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03-26-2015, 08:07 PM

Interestingly, my split-scale red-throats have a very different lineage for each of their parents; I have breeders names and litter numbers going back three generations. In my male's lineage, there is one common ancestor, who was a grandfather to one side of the family, and a great grandfather on the other side, in a different year. Other than that, lineage was from quite a few different breeders.

My boy and girl red-throats do not share any common ancestor at all. If the girl has any inbreeding responsible for her few split scutes, there is absolutely no record of it in her family tree. And I do absolutely believe the breeder's strictly documented account of their lineage.

My all-blacks are from entirely different lineages from each other, and from the red throats; none of the three all blacks have any split scales.

Let me also say this: I would not trade ANY of my snakes. If offered a "flawless" boy red-throat for my split-scaled boy, I WOULD NOT TRADE. His "personality" is magnificent, he's blatantly healthy, and I expect he'll father many young, "flawless" snakes. He'll be mating with several COMPLETELY unrelated girls; some all black, and at least one red throat, hopefully more. That represents "South Florida" to "South Georgia", in theory, at least....and a diversification of blood.

We have only opinion and guessing, as to whether these split scales are from inbreeding. Personally, I think that this is likely, because of the very limited genepool of a very rare snake, protected by law. Even if we assume this to be true, if we truly love these snakes, shouldn't we work towards diversifying the genepool as far as possible?

As for "lower fertility rates" and "clutches which do not produce indigos", I absolutely attribute this to breeder negligence of the VERY stringent temperatures and humidities required for producing healthy indigos. Couperi eggs absorb moisture; if allowed to be moist, they will swell and die. The female needs an ability to self regulate temperature, in a small range, and her eggs must be maintained within pretty much a ~4 or 5 degree range, or they develop spinal deformities, and other serious medical issues.

All the very best,
Chris

03-26-2015, 08:07 PM	#7
bmwdirtracer	Interestingly, my split-scale red-throats have a very different lineage for each of their parents; I have breeders names and litter numbers going back three generations. In my male's lineage, there is one common ancestor, who was a grandfather to one side of the family, and a great grandfather on the other side, in a different year. Other than that, lineage was from quite a few different breeders. My boy and girl red-throats do not share any common ancestor at all. If the girl has any inbreeding responsible for her few split scutes, there is absolutely no record of it in her family tree. And I do absolutely believe the breeder's strictly documented account of their lineage. My all-blacks are from entirely different lineages from each other, and from the red throats; none of the three all blacks have any split scales. Let me also say this: I would not trade ANY of my snakes. If offered a "flawless" boy red-throat for my split-scaled boy, I WOULD NOT TRADE. His "personality" is magnificent, he's blatantly healthy, and I expect he'll father many young, "flawless" snakes. He'll be mating with several COMPLETELY unrelated girls; some all black, and at least one red throat, hopefully more. That represents "South Florida" to "South Georgia", in theory, at least....and a diversification of blood. We have only opinion and guessing, as to whether these split scales are from inbreeding. Personally, I think that this is likely, because of the very limited genepool of a very rare snake, protected by law. Even if we assume this to be true, if we truly love these snakes, shouldn't we work towards diversifying the genepool as far as possible? As for "lower fertility rates" and "clutches which do not produce indigos", I absolutely attribute this to breeder negligence of the VERY stringent temperatures and humidities required for producing healthy indigos. Couperi eggs absorb moisture; if allowed to be moist, they will swell and die. The female needs an ability to self regulate temperature, in a small range, and her eggs must be maintained within pretty much a ~4 or 5 degree range, or they develop spinal deformities, and other serious medical issues. All the very best, Chris