Opinions on breeding BCI's?

Hi,

I was wonder what was the general forum's opinion on someone breeding normal/common boa constrictors? Because I spoke with someone who wanted to breed their normal (with no lineage) and I advised them to really consider not doing so because there's so many normals out there on classifieds/facebook/etc and they've essentially become throw-away pets from their numbers/price.

Yet it was shot down with 'oh, but normals look cool and I like them, so I want to breed them anyway'????? I never even said they looked ugly or that they are subpar, my only concern are the numbers/cost.

So what's the general consensus with breeding a bci morph that's already exceeding demand just because someone 'wants to'? Because to me it seems a tad irresponsible and like people are forgetting that they're breeding living animals that are going to need a home. Similar to a breed of cat/dog being too common and cheap, and someone breeding more of that type just because they feel like it...

Good selective breeding of any snake can yield results people would be interested in (for boas some really nice pastels or lines of hypo, etc). There are already plenty of nice normals produced from morph breedings as it is. I've had trouble finding even wholesale buyers for normal het albinos back in '09 (at $10-15/ea) so I'm sure it's worse now, the market has tanked quite a lot for even higher end boa morphs.

It's a morality question each person needs to answer for themselves, I applaud you for trying to help guide your friend away from it. People will do what they want regardless of anyone else's best intentions or advice, the best you can do is explain yourself and the reasons for your opinion.

I'm not trying to say anything bad about boas, I love them and they make up the majority of my 'collection' but they aren't for everyone due to their size. One of my normal x hets back in '01 produced 41 babies, I wholesaled most of them to a pet store... who knows what kind of future they had, if any. I never bred her again because of how I felt about that.

Just my opinions of course.

also, I'm going to move this thread to the boa discussion forums so hopefully more people will provide feedback/opinions.

The over-saturation of the market with certain animals is a big problem nowadays.
With all the morph crazes going on, there are a lot of irresponsible breeders that jump on the bandwagon thinking they are going to make a whole bunch of money. Not only is that the wrong reason to breed animals, it brings in people who don't care for the animals as sentient beings and leads to a bunch of "throw away" animals when the desired morph is not attained. The money motivated people then undercut the competition to make a sale, drive the market down and then more money motivated people jump on the band wagon because the last hot morph has become affordable.

My take on breeding something like a normal BCI is: do not breed them unless you are willing to take care of all the animals you produce when you find that you are unable to sell them. Have respect for them, think about where they may end up.

As a community, us reptile keepers and breeders need to do carefully consider what we are breeding in order to reduce the production of animals/morphs that are over-saturated and thus "unwanted."

My two cents is that while anyone has the right to breed, not everyone should. While some will regard this as harsh, it has good logic behind it.

I see a lot of people putting animals together just because they can, or want income, without any thought to how they will *sell* those babies. Then, when they do have their litter(s), they find they do not have the reputation to command standard values...so they compete the only way they can, by lowering prices. This hurts the animals, by making them "disposable pets," and ironically hurts the industry too, as it places downward pressure on the professional breeders who keep the industry going by doing this for a living.

If you're going to breed, spend the time to develop the rest of the package (contacts, marketing plan, etc.) as well.

Again, this is not to try and say anyone cannot...just not that everyone should. Apologies to any who are offended.

Ok, it seems like I'm on the same page then.

April, they aren't a friend but a stranger in a boa group I'm in. I was just feeling a little concern/outcasted because I was the only one out of two people who spoke out against breeding more normals, while the rest of the boa keepers simply encouraged it or didn't comment on it at all... it was a tad frustrating. I felt if someone wanted to breed, the harsh reality should be addressed. One person (I wasn't even addressing) took it incredibly personally/defensive that I had spoken against breeding normals that they took it to a whole other level (which was really unnecessary and caught me off-guard).

Thanks for the responses though, I felt like it quite some food for thought to me since I haven't begun breeding yet but want to, and I can't possibly imagine one of my babies ending up in a badly run petstore or abandoned in someone's care...

Great topic, actually. I'm surprised more people have not weighed in.

I think you can say the same with people. Some just shouldn't be breeding.

But there's nothing we can do. A shame,but true.

April,I like you felt worried for where and how the babies could end up. I bred my "PR" blue pits once. I found Craig's List a few weeks later and seen how many people had the same lame reason for ridding there pit bull. Moving,land lord won't let me have and one I hate seeing,we are having a baby. What? I was so disgusted I went and fixed my Pit Bulls so wouldn't be part of that. So I get your thoughts. But unfortunately not all people have feelings for animals. To some it's stock and you see it right in their ads.

I believe permits should be given to breed anything. Including humans who do the worst harm. But hey,who am I.

people should be adopting from rescues if they really want a pet normal BCI, breeding them right now is pointless, i say let the guy breed them and let him deal with the problem, it sounds like that's the only way hes going to learn anyways.