Breeding a spider with severe wobble

[Kristenleawatson]

I have a Male spider that has a really bad wobble. If I were to breed him would there be a greater risk for his offspring to have a wobble? I got him as a rescue and didnt plan to breed him because i was worried about this being passed on. I'm just curious if I'm correct in thinking this.

[Caitlin]

The quick answer is that your spider ball python would transmit the gene for the wobble syndrome to any offspring, though as far as I know (and someone correct me if I am wrong) there is no current way to predict how severely the wobble would manifest itself.

[Bogertophis]

I would never breed such a snake...I hope you follow your first instincts to not breed. There are no shortages of BPs, & reproducing those with severe defects is just wrong, IMO, & there's no way to predict how
severely it will manifest.

[AzJohn]

From the research I’ve done about this morph the severity of the wobble is related to stress and excitement. That’s why so many of the spiders you see with bad wobbles are rescues. I’m not sure if the severity of the wobble is passed down. You can have a parent with almost no wobble produce young with severe wobbles. I’m not sure if it works the other way, severe wobbles produce minimal wobbles. Maybe some one who’s bred them will chime in.

All that being said. My personal belief that the severity of the wobble is based at least in part on stress levels would lead me to question whether he would be a good candidate for breeding. When I think of a severe wobble, I imagine a snake that has difficulties feeding itself and one that needs help turning itself upright.

[Lord Sorril]

I have no issue breeding Spider Morphs with minimal wobble. I would not breed one with severe wobble. The Spider wobble is known to be a genetic issue. It is not clear how complex the genetic component is controlled. It is obvious that environmental factors influence the level of expression--which would indicate that there are other genetic components which promote the Wobble effect. Instead of one gene, this could possibly be a complex of 5, 10, or even 100+ genes interacting with each other. You may be able to produce minimal wobble ball pythons using this snake in mating, but, it is very possible that some percentage of those background genetics will likely be transferred to the next generation--Why let them? A responsible breeder will cull the hatchlings with bad wobble, and not breed a poor adult specimen.

And as Bogertophis mentioned: There is no shortage of ball pythons right now. Find another breeder.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Severe wobbler can produce mild wobbler and vice versa, the real question is why would you put a severe wobbler through the stress of breeding.

Breeding is stressful and takes it's toll on males and we all know that Spider should be as stress free as possible as stress will increase wobble.