It's 2 am here and my brain has been pondering again... So here goes...

I see the term "backyard breeding" tossed around craigslist all the time. I'm assuming this is an offensive term for people who are not *real* breeders but do it for either fun, fascination, or profit, and then try to sell off the animals. It's unclear to me exactly how much this term applies to snakes or reptiles in general, but for the sake of this post I will assume that it applies.

I've never bred snakes, but I maybe would want to someday. Of course, that would make me a backyard breeder, right? But, don't all breeders start out like that? Maybe it's a natural process in keeping animals... First you own one, figure out its husbandry and feeding patterns until you have them down. Then, maybe you pick up a few more of them to add to the collection. Then you wonder if you could try your hand at successfully breeding, so you start doing the research...

I'd like to survey the crowd here... What do you think about the term "backyard breeding"? When is breeding snakes appropriate, and when is it not?