what do you consider when considering quality

[wolfy-hound]

I've rarely ever seen a BP with "short neck"? There's very rarely eye issues, and when they have popped up, it's not attributed to a particular morph and most all breeders would not use it as a breeder if it hatches with a missing eye.

Also, there's less correlation with some "deformities" in snakes, because of the incubation issues. Instead of it being a genetic issue, able to be passed on... it could be a drop(or spike) in temps during incubation.

I mean, I get that you're really into the whole dog breeding analogy. But mostly, that doesn't really apply to BPs. When people want "quality" in a morph, it's usually things like a pastel that is brighter and holds it's color into adulthood. An anxachic(sorry, I can NEVER spell it!) that stays more greyscale and doesn't gain gold coloration in adulthood.

It's not the same as a dog with bad hips. Also, it's not the same to say cross breeds are healthier, because ball pythons really don't have distinct breeds, just different morphs, but underneath the skin, they are exactly the same animal. So "mutts" don't apply to ball pythons like the term does to dogs with their varied breeds.

It's just hard to apply dog breeding stuff to ball python breeding. If you're fishing to have someone say "Oh I'd breed an eyeless bp because it's rare and totally worth a ton of money", you're probably not going to get that kind of response from most breeders, because no one wants to pay a high price for a deformed snake with no eyes. Or with kinks. Or whatever deformity you pick. Other than scaleless and wobble, there's not a lot of traits that are acceptable or desirable that could also be considered a deformity. And Wobble is not desirable or sought after as a trait, so it doesn't apply either. In fact, people often tout their animals as having "no" or at least very little wobble to help sell them. So pretty much, you're stuck with scaleless, and that's a divided issue. Some people say it is desirable and doesn't hurt the snake... some say it's a deformity and undesirable.