Here's a head scratcher!

[h00blah]

I do think it's a sweet looking snake though! I'm guessing perhaps incubation issue, but I'm not going to rule out the possibility that it was inbreeding-related since I haven't seen much evidence of this kind of thing happening in snakes. I know people SAY that inbreeding is bad, but nobody ever posts pictures displaying issues directly caused by inbreeding.....

I kept editing this paragraph when I wrote my response, but there is some missing punctuation there lol. I specifically said I'm not ruling out the possibility that inbreeding was related. Then there was supposed to be a period to end that statement... But yeah, I haven't seen too much evidence of inbreeding causing issues in snakes.

Reptiles appear to be quite resilient when it comes to inbreeding, but still, there is a general trend: If you inbreed, health goes down, fertility goes down, recessive diseases can pop up, but you can reset the process by outbreeding to unrelated individuals.

They DO appear to be resilient, which is my point. There is tons of evidence that inbreeding is bad for say humans and other mammals, but I haven't really seen enough evidence that it affects reptiles in a terrible way. Some effects that have been rumored are kinks, facial deformities, and fertility issues. I see people inbreed snakes, they hatch healthy looking snakes, and nothing bad happens.. Then I see posts where people SAY that inbreeding is bad for the snakes. Show me proof, or do it yourself and post the results.

Its a shortcut, BUT THERE IS A PRICE, AND DO NOT DENY IT.

end of rant.

I don't deny that inbreeding is bad. I think inbreeding reptiles (ball pythons specificall) will eventually cause negative side-effects, but I have no clue how many generations it will take in order for them to occur. Brian gundy has been line breeding his pieds to produce striped pieds. His goldblush mojave is a result of line breeding to produce that gorgeous blushing on the sides of his mojaves. He's STILL line breeding to this day to improve his mojaves. So far, he hasn't posted any negative impacts on his animals. I'll contact him to specifically ask though. Could be interesting .