Put it down already

[wolfy-hound]

I think there's two things being discussed.
Culling and Mercy killing.
I will always agree with putting an animal down as a mercy.
Culling for perfection I disagree with. In other words, if a pastel isn't bright enough, or a albino isn't crisp enough, putting the baby in the freezer I think is wrong.
Culling for defects I can agree with. Especially defects that affect the spine. I will not say that YOU should cull your defective hatchlings. But I've culled some here, that would not live(even with special care).
I currantly have some kinked hatchlings. My miracle clutch was damaged. The same heat that caused the others to lay slugs, must have affected the 'good clutch' I got too. Out of 5 eggs, one was a train wreck, and culled immediately. One had the "stepped on" look on one spot midway. Two have tail tip kinks, and one looks fine. Right now I have a call in to the local vet university to see if anyone is interested in a kinked hatchling for study(either the frozen one or the still living one). If not, I may euthanize the severe one. The tail tips I'll either keep or give as pets, and the normal looking one MIGHT be sold.. IF he eats for a long time, and develops normally. But I happen to know there was a severe heat issue that caused other issues with other snakes at the same time. I don't have to wonder "Is it from mom or dad?"

So.. after I've rambled on.. I do agree with culling, when something's wrong.

Oh.. and normally I cut eggs after one pips. This clutch took so long that I cut the eggs, at day 61. The babys still took a week before they had all emerged. You can't rush them out of the egg, cutting or no.