Has desert female breeding got anywhere?

[Serpent_Nirvana]

However, I do sincerely hope that people WILL stop trying to breed the females, soon. They not only slug out, they're heavily prone to egg binding, and they are dying in droves due to these attempts. I think the females should be sold with a non-breeding agreement, the way female pet-quality purebred dogs are. The females should be discouraged from going into a breeding cycle, as it could be a risk to their lives.

... And this is exactly why I would have to give it an awful lot of thought before investing in a male desert or combo (even if he was the right price).

I worry that a non-breeding clause in a sales agreement would be useless in ball pythons. We already know how much value a piece of paper has to many people (think of all those folks with "Genetics Guarantees" that mean nothing) and basically, all you would be doing is selling the snake with a piece of paper that says, "I don't want you to breed this snake." Sure, you could theoretically sue them for breach of contract if they DID try, but who's really going to do that?

A dog sold without breeding rights cannot have his or her litters registered, and many breeders won't even send over the "pet only" registration papers until they receive proof of spay/neuter. So, for most breeds, there isn't much incentive to breed that dog as the pups won't be registrable. Sure, some HIGHLY dishonest people will still do that, but I think the existence of a registry for most breeds makes it much less common. Ball pythons have no registry, and probably never will.

Additionally, screening of potential buyers can help to weed out those few dishonest people who would try and breed a "not for breeding" animal. In dogs, this screening is of major importance, and once you've found that good home, the dog is likely to stay there for life. (I hope ...) A dog's life expectancy is only ~10-15 years, max. Even if it needs to be re-homed at some point, if you were successful in finding someone honest and responsible, they most likely did get the dog spayed or neutered so it likely won't be breeding in its new home. I am less worried about the person that I sell my theoretical desert female baby to -- since they will have heard from the source that trying to breed their new pet could be fatal -- and a lot more worried about the person that bought it from the person that he sold it to. These are animals with a 30-40+ year lifespan. They are quite likely to change hands at least once, probably multiple times during their life. Somewhere along the line, the message of "Don't breed this! It could kill her!" may get lost, and if the snake winds up with someone who isn't too familiar with morphs, she could get bred without really any intentional dishonesty.

Soo ... Yeah. Believe me, I'm pretty bummed about this, and I have not one penny invested in this morph. I just think some of the combos are outrageous ... And I don't know if I could really work with them in good conscience.