Padawan Breeder Questions

[Gio]

Your Rockhamptons are legit for that locality based on the breeder I know you purchased them from. You've been suggested previously, and I will suggest again, that you obtain quality, recently published literature by reputable authors on the subject of carpet pythons regarding the species designation of your carpets. Not listing links as I've been dinged for that in the past. Do your homework accordingly.

Your "Colombian" boas however I can confidently assure you are not pure Colombian locality boas given their source. Not dogging on that seller necessarily though. Most of the animals he has listed are being flipped as wholesale purchases from other breeders. Long and extensive periods of thorough research of localities/breeders/breeding stock/origins of breeding stock/lineage records/documentation of breeding pairs and who they came from/etc are necessary to be given honest assurance that what you are buying is what indeed you hope it to be. Let the buyer beware as they say...

Resources like this!




The first one is a bit harder to come by these days.
https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Comp.../dp/098327892X.


As for boas,

THE COMPLETE BOA CONSTRICTOR and THE MORE COMPLETE BOA CONSTRICTOR




These days finding a 100% pure locality take a little work.

There are breeders out there but homework is essential.

[YungRasputin]

i do have those on my “to get” book list - i just have a couple books to get before this but i do plan to get these and studies these yes and i just think “pure locality” and locality/lineage info would help the community (and science) so v much and that it’s an ideal worthy of striving for - i don’t think it’s the “end all, be all” for preserving nature but still

thanks again for everyone’s patience, resources and input

[YungRasputin]

what’s the deal with “super crosses” where the associated medical risks is “fatal”? like i already thought scaleless snakes were bad but this? and also why exactly or maybe better phrased, how exactly, does that work? why would this be fatal?

[YungRasputin]

specifically i think i remember seeing this in info on B. imperator, P. regius, and perhaps some other species - would have to go back to double check

[jmcrook]

I am no geneticist, but genetic information related to color/pattern mutations hitch a ride on other genetic information that can be fatal when combined. Eg: Super Jaguar Carpets are a lethal super. There is a direct link between the homozygous form of Jaguar and incomplete development of the lungs that results in an animal that is completely white and incompatible with life outside the egg. In essence you could say a single gene Jaguar Carpet is heterozygous for Dead.

[YungRasputin]

one of the big contributing factors which led me into snakes is that it truly sucks to put in so much time and work into a male (arachnid) only to have the female (arachnid) kill and/or eat them - so my question is to all the breeders in the audience, in the entire span of your breeding career have you ever had a pair of pythons, boas, or any other sort of snake be slain in the course of breeding? i know it’s probably rare and stuff but am still curious

[Bogertophis]

one of the big contributing factors which led me into snakes is that it truly sucks to put in so much time and work into a male (arachnid) only to have the female (arachnid) kill and/or eat them - so my question is to all the breeders in the audience, in the entire span of your breeding career have you ever had a pair of pythons, boas, or any other sort of snake be slain in the course of breeding? i know it’s probably rare and stuff but am still curious

Yup! Of all things, I had an adult male rat snake (amelanistic black) kill the proven-breeder female (also an amel. black rat snake) shortly after they were introduced. Both snakes were very well-fed- not that day, & had scent of prey washed off as a precaution. Everything seemed fine- I watched for a while, but when I left the room for a short time, that's when it happened. She was half-swallowed when I returned, & could not be revived. He was especially pretty (red-orange pattern on cream colors) but needless to say, he never saw another mate- at least not while he was under my roof. Jerk!

[Homebody]

Yup! Of all things, I had an adult male rat snake (amelanistic black) kill the proven-breeder female (also an amel. black rat snake) shortly after they were introduced. Both snakes were very well-fed- not that day, & had scent of prey washed off as a precaution. Everything seemed fine- I watched for a while, but when I left the room for a short time, that's when it happened. She was half-swallowed when I returned, & could not be revived. He was especially pretty (red-orange pattern on cream colors) but needless to say, he never saw another mate- at least not while he was under my roof. Jerk!

How frequently, in your experience, does this occur (1:100, 1:1000, 1:10)?

[Bogertophis]

How frequently, in your experience, does this occur (1:100, 1:1000, 1:10)?

Anyone's guess- that was a first & only time for me. And I've never bred huge numbers of snakes.

Some species are more prone to this than others also- I'd expect this of king snakes, but I've successfully bred plenty of king snakes without any issues. (I took precautions- introducing each to the other's scent before being put together to gauge their interest.) I surely did NOT expect this from a rat snake.

You always have to remember that snakes are predators though. Perhaps because the "perp" male was an amel.- maybe something else wasn't quite right with him- but still not obvious to me. I mean, there's probably more than one reason that these are not what survives in the wild- and it's why I tend to prefer what nature has ended up with rather than going after fancy "morphs".

[Gio]

As Bogertophis stated there are certain species that are more prone to that type of behavior.

Olive pythons and even more so Papuan pythons are an iffy combo if you are not careful.

Papuan pythons are well know for eating other snakes. They will take Scrub pythons and that's no small task. Mark O'Shea wrote about it in his book. BOAS AND PYTHONS OF THE WORLD

Unfortunately I'm not familiar with every species of snake so I can't offer much beyond what I've learned about boas and pythons.

I've personally not heard about any breeding issue with boa constrictors, the carpet group, reticulated pythons, or Burmese/Indian pythons.

Pre-mating battles in some species of carpets and reticulated pythons occur with males.