Sad

[Jellybeans]

Since recently acquiring a very lovely banana ball python I have learned A LOT as far as all these morphs go. I had no idea of all the poor snakes that suffer. Are they in pain...I don't know but the person(s) that allow them to have such a disrespectful survival disgust me. The breeders in my opinion should have them humanely euthanized by a vet as soon as these terrible genetics are discovered and stop reproducing whatever morphs have such terrible results. The snakes deserve respect..
And after watching videos of the wobbles and terrible genetic defects all last night on Youtube, I honestly would have purchased a "normal wild" color instead of what I did. I do not think my boy is prone to getting those terrible genetics but let me tell you, I would not allow him to live such an unnatural existance with defects. He would be humanely euthanized.

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[Bogertophis]

I'm a fan of "normals" too, and for that reason...natural selection is the way most defects are weeded out, who are we to perpetuate them for nothing more
than a fancy "paint job" that we'll soon tire of anyway & crave a different "morph"? I love colorful creatures as much as anyone here, but not at the expense
of their health. While it's true that such defects can still occur now & then, no one should knowingly increase the odds just to be lining their pockets. I'm sad
as you are that breeders aren't more responsible & if anything, are becoming less so.

[Jellybeans]

I was thinking about trying to get a leucistic eventually.....but not anymore..


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[RickyNY]

Can you share the link where you read that?
I also have a Banana and would like to know.

[Jellybeans]

Ricky --
Where I read what.
Sorry not sure exactly what u refer to. But I think with Bananas, we are spared the defects

Can you share the link where you read that?
I also have a Banana and would like to know.

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[Dianne]

Unfortunately I think you are over-generalizing the defects. Not all of the morphs have genetic issues, and even those that do have genetic issues don’t affect every animal. There is plenty of information available to avoid the more common defects in your breeding projects or pets. There are also many examples of impacted morphs like spiders that are not impacted to such a degree that they can’t have a normal life span and quality of life. While there are some morphs that I wouldn’t want to propogate myself, that doesn’t mean that I believe the vast majority are suffering either. We each have to make a conscious decision on what we want versus the impact on the animal. Also keep in mind that many of the Youtube videos are documenting extreme cases versus the run-of-the-mill pet.

[Dianne]

Here’s a reputable site that gives a good overview of defects and their impact: http://www.owalreptiles.com/issues.php

The banana gene is tied to a gender gene, or so it is assumed, so that a clutch will be essentially all one gender.

[Jellybeans]

I understand what you're saying not all of them have defects but there are many that do and some breeders just keep breeding because it's about the money
SOME breeders seem to think that "it's just a few " of what they produced that have genetic problems so they're not going to worry about that ...they're going to keep breeding = $

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[Jbabycsx]

There are a few breeders (very few) that I have seen that are actively trying to produce the morphs that display problems using different techniques during the incubation period to try to find out if lower heat and longer incubation times reduce or eliminate the defects. Olympus Reptiles is one of them. I haven’t been able to find out what the results were though. Has anyone heard?


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[Dianne]

I understand what you're saying not all of them have defects but there are many that do and some breeders just keep breeding because it's about the money
SOME breeders seem to think that "it's just a few " of what they produced that have genetic problems so they're not going to worry about that ...they're going to keep breeding = $

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While I get what you are saying about “some” breeders, I don’t feel the broad generalization is fair to the good breeders and hobbiests who have a passion for their animals. There are breeders of many animal species that are in it for the money without consideration for the animals (i.e. puppy mills and back yard breeders). I also don’t feel it is accurate to say “many” of the morphs have genetic faults, as there are dozens if not hundreds of morph combinations, most of which are perfectly healthy.