Why is inbreeding so bad?

[Russ Lawson]

It is not a problem with all morphs, just certain ones, mostly Super Cinnamons and Black Pastels. The only reason is with inbreeding these guys is you can get severe kinks and duck billing. Now, this can happen even with out inbreeding, but it is much more common and severe when inbreeding.

Hope that helps.

As Rich stated, there is no proof of that. Even if it did seem to be the trend, the sample size of inbred super cinnamons/8-balls out there - I'm talking about ones that are more than first or second generation of line breeding when I say this - is nowhere near a significant enough size to quantify that sort of statement. So far it seems that all genetic disorders in desirable ball python mutations are linked to the mutation and present in varying degrees in all individuals of that particular mutation. (I believe this also includes kinking in caramels, though I doubt enough seemingly normal ones have been x-rayed to prove this.)

Inbreeding can serve an important purpose. I'm going to disagree that it is no longer needed once something is proved out because it is absolutely essential, for recessive mutations at least, in order to continue to reproduce a desired mutation. Inbreeding also can play an extremely important role in selective breeding of a mutation. I'm not saying I don't try to avoid inbreeding when possible, but statistically speaking a couple generations of inbreeding is unlikely to have any ill-effect in any species.