Are ball pythons a domesticated species?

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Originally Posted by Freakie_frog

This is from wikipedia



The last one is the reason reptiles will never be concidered "Domestic".

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i think that about sums it up lol. not much of an opinion eh?

I could careless what wikipedia says, not everything wikipedia has is accurate. Now that's as far as i'm saying anything on this subject because everybody has their opinion.

I dont believe you could ever call a reptile tame. however I will say they can learn tolerance. which, IMO makes them such a desired pet. for an animal that will not tolerate human interaction is nothing more than a show piece, and personally if I wanted a show piece, I would pic something that doesn't need to be cleaned and fed.

Much of the discussion here reminded me of an article I read recently in SEED Magazine.

"I am a Rat and So Are You"

I voted NO.....but I do think there is potential for "domestication" of snake species in the long term as captive breeding continues. Domestication is more of a spectrum rather than a clear cut category as is the case with most things in biology.

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Originally Posted by Egapal

Like I said cats don't recognize a social hiararchy. Sure they can tell one human from another and act accordingly but they do not recognize you as there leader. Like a dog will if treated properly.

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i don't know what kinds of experiences you have had with cats, but your generalization here doesn't hold water. my cats see me as their leader, they obey commands and act much like a dog would. they are waiting for me at the door when i get home, much like a dog would. One of my cats, Morgan, will seek me out for attention, as he'd rather spend his time in my lap, than napping somewhere else.

In order to be considered domesticated, an animal really has to be altered in temperment and behavior, at least a bit, from its wild ancestors. It also typically shows color/pattern changes. BPs only show color/pattern changes so far. Part of the reason they have not yet been domesticated is that people are not too fussed over breeding for temperment and behavior, yet. If a snake eats well, and it's a female, it's likely to be bred by most breeders.

Over time, this will change. Ball pythons will be selected for larger adult size/clutch sizes in females, docile temperment, and reliable feeding behavior. Once these traits are consistant in captive populations, I think it would be fair to consider them domesticated. The real tipping point will be when imported wild ball pythons become undesireable, because their behavior and appearance is not as predictable and not conducive to being a pet.

There are probably several species which should be considered domesticated, but currently are not:
Budgerigars and cockatiels, leopard geckos, and golden hamsters, for example.

There are also some domesticated species people don't commonly think of as domesticated: Ferrets, society finches, and koi fish, for instance.

I should add that domestication doesn't mean rendering an animal incapable of surviving in the wild, nor does it mean they look to us for leadership, or can learn from us--although in canines, it does manifest that way.

For an EXTREMELY interesting experiment on the nature of domestication, I refer you to this article on domesticated foxes (yes, domesticated):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tame_Silver_Fox

The range of species we consider domesticated includes chickens (which obviously don't consider us to be in charge), hogs, horses, cattle, goats, alpaca, llamas, rats, mice, rabbits--the list goes on and on, and includes far more than dogs and cats.

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Originally Posted by Neal

I could careless what wikipedia says, not everything wikipedia has is accurate.

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Wikipedia has been shown to have greater accuracy, regardless of abundance of information(which it obviously has in greater quantity), than the encyclopedia britannica.

Domesticated, no. Genetically conditioned, a possibility. It may be posible to bread the worst qualities out of a snake, but training by any other means besides classical conditioning is impossible. These guys have a really small, primitive brain. They cannot develope the pathways to become domesticated. I think anyone who would dissect a reptile would see that they are primitive.

i believe those balls whose parents and grandparents were born in captivity are used to (for lack of a better phrase) living around humans and in captivity and therefore are prepared to live the same way. i believe in nuture over nature so whatever the snake was born in. he will be