Quite honestly I had a talk with myself the other night at work, it was a very interesting discussion I might add.

In captivity we make sure that every snake survives the hatching process, and we get it to feed on it's own, right? Of course we do, we love them and want to see them grow up or sell them and get some cash so we can take the Mrs to the diner and get some bonus points.

Now think about this, in the wild they have no one doing this. No one is cutting the eggs to make sure the little ones don't drown in the egg. Their mother most often sure doesn't give a crap once they're out of the egg. What do you think the survival rate is in the wild? I would venture a guess and say 50-75% (just a guess, I have no source for this other than my discussion with myself).

The 25-50% that does not survive would be the problem feeders, born without an egg tooth, you name it. Just because we breed them in captivity does not mean we eliminate defects they can be born with.

Wow this turned out to be quite the novel, anyways, just me myself and I's take on the situation.