Quote Originally Posted by Serpent_Nirvana View Post
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.
But, the same can be said of normal ball pythons--they're far more likely to wind up in the hands of someone who doesn't know proper ball python care, than a morph would be. Should we refuse to sell them, due to this? I don't see a reason to borrow potential trouble. Once we sell an animal, it's out of our hands, and in the hands of the person who buys it. At that point, it's up to them to behave ethically, and ensure that anyone THEY sell the animal to, knows what they are doing.

The best we can do is try to ensure that we make information available, and promote that information as much as possible, to help reduce the chances of neglect or mishandling. I don't think Desert females are necessarily at higher risk than normal males, though for different reasons. I know it's not enough reason to prevent me from working with the desert gene in the future, if I have the opportunity.
I wonder if a spay procedure could be developed for them?