Culling

[soy.lor.n]

In a perfect world, yes. However, knowing the little I do about genetics, there is a 50-50 chance that normal appearing animals do not have the genetic predisposition to throw one eyed babies. Those I would give the chance to have babies. If they then threw one eyed babies, no more breeding.

Knowing people as I do, euthanizing would be only way to gaurentee no further breeding. Adoption would have to be up to the breeder who had the gene in his stock.

Same with sibs of the kinked caramels. They may or may not have the kink gene. If they breed strong normal spined babies, all the better. If they produce kinks, same as the boas.

Same for the wobbly headed spiders. Cull the wobbly ones, the rest get stronger. I can see giving them one chance to determine if they are carriers, but why breed them when you know they are?

These are not people (and some culling amongst humans would not be out of place either) no matter how much you may feel for them. They are animals that we do everything for, including introducing and inducing them to reproduce. We are responsible. In the wild I suspect most of the wobblers and one eyed guys and kinked individuals would not make it to maturity. Why reproduce deformities?

As far as quality of life goes, there is to much anthropomorphism in the reptile world. They do NOT feel the way we do, the do NOT react the way we do. The plain and simple is, we do NOT know if they are happy or healthy when deformed. All we truly know is that they CAN survive it.

Mere survival is not all there is and we simply cannot know how these creatures feel about it.

Of course, the opposite can also be argued since we do not know how they feel.

Logic dictates that less than perfect will not survive to contribute on its own.

So, for me, I'd cull if I wasn't absolutely positive that the animal in question would NEVER be bred.

So you'd also cull all albinos and het for albinos?