Breeding a redtail to a rainbow???

[Skiploder]

Skip, breeding ball python mutations is still breeding ball python to ball python - you're not mixing species. And for the record, I firmly believe that any snake with neurological issues or physiological defects should not be bred. I will never have a spider gene in any breeding population of balls I would ever have. And for that matter, the high instances of birth defects in balls is one big reason why I doubt I'll ever breed balls in the first place - I plan to stick with my boas and Angolan pythons one day.

I also said I DOUBTED they would breed - not that they wouldn't. There is always a possibility. But as Xfenrir said, "just because you CAN, doesn't mean you should....."

Skip, I have a LOT of respect for you and I know you can be direct, but please, you don't have to be rude. Ok? K....

Kali, the intention was not to be rude, but to point out that comparative ethics are a slippery slope.

We have epicrates to eunectes crosses, lampropeltis to elaphe crosses and python to aspidites crosses. It's nothing new and the ethical dilemma is a big jump for someone like me who believes in attempting to preserve locality animals.

However considering that this discussion is taking place on a ball python forum, I am amused that some people don't see that ethical jump between breeding regius for morphs to produce unique and aesthetically pleasing color or pattern combinations is spitting distance from doing the same thing with species outcrosses.

Claiming that it's acceptable to line breed within a species for the sole benefit of aesthetics is not morally superior to doing the same thing outside of a species.

Somewhere, a long time ago on a forum far far away, some video game playing, porno addicted, self appointed know it all decided to decree that "if it can't happen in the wild, then it shouldn't happen in the rack." You have quoted the basis of the anti-hybrid argument for the last decade. Problem is, is that most of captive herpetoculture doesn't adhere to that rule. We have people breeding ball python morphs that do not occur in the wild, we have boa outcrosses that do not occur in the wild and now we have people doing the same with countless other "pure" species.

I am not a fan of hybrids. I just get a laugh at the morph crowd in their crystal mansion tossing rocks at the hybrid mob in the waterford palace.