Quote Originally Posted by WingedWolfPsion View Post
Inbreeding:
Different species are affected to different degrees when inbred. It has a lot to do with how much genetic variation there is within the species--how 'delicate' their genes are when impacted by mutagens. The species with more delicate genes will be carrying more silent mutations--more recessive traits that aren't visible. Most mutations are lethal or harmful--that's across the board, in all species.
Species with more resilient genes will be carrying fewer mutations. These species will rarely show issues when inbred. Some species can withstand inbreeding for many generations before some mutation crops up and is reinforced to produce a negative effect.

Ball pythons are reasonably resilient. If you breed 2 siblings together, it's highly unlikely that something bad will crop up in the offspring. (It's still possible--it's also possible with unrelated animals). If you keep doing this over many generations, though, then eventually you're going to strike out.

This is why it's so important for the ball community to start keeping lineage records (and why I use iHerp for that purpose at the moment, until someone starts a registry, such as the one that exists for corn snakes).

The current habit of selling off 'just normals' in a big batch with no records is deplorable. It's going to bite the ball community in the hiney sooner or later. Many morphs are very inbred at present--and so are the normals that crop up from morph pairings.

At the moment, someone could pick up a normal female for outcrossing, and that female could be the sibling of their morph male, and they would never know it.
My normal Female which I have close to 3 months corkscrews from time to time. She also has a kinked tail. I'm wondering what her parents were. I got her from a pet store. She eats poops & sheds fine so far. She is up to 430 grams empty. I'm wondering what I should breed her to?