Breeding for attitude rather than morph..

I am just wondering if there are any breeders out there that selectively breed BPs for reasons other than morphs. I think it'd be neat to see people pick out the friendliest ball pythons around and breed em out. Who knows.. maybe we'd get ball pythons with very outgoing personalities similar to boas. Just a thought..

I had this same idea and I think it would be a cool project. Since I love my snake's personalities far more than their markings, this is the kind of breeding that would really interest me.

I think there are some unique challenges. Unlike morphs, the results are hard to quantify. This would make breeding selection and pricing very difficult. There is also a significant chance that genetics can't guarantee a certain personality profile. I believe it probably has a large impact, though.

At the very least, such a venture would have to produce fairly dramatic results to compensate for the fact that its very subjective. For the same reason, I think it would be very important to stick with it and build a brand name that people trust.

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Originally Posted by chz

the friendliest ball pythons

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maybe its just me, but ive never met a mean ball python. They are only agressive when feeding, breeding, or scared. But breeding snakes for personality, if possible, and if proven, could be revolutionary for the market.

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Originally Posted by bearhart

At the very least, such a venture would have to produce fairly dramatic results to compensate for the fact that its very subjective.

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How much more dramatic could it possibly be? Ball pythons for the most part, are known to be gentle, calm, and non-aggressive. I've got 17 non-aggressive "friendly" ball pythons (except on feeding day when I expect them to be the chainsaws that they are), every last one of them.

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Originally Posted by Het4Something

But breeding snakes for personality, if possible, and if proven, could be revolutionary for the market.

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See above - but personalities are individual. Look at human families for example, with multiple siblings, same shared parents (assuming these are families without step parents), all different personalities in the same family. But I believe personality is made up of genetics AND environmental influences.

I'd venture to guess that there might be something to that idea. We've bred cats and dogs for those qualities.. probably will just take longer with reptiles. Now to see a dwarf ball python would be interesting. hhmmm... ::wanders off in thought::

Being non-aggressive doesn't mean they're personable. That'd be like saying my deaf, blind, and mute grandfather is personable just because he's gentle and calm. We all know ball pythons are extremely docile most of the time, but their personalities can vary greatly.

I'm not saying ball pythons aren't personable, I'm just saying some are more so than others. And to breed out the lower stress bps would be a great project, being as stress has been linked to genetics.

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Originally Posted by rabernet

But I believe personality is made up of genetics AND environmental influences.

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Agreed.

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Originally Posted by rabernet

How much more dramatic could it possibly be? Ball pythons for the most part, are known to be gentle, calm, and non-aggressive. I've got 17 non-aggressive "friendly" ball pythons (except on feeding day when I expect them to be the chainsaws that they are), every last one of them.

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Less "paranoid", less likely to stress, more outgoing. All kind of the same thing, really. The strong self-preservation instincts don't serve them as well in a domesticated setting. Its a similar situation with dogs and cats, as Ladydragon pointed out.

To my point, consider that most of the main husbandry points that get stressed around here are heavily based on (or influenced by) the fact that BP's are easily stressed and can't be trusted to choose a more healthy place over a more hidden place.

Of course, it only makes logical sense in my opinion. I might not eject an aggressive, overly nervous snake from being bred (or one that isn't a regular and predictable feeder), but I wouldn't be holding back any of their offspring, either.
It's an attitude that's a long time in coming in herpetoculture, I think. People are so focused on the snakes' appearance, they tend to ignore their personalities. Snakes can certainly be selected to be docile, outgoing rather than shy, good feeders, and good breeders. We've selected personality traits in dog and cat breeds to an incredible degree, there's no reason we can't do the same with reptiles. It's TREMENDOUSLY to their benefit if we do so. Captive lines that really THRIVE in captivity mean animals that are 'happy' and healthy, rather than stressed and miserable in the conditions keepers provide. We aren't captive breeding these animals in order to preserve their species--they are pets, and they and their offspring will always be pets. If we can make them better pets, then it's to our credit to do so.
I wonder how many generations it takes to truly domesticate a reptile? I've often wondered if corn snakes and leopard geckos truly are domesticated animals by this point. Certainly they've been selected for hardiness in captivity just as a matter of course. The long captive lines bear little resemblence to their wild relatives--particularly the leopard geckos.
Koi are certainly domesticated.
Society finches are domesticated. I think leopard geckos belong on the list.

Imagine a future where most ball pythons hatch out of the egg already fairly 'tame' and sociable, eat f/t rats as a first meal, and breed reliably.
Why not? No reason we can't accomplish it.