morph VS. temperament

[Bundu Boy]

I believe that temperament is not so much inherited as learnt.....

I think that all snakes inherit, and are born with, basic 'survival' instincts...i.e.hissing.... puffing up...hood spreading....spitting etc (species dependant of course)....

Many people observe these actions and may interpret them as a snake's 'temperament'....

Luckily, balls do not really retain their instinctual actions if they are handled regularly, they become accustomed to their handlers and hence become quite docile.

How many of you have ball pythons that still 'ball up' ??.... I have 13 balls and none of them do this anymore..... they have learnt that balling does them no good so they don't bother.

I have a Het-Ghost male that is very aggressive and I handle him the least out of all my balls, and guess what?... He has retained his more aggressive behaviour because it gives him peace and quiet....

I've got a young female Butter that was a happy snappy when I first got her, but with regular handling her 'temperament' has gone from b!tch... to babe....

So my summation of this thread is that there is no real temperament inherited in a specific morph, I believe it the owners interaction with each ball that results in it having certain behavioural traits....

I DO believe that some morphs inherit certain instinctual 'traits' more than others.... example are Spiders and Axanthics.... I have experienced a much stronger feeding response with these 2 morphs than in any other of my collection...

Other owners of these morphs here in South Africa have also experienced this behaviour from these morphs....

Interesting topic.....

[WingedWolfPsion]

Temperament is heritable in all other species that have been observed...why would ball pythons be different?

I have observed widely different behavior from my newborn hatchlings. Some are docile and curious, some are shy and nervous, and some are snappy little brats. This is within hours of hatching, on first contact with a human. (Though a great many more become snappy right after their first shed).

While many of the snappy ones eventually calm down, there are a few that don't. The snakes all get equal amounts of human contact.

Based on this, of course snakes have different temperaments that do not have anything to do with their experiences and learned behavior. If they didn't, they would all behave the same right out of the egg.

[mpkeelee]

my normal has never gone into a bell ever! has never hissed or anything. she wanted to strike at me one day but thats cuz i was just finished giving her a shot for her RI.
my pastel was always in a ball but not he never goes into a ball. hes just a lil hissy some times and hides a lil bit when ur moving ur hand near him.

[loonunit]

My two black pastels are the sweetest snakes in my collection. So I disagree with BHB on that one!

But I'm the person who twittered that pieds are lazy, and I'll stand by that remark any day.

[Alexilaiho]

My pastel is a hisser too.

My 09 pastel is also a hisser and also likes to try to strike. My 09 spider is a different story he is so gentle and has an amazing temperment.

[jsmorphs2]

In my opinion they are all individuals and their paint job has nothing to do with temperament.

I agree. I do feel that temperament has everything to do with age and handling. Hatchlings have to defend themselves but as the grow up and you aren't looked at as a threat they calm down. It takes longer to get an "aggressive" adult to trust you. But with time, gently handling and an occasional bite, they learn you aren't out to get them. I've had several snakes considered to be unhandleable that after time calmed down.

It would be an interesting study to see how/if temperament can be inherited in reptiles.

[jsmorphs2]

I DO believe that some morphs inherit certain instinctual 'traits' more than others.... example are Spiders and Axanthics.... I have experienced a much stronger feeding response with these 2 morphs than in any other of my collection...

Other owners of these morphs here in South Africa have also experienced this behaviour from these morphs....

Interesting topic.....

While I only have three spiders and no axanthics in my collection, out of the three spiders only ONE eats well, our '09 Bee. One is a breeder male and goes off feed for the breeding season and the other (a female) decides to eat once in a blue moon. She's actually our most picky eater.

[CeLLLLL]

this is a really good topic.. and I assume there's no real answer to label each morph with. Everyone's different in their own way and I guess snakes are too.

My normal never even tries to strike or go into the "S" shape while my baby pastel is jumpy and looks ready to attack at all times.. haha.. I'm hoping with more handling he learns to relax a little ...

[Kimber]

My pastel is the sweetest thing. He is so curious & has never acted aggressive in any way. My spider struck at every moving object, even people walking by his tank for the longest time and I still don't trust him 100% lol but he has chilled alot. It's my mojave that's a little butt!! He's jumpy & nippy even though he's handled at least every other day like the rest.

[mainbutter]

Great job reviving a two and a half year old thread

lol, it's weird reading things I wrote so long ago and having no memory of it.