providing pics of parents

I just inquired about an animal for sale and asked to see pictures of the parents. I was told they don't provide pictures of the parents. I've been buying and selling for a few years now, and have never run across this before, unless they don't have the parents, but even then you are usually provided with previous owners info or such.... Just wondering about opinions of other buyers and sellers. Do most buyers want to see pictures and/or do most sellers provide them?

I have only asked to see pics of the parents once, for some special project snakes that are an abnormal new morph, and then I only wanted the pics to provide a trace on the ancestry if these prove out to actually produce a new morph.
That said we post pics of the parent stock of the animals we sell on our web site.

It depends on what you are buying, IMO. If as John said, you are buying something that is of UNusual heritage, or a het, then I can see where asking for and providing pics of the sire and dam of the animal is fairly standard.

If you are buying an animal that is just a normal, plain, nothing out of the ordinary..well, I don't see the need for it. Now, if someone asked me for pics of parents, I don't have any issues providing those, as long as I still have the parents (and even if I don't, I more than likely have pics of them, except for perhaps a few of my "normal" females). I can see where folks who have a large-scale operation may not have the time to be messing around with it in that case though.....but it would be better "customer service" to do so, I can understand not offering parent pics in that situation.

That said....I don't think I've ever had people ask me for pics of parents when selling a snake online. I would provide those pics without them needing to request them on any hets, however.

i dont generally ask for pics of the parents, but i do ask for information as to who bred the snakes in question, or where they were purchased from, and then go on to contact those people.

I like to know the backgrounds of my snakes if the information is available, and generally people are pretty willing to give you that information. Sometimes though, not everyone has it. I suppose it really depends on what you are buying and what you are looking for.

Good Topic

Originally Posted by Mooing Tricycle

i dont generally ask for pics of the parents, but i do ask for information as to who bred the snakes in question, or where they were purchased from, and then go on to contact those people.

I like to know the backgrounds of my snakes if the information is available, and generally people are pretty willing to give you that information. Sometimes though, not everyone has it. I suppose it really depends on what you are buying and what you are looking for.

Good Topic

For sure, Breeder and or background info is a must.
I even get Local Info if I purchase a WC.

This had to do with bearded dragons... which it's nice to see the color of the parents to help in determining if the baby will probably color up to what you are aiming for in your own breeding project.

We have never been asked for pictures of the parents and personally have never asked myself. It might be useful when you are buying heteros and/or dealing with someone from which there is little information. You have to understand though that if it's a reputable breeder that sells multiple snakes weekly it might not be an efficient use of their time to take pictures of the animal for sale plus pictures of the parents. On the other hand I see this as very important depending on the species and the morph. In ball pythons for example there are differences in the quality of pieds and/or albinos. Regardless of how known the seller is it might be important to ask for pictures to predict what kind of offspring one could expect upon breeding.

Regards.

Originally Posted by ms_ramie22

This had to do with bearded dragons... which it's nice to see the color of the parents to help in determining if the baby will probably color up to what you are aiming for in your own breeding project.

For BD's, it's not unusual to ask for pictures of the parents. I understand why the OP is asking...However, is the baby advertised as anything but a normal? Is it possible the seller didn't produce the hatchling himself and thus doesn't have the pictures of the parents?

If nothing else, explain to the seller why you are asking for photos of the parents and that you will have to pass on the animal if you can't see pictorial lineage.

I see people wanting pics of parents most often on herp forums. If you post pics of a new litter or a new baby, eventually someone will say "ohh post pics of the parents!" almost as if it's just second nature and the obvious response. I still say it sometimes, I asked for parent pics when I got my albino boa and DH sunglow and also on an Irian Jaya baby. To me the parental lineage is just as important as health, but only for certain species and/or morphs like others have said. I would gladly give parent pics if a customer wanted them.

If I'm producing the animals myself, I VOLUNTEER pictures of the parents. I haven't always asked for them in purchasing animals, but I've had them volunteered to me before, and I greatly appreciated having them. I can't see a valid reason to refuse to send pictures of the parents. A digital camera these days is cheap, and it takes 5 minutes to snap, upload, clip, and send pictures. No good reason not to.

There's a trend in the community to care less about 'just a normal', but that's not a very supportable reaction. If you're buying a normal baby to pair up with morphs later (for example), then knowing what that normal's parents looked like is actually going to tell you in part what you can expect from its genes--will it brighten up or darken a morph?
Now, if both of the parents are homozygous morphs and the baby is a poss het normal, then obviously seeing the parents won't help, but usually at least one of the parents is a normal.

It really depends on what a person wants the animal for, in their breeding project. There are many good reasons to want to see photos of both parents, no matter whether the animal is a hot new morph or 'just a normal'. There's no good reason not to have photos of all the animals to send out there, it's not like it takes time.

Unless the breeder is SO sloppy they just threw all the normal hatchlings in a bin and don't even KNOW who the parents are. That's a different problem right there. lol