So I've been reading some discussions on other sites and had a bit of an epiphany...a lot of people are talking about inbreeding.
Inbreeding clelia and health issues, inbreeding Drymarchon and health issues, and so on and so on.
People are talking about the limited captive gene pool and how it needs to be diversified for many species.
Now, with the exception of some select species, snakes are fairly limited in their roamings and wanderings. That's sort of how locality variants are formed - as well as intergrades. Gopher snakes in Contra Costa County have subtle differences compared to those in Alameda County. Some pituophis vary within localities.
We also know this to be true for various thamnophis and lampropeltis.
Which brings us back to inbreeding. Let's say the wandering range of a female gopher snake in Northern California is about 30 acres and about 4 times that for a male....just how many gopher snakes can 120 acres support?
Again, science is our friend. Studies have shown that there are an average of 1.3 gophers snakes per 1/2 acre, which means that in 120 suitable acres, you could expect to find 312 gopher snakes.
Now within that 120 acres, there is bound to be overlap with other wandering ranges, but also keep in mind that not all habitat is suitable for supporting these animals.
Bottom line - in nature, there is also a self limiting gene pool with specialized species. Mother and fathers breed with sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters. There is inbreeding and line breeding going on in the wild.
The difference is nature culls without pity or sentiment. Animals with genetic deformities do not survive to breed. Only the strongest and fittest (and admittedly inbred) snakes earn that right.
That's where our flaws lie. Aesthetics often preclude soundness. We propagate traits that, while aesthetically pleasing, do not result in strongest and most healthy animals.
We also overfeed our animals and while we apparently have gotten on board with feeding our dogs and cats appropriate prey model diets, we insist that reptile eating snakes can survive on a mammalian diet without any ill effects.
The long and the short of it is this...inbreeding happens in the wild. Bemoaning the practice of doing it in captive animals is disingenuous.
The practice of feeding too much food, too much of the wrong food and selecting animals for aesthetics is compromising captive populations....not "inbreeding".
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