Just a little "rant"

This is kind of a little rant. If that.
But as to most Reptiles, especially ball pythons. How can anyone say anything about its what they do in the wild? The only ball pythons that have lived in the wild are the original ones that were imported over here. And I'm pretty sure that was so long ago, they aren't even alive anymore. But every one after have all been bred indoors, in a breeders care, and have never been in the wild. Therefore making what they do in the wild irrelevant. How can anyone say its how they do in the wild, when they have never been in the wild to start with? I mean, I feed both live and frozen, depending on what they take the most. But some people that are against frozen, and all for feeding live, cuz its how they do in the wild. None of those comments have any relevance cuz they've never been in the wild. The only valid point would be, maybe frozen would be better cuz they don't really know how to defend themselves against rodent bites. If that's even a thing. But some say live is bad cuz of rodent bites... Valid point. Others come back and say they can't order frozen in the wild. While that is a good point, but am positive your snake has never been in the wild to start with. So how is that even a valid comparison. So just get the fact that both have good and bad points and deal with it.

They're still wild animals though. They aren't domesticated like our dogs and cats, so they still have wild tendencies and husbandry needs. I am not advocated for live prey or anything, but just because they aren't in the wild, doesn't mean the wild has been bred out of them. Plus, some snakes in captivity are actually from the wild or just a generation or two away, like my scrub.

Domesticated or not. Fact is, they're still not in the wild. Being in tanks, even all decorated to resemble the wild, is still not in the wild. And keeping in rack tubs, like I do, is definitely not in the wild either. Ok so, you're right, they are wild animals. I get that. Point is though, they have been captive so long that you can no longer compare them to being in the wild. And I'm not talking about a 15ft pet Burmese python being let go into the Florida Everglades. That's a whole different thing. That's just an owner that bought it cuz it was cute when it was little, but didn't do any research to know how big they get. I know you didn't say anything about that. I just said it cuz I know someone will.

To me the term "wild" is vague in its use for this discussion. What would an animal be that is wild caught and has only been in captivity for a week? How about a baby that is several generations in captivity but displays typical nippy defensive behavior of a wild animal? There also are people that keep animals and get out herping or travel to go herping in other countries. Do those people not have experience of what a "wild" animal does?

My dog is domesticated, he looks to me for attention and affection. My snake is not domesticated he acts wild just like he would in his natural habitat. That’s why it’s important for me to make my snakes enclosure be very close to his natural environment. Because my holding him and feeding f/t is not enrichment for him. My dog on the other hand loves to lay with me on the couch.

Um,

Ball pythons are still imported from the wild every year.

Where do you think all the new base morphs come from?

I might wish none were taken from the wild in africa but it simply isn't true.

You still have to make ther choice between an "established" breeder with a proven line of a morph or an unproven anaimal straight from africa. Lets not fool ourselves that a $10 bag of "unusual" ball pythons were not hatched in a facility in africa.


dr del

Being in captivity does not mean they are lacking their wild natural instinct at the same time it cannot always be used in a discussion as a valid argument, neither can the opposite, but there is a point when it can be used.

scientifically its called genetic memory, the bp may have never lived in the wild, however that genetic memory is still passed down. As more BPs are bread in captivity, newer generations are likely also being passed down genetic memory of captivity. This does not mean they do not still have the genetic instincts passed from previous generations which did live in the wild. There has been many more thousands of years of genetic memory of the wild than there has captive.

that being said, as stated above, its not an end all be all argument ender.