Immune System Breakdown: Comparing bp morphs to purebred dogs

[Skiploder]

Just to note, it's not the AKC screwing up the breeds. The AKC is a registry and an advocate of purebred dogs. The standards accepted into the AKC are actually set by each breed's parent club. Each breed's parent club is made up of members, some of whom are influential judges and breeders and handlers in each breed. When judges put up "trendy" dogs instead of those that adhere to the standard, or award "favor" wins to handlers & breeders, those trends are sometimes taken back to the parent club and actually voted upon as proposed standard changes. Responsibility for the overall heath and well-being of each breed should start with the parent club.

As far as ball pythons go, I think the prevalence of RI or other diseases has more to do with husbandry issues than they do with any sort of inbreeding depression related to color mutations. Mites, stagnantly humid air, cross-contamination and other stressful factors can pack quite a punch...IMO it shows up more in morphs because that is what folks are focused on breeding.

$.02...

Bah................it's all because a couple of idiots advocate keeping their snakes on pine bedding, feeding them in their enclosures, do not use belly heat and keep their snakes in glass cages with screen tops. Right Kara?

The problem with the major Kennel clubs is that they are closed registries that do not take adequate steps to prevent fadists from hijacking breeds from functionality to frivolity. As you state, this does not mean that they are screwing up the breeds - just that they do not do enough to stop judges and breeders from screwing them up.

There are some breeds, such as dalmations, flat coated retrievers, rhodesian ridgebacks, etc. which are so rife with genetic illnesses that they have become an accepted part of owning such breeds. With rhodesian ridgebacks, the mutation that is their ridge is actually connected with dermoid sinus (a mild form of spina bifida).

It may surprise some that a percentage of ridgeback are born without a ridge. If you are surprised, don't feel bad - since ridgeless ridgebacks don't fit the breed standard, those puppies are usually culled.

So, by promoting a mutation that is actually a form of a genetic disease, and by supporting a breed standard that prohibits the poodle and pug crowd from making any money off of a ridgeless ridgeback, these dogs are purposefully bred in such a way that propagates a known health issue.

The closed registry problem is a different issue, and I won't go into it here. Let's just say that in clubs with open registries, and clubs that promote functionality over form, these genetic health issues are more effectively dealt with.

We already know that there are mutations in the ball python world that are apparent markers for health issues - such as the spiders and the wobbles and the female deserts and their fertility/potential binding issues. I'll make a bold prediction that before Mike41793's nuts drop, we will be made aware of even more mutations that carry with them health issues.