One eyed albino boa, should I kill him?

I have stated my opinion on this subject in the past as well. It's not popular with some, but that's not my concern.
The fact is that snake should never be allowed into the breeding population. That leaves ONLY two choices in reality.
1. You make the decision to keep the snake, until it's natural death, in your collection where it is under your control, and never breed it.
2. The snake is euthanized.

People can say, "sell it as a pet only" all they want, but in reality this does not work. Perhaps the person you sell it to won't breed it, but either that person or another future owner will view the snake as a cheap method of producing albinos and those genes will likely be passed on.
A breeder has to assume that every snake he sells will at some point be bred, or at least the attempt be made. In today's world virtually everyone with a pair of cornsnakes thinks they have to breed them, and an albino boa, with the increased value of the offspring only increases this possibility.

It was the greed of early breeders that caused this deformity to be as common as it is today. Back when albino boas were selling for several thousand dollars, a breeder would knock a couple grand off the price of a one eyed specimen and sell it anyway. Many people saw this as a cheaper way to buy into the morph and it only ensured that it would proliferate.

I don't like having to euthanize animals anymore than any one else does. Heck I don't even like killing rats for feeders. But the fact is if you choose to become a breeder this is a responsibility you take on, despite the fact that some breeders refuse to accept it. You have the responsibility of protecting, if not improving, captive bloodlines. Part of this is eliminating genes such as the one seen here.

As far as comparing a one eyed snake to a one eyed child, that's just rediculous and has absolutely no relevancy to the discussion.

And any genetic involvement is far more complex than simple Mendelian genetics.

Well, not strictly, in that it will still adhere to Mendel's laws.

Part of the issue is developmental stability. During development, things can go wrong for lots of reasons, genetic and environmental, but the developmental process is actually pretty good about tolerating these fluctuations. But if the inbred animal has just a few too many bad genes, or whatever environmental cause was just a bit too intense, then the tolerances are exceeded, and the developmental process is disrupted.

What this means is that not all offspring will be deformed, and the extent of deformity may even depend on environmental factors (since adding in environmental and genetic disruptions could push the developmental process past its tolerance) to a limited extent.

However, the more these animals and their sibs are bred, the worse it's going to get, as inbreeding causes deleterious mutations to continually accumulate.

2) it further increases the likelihood that somebody will see the chance at $$ and breed it anyway, spreading the weak genes and exacerbating the problem

I'd like to add to this something else: Even though the genetically damaged individuals will have a reduced lifespan, boas still live a *long* time. You might trust that the person you sell it to won't breed it, but what about the next owner, and the one after, and so on and so forth? Pretty soon it's the Six Degrees of One-eyed-snake, and someone will just dismiss it as caused by fluctuating temperatures during development and try to breed it.

Mokele

It is common in albino boas over the years that some are born with one eye or no eye. You don't kill them if they are healthy, but you do not breed them either. I used to sell them at a reduced price to people who wanted them for a pet that would not breed them. They really don't use the eyes much anyway. The tonuge is much more important. Evan

Originally Posted by evansnakes

I used to sell them at a reduced price to people who wanted them for a pet that would not breed them.

I think the problem with this approach has already been covered. It's virtually guaranteed that at least a percentage of those "pets" are now parents or grandparents. I'm sure at least a couple of those people who claimed they just wanted a pet had full intention of breeding it at the time of purchase and just saw it as a cheaper way to produce albinos.

They really don't use the eyes much anyway. The tonuge is much more important.

Whether they have need of the missing eye is not the issue, it's whether the genes will be allowed to be passed on. Once the snake leaves your possession you have no control over whether it's bred or not, whether it be by the initial purchaser or another future owner 7 years form now.

I would keep him as a pet...That moron has no clue what hes talking about!!!

Bill, the question comes down to "What do you want to do with these snakes?"

Originally Posted by Junkyard

Bill, the question comes down to "What do you want to do with these snakes?"

I know the albinos never going to be a breeder, but as for the females, Im realy feeling down about them, I guess there all just pets at this point, bad investment I guess

One thing to point out - regardless of anyone's feeling on the concept of breeders culling defective animals, that is not the case here. These animals were not culled, but sold. The initial poster spent money on them, they are his. He should keep them as non-breeding pets. At this point, destroying them (even for the rationale explained by Seamus & Clay) would not, IMO, be considered culling. Now, it would be something akin to euthanasia of an unwanted pet.

You're absolutely correct Harald. In this instance, he has purchased the snake, and stated that he has no intention of breeding it. To put it down would serve no purpose. He should however commit to keeping the snake for it's entire life, and enjoying it as a beautiful pet.

We got a little sidetracked on the issue and our comments were more toward the whole aspect of selling these snakes and not his situation specifically.
The person who produced those snakes should have never offered them for sale, they should have been culled.
It is the breeder's responsibility to cull an animal. Should the breeder refuse to accept this and sell the snakes anyway, it is the purchasers responsibility not to allow it to reproduce. It all starts with the breeder though, and in the end it's the breeders that are to blame for how common this deformity is.

The other option is to just send them to me. With my boa breeding track record, that's the best way to know they aren't going to reproduce

The other option is to just send them to me. With my boa breeding track record, that's the best way to know they aren't going to reproduce

LOL

At this point they are pets only. IMO, they should have been culled. Contracts,IMO, are worthless in this "hobby" or "business", there are plenty of examples of this on the BOI. You cant trust that someone isn't going to breed that snake later down the road.

Now i have a question and maybe I missed the answer above. I have read about the eye defect manifesting it's self in different ways. I have read about missing eyes and I've heard of bad eyes to where there is something (skin?) covering the eye that comes off later and the eye seams fine. All of these I have read about is in albinos(never hets from what i have read). So to my question, is it only a genetic defect when there is a missing eye or is the "bad eye" also genetic??