Selective breeding.

Originally Posted by MagickalMorphs

Because I love the sables. The rest of the hobby hates them, but I'm grabbing up all the nice ones I can get my hands on. In a few years, I'll be able to roll around in a big pile of them. Muahaha!

Lol! I can't give you karma again! But +1 shadi

hey whoever just gave me some karma can u PM me, Ive only got one on this thread!

And Im still just a lowly user and cant see who leaves me karma.

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Originally Posted by MagickalMorphs

I'm all in for selective breeding. All too often it seems to come down to people just looking for the cheapest example of a morph for their collection when in reality a perfect example may only be a little more. And let's face it, those brown right out of the egg pastel babies use just as much in resources until they are large enough to breed as a selectively bred bright yellow beauty.

My personal morph pet peeve lately has been ghosts. Seems they too are going the way of the brown pastel. I'm hoarding nice ones to focus my single gene project on. (And Deb, I want that whole clutch if you breed that smoking guy you have this year!) But, I guess just about every morph out there could be or has been uglied up in the rush to just breed.

My motto is this: Just because people CAN breed these animals, it doesn't mean they SHOULD. We should be working to refine and better these animals, not jostling for puppy mill status.

I also think that in the rush to create animals with as many genes as possible, super nice single gene animals will become harder to find.

I agree, the dollar is the motivation to breed rather than the love of the game!

*You saw a picture of him?! I'll post some more tonight (if he's not in shed). He's absolutely gorgeous!

I agree, people really need to breed their morphs to better normals that compliment them, to enhance what makes the animals so beautiful!

I die a little inside when I see pics of a beautiful pastel male being allowed to lock up with a very dark normal (especially after seeing a bunch of crappy pastels lately)... *sniffle*

Originally Posted by MagickalMorphs

My motto is this: Just because people CAN breed these animals, it doesn't mean they SHOULD. We should be working to refine and better these animals, not jostling for puppy mill status.

I know you guys are talking about ball pythons but I'm going to shove my big butt in here and say I feel exactly this way about the Enigma morph Leopard Geckos.

I don't care how cool the color pattern is on these animals (and if you ask me, its not all that special anyway). These animals have a neurological defect. Even het enigmas have the enigma twitch to some degree. These are animals that should be CULLED not bred. Years ago when I was first breeding leos I had a couple hatchlings from a specific pair turn up with an odd twitch. I didn't raise them. I didn't sell them. I put them down and then I put their parents in the 'Do Not Breed' tanks.

WTF are people thinking when they think it is ok to perpetuate these genes? Sorry, guess I just answered my own question. They aren't thinking.

It just really chaps my ass to see things like this happen to any animal. It's bad enough when inferior colors are being sold but when obvious defects are being bred that just pisses me off.

Ok, sorry for the interruption. Back to your Ball Python discussion.

Originally Posted by Hlynn1975

Ok, sorry for the interruption. Back to your Ball Python discussion.

Theres no need for apology! In fact ur post is perfect for this thread.

The only reason I stated balls is because I work with them, But selective breeding should take place in all species.

ESPECIALLY IN HOMOSAPHIENS

My entire collection was built on selectively breeding. If a normal female I breed does not yield the results that I want in coloration or effects (IE, insane blushing not passing down), then I won't be using her again in the same project. I had an AMAZING looking reduced patterned, light female that I bred my lemon pastel male to - and I was not happy with the results. They didn't live up to MY expectations.

I ended up giving her to another local breeder friend of mine who has been lusting after her since she was a baby. She'll put her into some other projects, and I needed to weed down my normals a bit any way.

This is her - she was my most anticipated clutch of lemons - I just KNEW her babies would be smoking....not so much :



And I sport this signature on other forums: You buy cheap; you get cheap. You buy quality; you get quality.
And it links to this:

http://www.oakworks.com/Oakworks-inf...nexpensive.asp

So yes, I've always said that selective breeding is the future of ball pythons. When I decide to add a mutation to my collection, it can take me over a year to find the one that I want to add. Here are a few examples:

Cinnamon - I knew I wanted a black back and floaty patterns - I got them:





Lesser - I knew I wanted a reduced patterned male - black back preferably - I got him:



Pastel girl I wasn't even shopping for, but couldn't pass her up:



Pastel female I held back from my lemon male (and my lemon is 2nd generation from NERD, and Kevin looked at him and thinks he may even carry the fader gene - he particularly liked this girl).



Spider:


Enchi - this one has a sad ending - she was stolen from the breeder before she got shipped - she's my "standard" for all enchi's. She's actually the snake in my avatar:

Robin, maybe that normal is a ressive? shes stunning and i cant believe she didnt pass on that pattern to her babies. and sorry to hear about the enchi

Originally Posted by Utta

Robin, maybe that normal is a ressive? shes stunning and i cant believe she didnt pass on that pattern to her babies. and sorry to hear about the enchi

That's certainly possible, and maybe my friend will prove that out with her. I am glad that she went to someone who is a good friend, and not to someone that I don't know - so at least I can still follow up on her progress and still see her when I go over to visit!

Yeah, the enchi is my greatest sorrow that I've experienced. I still mourn her loss.

Robin I had a male that looked just like ur normal female. And his babies looked like their mama, dark, and well... normal.

I intentionally bred him to a dark female, that way if he was dom or co-dom, id wouldnt have to ponder about it.

Ill be gettin him back very soon as well as one of the females I produced from him, So ill let u know if he turns out be recessive. That way ur friend will be more intrigued to prove hers out, if she isnt already.

Heres a crappy cell pic of the pair I had