Questions for breeders

[KRISSYK]

This year I hatched out 5 albino white sided bullsnakes. I sold off all of the snakes except for 1 that had something wrong with its neck. Its now about 2 months old and has a bad kink in its neck. It almost looks as if it has had a lid closed on his neck. It eats fine and is (but moves around like a sidewinder) its become more noticable in time. Is this something that will generally take its toll on the animal? I am not sure what to do with it. try to adopt it out, cull it? any advice? thank you

[DAND]

It'll get worse with age. You may be able to find someone that would want a special needs pet. I personally cull any that are deformed/kinked.

[mikeydadog]

Although I am not a breeder quite yet I believe in all honesty an animal born with problems should be culled. There are enough special needs animals which have a hard time finding a proper home. This dosn't mean I am a callous soul, actually it's quite the opposite. The suffering this animal could endure later in life time is hardly fair. Just my .02c.
Mikey

[DragonCharm]

I'd worry that if you adopt it out someone might end up with it that wants to breed it and will continue that deformity to subsequent generations. Even if the person takes it as a pet they might sell it down the road to a wannabe backyard breeder looking for cheap breeding stock. Personally I'd cull it just to be safe and to be assured that it is not suffering in anyway.

[Clay Davenport]

All very good points, especially the worry of it possibly being bred after it left your possession.
As hard as it is, I would strongly suggest culling it. I don't like to do it, but anything I hatch that is deformed always gets culled. I consider the possible difficulty the animal may have in the future, as well as the fact that with the vast majority of species there's more than enough produced annually to be able to justify preserving a deformed animal.