Quote Originally Posted by Ssthisto View Post
I am one of the people who would state (with certain caveats) that the royal pythons and corn snakes that are captive bred for multiple generations do qualify - or will qualify with further generations - for "domesticated" status.

Domestication criteria 1: Flexibility of Diet
Our captive-bred royal pythons are fed on a diet of commercially raised Mus musculus and Rattus norvegicus - both of which are foodstuffs that are easy to provide in captivity but are significantly NOT what Python regius is consuming in the wild. Selective breeding for ready consumption of easily obtainable foodstuffs meets the criteria of "flexible diet".
Domestication criteria 2: Reasonably Fast Growth Rate
Birth to ability to breed in a year - despite wild animals almost certainly taking longer to mature enough to successfully reproduce? I think that qualifies as a rapid growth rate, especially when compared to horses and other large hooved mammals that are considered domesticated.
Domestication criteria 3: Will Breed in Captivity
Well, I don't think it's possible to argue this one, no matter what Animal Rights groups might want to say about reptile keeping... there are multiple generations of captive-bred animals out there, and verifiably multiple-generation-captive-bred based on the visual mutations they display.
Domestication criteria 4: Pleasant Disposition
Royal pythons certainly have one of the nicest and most tractable temperaments of any snake I've ever worked with. You get the occasional biter, but generally they acclimatise well to handling... better than any domesticated Syrian hamster!
Domestication criteria 5: Unlikely to Panic
Again, this is a disposition thing - they may panic, but they don't bolt in such a way that they're liable to harm themselves or their handler; I wouldn't actually consider this a major criteria simply because many domesticated animals (pigeons, sheep, budgies, goldfish) also display panic behaviour on occasion.
Domestication criteria 6: Social Hierarchy
I don't believe this is a genuine domestication criteria. I don't think a domestic chicken thinks YOU are the head of the flock (especially if that chicken is living in a battery farm) any more than a goldfish sees you as the head of a shoal.

And one thing that the "criteria" on Wikipedia hasn't mentioned is the selective breeding for human-desirable traits OR the commercial usage of the species. We have done both of these things to royal pythons.

Now, I would say that WILD CAUGHT royal pythons absolutely are not domesticated - and until there are no further wild-caught bloodlines coming in, it is unlikely that there will be a scientifically described Python regius familiaris.
These criteria are the criteria that should be used when considering domesticating a wild animal not really criteria to be classified as domesticated. For all of the reasons you list I would say that domestication of BP could be possible.

I disagree with your first point. Ball pythons primary food source is wild rodents and they do not suffer by eating them solely. I don't see any evidence that selective breeding has helped to change their diet in any way. Conditioning on a case by case basis certainly has been done and does help in many cases. Although I disagree with the assertion that BP have a flexible diet I would say that modern shipping and globalization has made a flexible diet much less necessary for domestication.

I also agree that recognizing a social hierarchy is not quite as important as the rest of the criteria.