question: price to get a male or female BP sterilized? (for female desert or hybrids)

[Pythonfriend]

hi there

basically i have two reasons to ask for the price, and also the risks, of having a male or female BP professionally sterilized.

i plan on getting into BPs soon, when i have enough money saved up, and breeding will be a part of it.

i see two reasons to have a BP sterilized, one near-term, one very long term.

first reason is: i want to work with desert, but what i fear is that i sell my desert females, and someone else risks their health and well-being by attempting to breed them. with sterilisation, no fears, a healthy and long life is ensured even if some fool gets it and attempts breeding.

the second reason would be a potential hybrid project. i would start with a male XYZ python and a female ball python to ensure all babies get the mitochondrial DNA of a ball python. (unlike the chromosomal / regular DNA, mitochondrial DNA does not get randomized, it always goes directly from mother to offspring). and if i do, i would want to put a lid on the whole project and not sell breedable snakes before i get snakes with 100% ball python mitochondrial DNA and at least 87.5% ball python chromosomal DNA. so the 1st generation at 50% and the second generation at 75% would all need to be sterilized eventually to be sold as fancy pets or stay with me forever.

the long term goal would be to isolate a bunch of new morphs that are basically hybrid, but with 95%+ chromosomal ball python DNA and 100% mitochondrial ball python DNA, meaning practically identical to BPs. people have successfully done it with leopard and cat, these have 90%+ house cat DNA, have the size and temperament of a house cat, but totally look like miniature leopards.

[satomi325]

What the heck.............


I imagine the procedure is a couple hundred dollars minimum. Sterilizing a reptile for a non emergency situation(i.e c section for egg bound girls or other reproductive issues) is not as easy or practical as a Plain Jane dog or cat spay/neuter, which are the easiest surgical procedures in veterinary medicine. Male mammals being the easiest out of the two since it isn't invasive. Not to mention not every vet will do the procedure. I guarantee you would have to find an exotic specialist or a specialized surgeon to do the procedure, which could potentially run you in the thousands.

If you want to sterilize every desert female you hatch, then I hope you are very wealthy. While it is a great thought, it doesn't seem realistic in my opinion. Not to mention that I feel like it would be highly stressful on the animal and totally unnecessary. If you plant to sell desert females, then write up a legal binding contract upon purchase that they cannot be bred.

I haven't seen anything regarding snakes, but here are articles regarding lizard sterilization: http://www.reptilechannel.com/lizard...g-spaying.aspx

http://www.lbah.com/word/spay-iguana/

This site gave a rough price estimate and overall procedure
http://reptiles-northern-ca.com/herp...-spay-lizards/

[Mike41793]

This post hurts my brain

[Pythonfriend]

if it turns out to be so expensive that you might as well keep the snake indefinitely, that would be a real bummer. it would be the end for any ideas about a hybrid project done ethically and responsibly, and call a desert project into question.

it seems like its really hard with females and basically like a C-section.

[satomi325]

Yeah.

Even though it seems unrealistic, I do admire the thought of protecting your snakes. I think you should still pursue your breeding goals.

Maybe try to find an alternative for sterilization?
Verbally explain to the new owners that the desert girls cannot be bred. Send them home with a written caresheet.
And as I said before, a legal contract for them to sign that states that they cannot breed their animal. Dog and cat breeders do this, so why not you and your snakes?
Maybe rehome them to educational programs instead of civilian homes. Or even zoos and wildlife centers. I know you are in Germany, so I'm not sure how things work there.

[Daybreaker]

I had to get one of my corns spayed after she became egg bound after being paired two+ years ago with the previous owner. Here's the write up I did on that: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ry-and-spaying

The procedure cost over $1000...

[sasT]

I had to get one of my corns spayed after she became egg bound after being paired two+ years ago with the previous owner. Here's the write up I did on that: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ry-and-spaying

The procedure cost over $1000...

1000 dollars jezus .. going back to the post - about the desert females you could just say that they were sterilized, in that case breeders wouldn't be interested in buying them, however those who want them as pets would still be interested in buying them

sterilizing of hybrids seems unnecessary to me though, aren't they supposed to be sterile anyway?

[crazypythonlady]

I will interject with the fact that science has backed up the theory that hybrids are sterile...I have seen this myself with a Horse x Donkey combo ie: the mule, uninformed owners will try to breed a mule to a mule or mule to donkey or mule to horse unsuccessfully and wonder what happened. While some animals are close enough genetically to produce viable offspring those offspring can not go out into the word and procreate successfully. I think what your proposing is a noble idea but in the business that is snakes you will have little success selling snakes that are not able to breed. And also as a side note and not to attack you please do not take it this way is how come you can breed a snake and cause it stress but someone else cant? Are you somehow more qualified than me or say any of the breeders on this site? Don`t take this wrong at all I am involved in many aspects of horse care including helping to tackle the overpopulation of horses through breeding. I am just aware that the people around me that are looking for ball pythons as pet often loose interest in them and try to sell them on craigslist anyway. Snakes much like horses have a long lifespan and most teenagers/kids/parents do not want a pet for that long, breeders and collectors make it their life if you take away the snakes ability to produce the next best thing in morphs or what have you it renders them worthless so to speak to a large amount of snake people. (I am kinda playing devils advocate do not take it heart Please!)

[Annarose15]

1000 dollars jezus .. going back to the post - about the desert females you could just say that they were sterilized, in that case breeders wouldn't be interested in buying them, however those who want them as pets would still be interested in buying them

sterilizing of hybrids seems unnecessary to me though, aren't they supposed to be sterile anyway?

Way to encourage lying in our hobby! What would stop a non-breeder from housing a supposedly spayed female desert with another male BP, assuming they could not breed? Now you have a female at risk due to her genetics AND due to an unprepared owner.

I will interject with the fact that science has backed up the theory that hybrids are sterile...I have seen this myself with a Horse x Donkey combo ie: the mule, uninformed owners will try to breed a mule to a mule or mule to donkey or mule to horse unsuccessfully and wonder what happened. While some animals are close enough genetically to produce viable offspring those offspring can not go out into the word and procreate successfully. I think what your proposing is a noble idea but in the business that is snakes you will have little success selling snakes that are not able to breed. And also as a side note and not to attack you please do not take it this way is how come you can breed a snake and cause it stress but someone else cant? Are you somehow more qualified than me or say any of the breeders on this site? Don`t take this wrong at all I am involved in many aspects of horse care including helping to tackle the overpopulation of horses through breeding. I am just aware that the people around me that are looking for ball pythons as pet often loose interest in them and try to sell them on craigslist anyway. Snakes much like horses have a long lifespan and most teenagers/kids/parents do not want a pet for that long, breeders and collectors make it their life if you take away the snakes ability to produce the next best thing in morphs or what have you it renders them worthless so to speak to a large amount of snake people. (I am kinda playing devils advocate do not take it heart Please!)

The question about rendering the female desert unable to procreate comes from the repeatedly observed physical dangers inherent in that gene (i.e. slugging out, binding, etc.). It has nothing to do with the OP thinking he/she is more capable of breeding the females that someone else. Many people already consider desert females "worthless" due to their breeding difficulties.

[Crazymonkee]

Very good point, and although they shouldn't be housed together... some people do do it.

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