Are ball pythons a domesticated species?

[Egapal]

do they live in your domain??????? yes or no????? then that is your answer. break down the word.

Ok breaking down the word doesn't get you where you are going. The problem with that line of thinking is that the word has taken on a different meaning based on its use. I mean if I ask you if your mom is domestic that means something completely different than if I ask you if an animal is domestic. The word domestic used the way its asked "are ball pythons a domesticated species?" is asking something other than does your ball python like to do things around the house. I mean if that's the question than once again, no my ball python doesn't do anything around the house. She pretty well sits in her hide all day. I can't get her to cook, clean or so much as take out the trash.

Domestication as its asked involves humans selectively breading to produce an animal that is significantly different from the wild base animal

And there you have the gist of the entire problem... People making assumptions without ANY burden of proof whatsoever.

ARE there any iron clad proofs of domestication? Is there a legal definition of domestication? Or is it just an arbitrary decision by whoever thinks they have the right to be the expert of the day?

Do you think snakes are non-domesticated or domesticated just because YOU think they should be ?

In this case assumptions are fine. Animals are wild until proven otherwise, not the other way around. No there is no iron clad proof or legal definition. There rarely is. Its not arbitrary, we are looking at the various definitions of the word and deciding what we think. You seem to really disagree with the assertion that they are not domestic but all you have put forth so far is the various morphs as evidence. I would have to say that morphs do not alone show domestication. I will give you that they are a result of selective breading but so far all we have done is change the colors of the animal. As it stands most ball pythons kept in captivity are no different than snakes one generation from the wild. We have not significantly changed their genetics, behavior or appearance. People will surely disagree with that last sentence but I would ask that you compare the variance in genetics of the most complicated morph from a normal to the differences between a dairy cow and a wild bovine, or a dog and a wolf.

I will definitely agree that as far as snakes go ball pythons are the most domesticated of them all. But that's not saying much.