Ever think that my spider may be more adapted to this world then your normal?

[Domepiece]

The spider ball python is a mutation or "morph", meaning that a specific gene is different from the normal or "wild type". In this case whatever gene it is that is different effects the all the different aspects of the python that characterize it as the spider morph, this could be anything from a defected enzyme or regulatory protein, but it all comes from the single mutation.

Natural selection controls the genomes that exist within a population, and may select for a mutation that offers a survival advantage. If the spider mutation had a selective advantage, they would be the wild type and we would call them normals.

Spiders do make great morphs to keep though, I love their colors and the wobble gives them lots of personality, they are great feeders and make beautiful combos too.

Not necessarily, it may have been an advantage at a point when the african environment or climate was different or when there were different predators and prey. Things may have changed leaving an opening for the gene of the "normals" we see today and the spider gene may have not been needed any longer. There just isnt enough factors known about ball python morphs in the wild. Maybe in the particular region where alot of spiders are found there is a predator that is detered by the wobble assuming that the snake is ill or maybe there is a type of prey in that region that that the spider gene has specifically adapted to in order to catch. Too many unknowns.

[Missy King]

Spiders are a genetic problem from inbreeding *lol* They may have had some survive in the wild, but a lot, in fact most of the morphs in the ball python trade were bred by keepers and would not have been in the wild. No wild snake is going to breed to it's mother, then have that offspring breed back to itself and so on.

[kitedemon]

Spiders are a genetic problem from inbreeding *lol* They may have had some survive in the wild, but a lot, in fact most of the morphs in the ball python trade were bred by keepers and would not have been in the wild. No wild snake is going to breed to it's mother, then have that offspring breed back to itself and so on.

The first spider was WC and has a wobble it is not inbreed this is not supported by fact. They have been breed back but as there is no super form which was proven quickly there is no reason to continue.

[Mike Cavanaugh]

Natural selection controls the genomes that exist within a population, and may select for a mutation that offers a survival advantage. If the spider mutation had a selective advantage, they would be the wild type and we would call them normals.

Frankly this is so wrong on so many different levels. Who is to say that the spiders were not at one time the majority in a specific area? What if a new preditor discovered how to hunt them? What if a new preditor became aware of their corkscrewing prey attracting behavior? They would have been picked off one by one. Maybe the spider that was found was one of the last remaining decendents of what ball pythons used to be in a particular area.

Spiders are a genetic problem from inbreeding *lol* They may have had some survive in the wild, but a lot, in fact most of the morphs in the ball python trade were bred by keepers and would not have been in the wild..

Oh really? I thought most of the base morphs we are working with WERE found in the wild... BTW, the first WC spider wobbled.

No wild snake is going to breed to it's mother, then have that offspring breed back to itself and so on.

Are you serious? You honestly don't think imbreeding occurs in the wild?

[Brandon Osborne]

The first spider was WC and has a wobble it is not inbreed this is not supported by fact. They have been breed back but as there is no super form which was proven quickly there is no reason to continue.

Snakes are non-migratory animals that inbreed consistently. Inbreeding is what causes one locale to look different from the other next door, and much more different than the locale beyond that. Morphs survive in the wild. African collectors know where to find them but most now are kept and bred in Africa.

[Kenj620]

You don't even know what the spider mutation is and yet you suggest-

I suggest that the spider morph is a relative to the normal type ball python that took a different evolutionary path. Both relatives have thier strengths and weaknesses... but both must have worked well enough for us to be able to find them in the wild like we did.

It is very probable to be a point mutation with a promoter controlling the level of expression really no grounds to suggest an evolutionary divergence.

Also, if your going to call my statements wrong then address it with facts. Your argument seems to be based on many what if scenarios that would give it some validity. If you want to do the science by all mean go for it, but speculation doesn't go far these days.

[Driver]

Keep in mind that there has only been 1 spider ever found in the wild. And that 1 is the source of what we have today. So we don't know how well they can survive since we have only found one. Maybe it was the only one out there.

[evan385]

I agree wholeheartedly, thank you

[RobNJ]

Keep in mind that there has only been 1 spider ever found in the wild. And that 1 is the source of what we have today. So we don't know how well they can survive since we have only found one. Maybe it was the only one out there.

That's as much speculation as the original post, and a pretty bold claim to say that only one has ever been found in the wild. We have no idea how many have been found. There may have only been one, but there may have been a dozen or more. Not every wild caught ball python has been sent here, not every one sent here has made it alive, and not nearly every one collected was sent anywhere at all.

[spitzu]

Interesting viewpoint Mike. Personally I think that some of my spiders are more intelligent than the others. In addition to their fantastic appetites and general goofiness... they are always staring at me. It's kind of creepy.