've seen some animal rights propaganda relating to the ball python industry in the past. Claims that we torture our animals by keeping them in plastic drawers and using them to breed year after year in hopes of producing babies for profit....and such nonsense. I've had an animal rights activist look totally aghast and berate me for torturing my animals by keeping them in a rack...despite the fact that it more closely mirrors their natural daily hideout choices and undoubtedly increases the strength of their feeding responses. I have much fewer refusals from animals in a rack than in a "naturalistic tank". Although, most of those people think all animals (including domestic pets) should be set free into the wild where they "belong", even knowing they will die within months because they lack instinctual responses that could save their lives. It's totally ridiculous.