Ethical Question

I recently had a (supposedly) reputable breeder tell me that you CAN breed desert females as long as there's another gene in there. Like, a desert spider female would breed just fine.

I did try to correct this idea but was shot down as completely misinformed and so I gave up.

I am always looking at local snake adds. If I see something real bad I will flag it. I just flagged a few today of a guy selling a baby normal he says is a little grumpy any he is holing the thing by the tip of it's tail in the pic. I say ok, but then look at the snake and it's like all bone. No muscle tone at all. Honest I think the thing is beyond even rescue at this point is how skinny it was. Makes me sick!

A side question here, what exactly is wrong with female deserts as breeders?? I see people post their breeding Desert Ghost females all the time (over on FB there's tons of BP pages)... Is it the desert gene by itself, or are only males good- and how did the desert gene come to be anyway if you can't breed it?

Desert 'ghosts' will breed just fine, with the mutation known simply as 'deserts' the females often die while laying eggs and if they do succeed in laying, the eggs never hatch

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Originally Posted by pastelballs

A side question here, what exactly is wrong with female deserts as breeders?? I see people post their breeding Desert Ghost females all the time (over on FB there's tons of BP pages)... Is it the desert gene by itself, or are only males good- and how did the desert gene come to be anyway if you can't breed it?

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there are 3 different morphs to talk about with this question

desert females have never laid fertile eggs to date, thus it is pretty much accepted as infertile, however the males breed just fine.
ghost (hypo) is a recessive morph that is all over the place, im sure you know what it is.
desert ghost is a recessive morph, no problem with it expect a stupid name and it is only stupid because it was named two names that were already established.

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Originally Posted by OhhWatALoser

there are 3 different morphs to talk about with this question

desert females have never laid fertile eggs to date, thus it is pretty much accepted as infertile, however the males breed just fine.
ghost (hypo) is a recessive morph that is all over the place, im sure you know what it is.
desert ghost is a recessive morph, no problem with it expect a stupid name and it is only stupid because it was named two names that were already established.

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Ah I see! So the desert ghost is actually something else entirely, or is it actually those two genes?

People should be informed about there purchases especially when it comes to animals.

Not everyone looks into the details and that is a huge problem in the animal / pet industry....I am not a breeder of any animals. I want to point out that this is strictly my opinion but i have family that do breed as a hobby.

Bad breeders misrepresent their animals, mill their animals and lie for profit which hurts the rest of the industry.

If you call them out i see no problem with it except their contempt; as long as it is justified. On the other hand sometimes people want an animal with a challenge, represent your animal as it is and if someone wants to buy it that is their decision.

if the facts are on that table and someone can provide for the animal appropriately despite its problems then there is no problem. Misrepresentation is paramount to thief... IMO.

Desert ghost is unrelated to desert and unrelated to ghost. Three different genes, just for some reason these three different genes ended up with similar names.

So what is wrong w desert gene morph that they die or are infertile??

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Originally Posted by CalypsobluAz

So what is wrong w desert gene morph that they die or are infertile??

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The females either slug out or end up egg bound and lose the clutch.

The physical cause isn't well known because no one has money to do research on reptiles.

As for the situation in the OP it's being handled in the Fauna BOI, and the seller isn't doing himself any favors.