Quote Originally Posted by redshepherd View Post
If you go by most dictionary definitions of domestication, "to tame; generations of breeding that make it unable to survive in the wild, creating a human dependency to live", then all snakes aren't domesticated.

BP can instinctively survive in their natural habitat just fine, the only problem being the bright morphs make them easy prey LOL. That's why we have to create setups IMITATING their natural habitat and natural needs, because they're not domesticated.
A good point, redsherpherd (one of the main reasons I've never kept a pet snake is the fear that I wouldn't be any good at it). I was thinking of the more specific definitions used by biologists to decide when an animal (or, for that matter, other life form) is officially "domesticated." This clearly is not totally objective, as there is a lot of disagreement on questions like when domesticated dogs first appeared. (The 15 kya approximation I gave was a low-end estimate: some say it was a lot earlier. Of course, they only have fossils and rather sparse information about the hunter-gatherer societies of the time to work with!) You're right, the colour morphs are mostly still adapted for living in the wild in their natural ranges, which is a major reason that keeping a snake, even a perhaps "semi-domesticated" one (whatever that means!), as a pet is so much harder than keeping, say, a dog. One threat to survivability (or, uh, whatever) in snakes bred for funky colours, etc., is inbreeding, which increases the risk of genetic diseases, deformities, disabilities, etc. A lot of herpetologists and other zoologists believe that inbreeding is a major threat to species like the Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) that are sparsely populated (and thus have less genetic mixing than would really be preferable...remember, wildlife can't just go on okcupid.com to meet their soulmates!) in much of their range. Although it hasn't been proven, many herpetologists who have studied rattlesnakes in New England believe they have become immunocompromised as a result of excessive inbreeding. Other threats attributed to inbreeding include the existence of (non-fertile) intersex individuals among the Golden Lanceheads (Bothrops Insularus) endemic to Isla Queimada Grande. Quirky characteristics of this sort, though not always threatening to the population, are common on small islands due to the limited breeding pool. Even the invasive Brown Treesnakes (Boiga irregularis) on Guam may be starting to see the effects of this phenomenon. (Another oft-cited example: the startling rate of "madness" in European Royal families in the Middle Ages, especially those who refused to marry anyone else who wasn't also royalty.)

Personally, I'd like to see more breeding of Ball Pythons (and other relatively "people-friendly" snakes, for that matter) for traits like intelligence, tolerance of humans, and ability to survive in domestic habitats. The morphs that regularly occur in nature are more than beautiful enough for me.

-polonga