Wild Morphs

[YungRasputin]

Years back when I bred some California native rosy boas, it was from healthy unrelated w/c* local snakes (*not caught by me- taken on from others that lost interest). What made me very proud of them was that they seemed to be snakes that would survive if wild. Why? They were born "biters" & ready to take on prey- not the most ideal pet snakes- not "sweet & docile" like most people want, but serious little predators that bit readily. It's not only fancy colors that diminish a snake's ability to survive, but their attitudes. The opposite often happens with c/b snakes- even the wimpy ones are coaxed along, & force-fed if they won't eat. Not saying that's right or wrong when they're pets, but you end up with weaker snakes in the long-run- not what nature demands. Snakes need to eat to thrive & survive, just to get to breeding size.

i think this is dependent on a lot of things - the species of the snake being 1 i think because i think some are naturally more shy, docile, etc - to which i think that would be only drawn out more in a stable captive environment

i also think it depends on the environment given - not to be a b-word or anything but i think it only stands to reason that snakes would be products of their environment just like any other animal - so, if you have a highly intelligent animal in a box with nothing but newspaper and a water bowl, it probably would be lethargic and bored and to the same token, if you had a nice naturalistic enclosure with which the snake could properly engage in, they would probably act more akin to how they would in nature because that’s what the enclosure would allow

like for example - my African rock has access to climbing stuff, multiple hides, plants to hide in, large water bowl to soak and swim in, etc - so i am always catching him being active at night and up to things or in various different spots throughout the day - but that couldn’t be possible if he didn’t have the opportunity

and per your comments about biting and so on - i also think using my African rock as an example here would be interesting because he is by far the most timid snake i have however he also slams prey with a disproportionate force that makes it seem unreal given his size and my sense from this is, given that there is no real reason for them to be on edge or in fear given the lack of natural predation concerns, their real personalities can then shine thru - his happens to be a shy boi lol

another interesting example i think - separate from reptiles - would be chimpanzees where in the wild, if scarcity is present they can turn into cannibalistic gangs whereas on nature reserves where their is actual abundance and scarcity is not the case they behave the complete opposite and are a v social, collectivist group - in this respect, i feel here too it could be said that their true personalities where able to shine thru given this