Rarity or deformity?

I KNOW this is going to attract high feelings, but I'm really curious about attitudes within the herp community.

Breeding for "abnormalities" such as albinism and stripes etc., is accepted and a huge part of the hobby. Many such come with connected issues such as risk of poor eyesight, which would be considered defects and be selected out in a wild population. From what I can see, many breeders also select such "defects" out, and breed only from individuals which have the "abnormality" but not the "defect".

However, every now and again I come across posts about animals with what would definitely be considered "defects" in a wild animal, but which are offered as "rarities" for breeding within the hobby.

So, now to my question....

Where do you draw the line between "Keep as a valuable and interesting trait" and "Cull as a defective animal or as an animal with a poor quality of life"?.

Obvious issues are albinism, eyelessness, two-headedness, I'm sure there are others that haven't occurred to me.

I think if Breeders "would weed out" some of the iffy morphs That some not all try to pass off as breeder quality reptiles,maybe us as a Industry/Hobby could make more out of this slower priced market! Well leme give you a example of what I am talking about,How many ads have you seen for say a Pastel Ball python that you know dang well is not a pastel just becuase its light folks dont make it a pastel or a Ghost or a lesser.I have seen some great quality animals produced off this site but thier are a lot of if I could term the fraze "Back Yard Mechanics tryin to pass off Hets that are not Het,Mohaves that look like Fancy normals,Yellbellys that are not all that Yellow Bellied,and Etc........................
Well I must say this is what drags down are Industry prices "Back yard Dan and his Bargain Reptile Van" I will also say for every morph or Het misrepresented there are fistfulls of Awsome Breeders who not only care about how much they can get out of thier Blood,sweat and tears they care about what goes out the door with thier name on it!!
So I say to all the guilty people out there passing off Sub Par,Inferior Reptiles when you sell low qaulity animals it hurt all of us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If the mutation causes the animal significant mental or physical distress, then I think it should be culled.

Very interesting topic. I don't breed, all of my babies are just pets, so I guess I don't have a huge say here, but if`a mutation affects the animal's health in the slightest it should never be bred.

I honestly don't mean to sound offensive here, but I believe that breeding of anything less than high quality individuals should be stopped. I think there are way too many kids going out, buying a few $50 pastels that will end up looking like normals, and breeding them. This not only decreases the quality of the average pastel, but it puts more snakes on the market. I am a regular volunteer at local animal shelters as well as a member of the ASPCA, and I am more than aware of the stunning number of homeless animals. For the most part, I am against animal breeding in general. Again, no offense to anyone who breeds, I've purchased most of my snakes from breeders, and I am fully aware that I couldn't get such high-quality snakes from a rescue shelter. I am simply stating that the average person is not equipped to care for 20+ snakes if they are unable to find homes for the offspring. So where do those snakes end up? The animal shelter.