I second Lacey's remarks. I don't really approve of the idea of producing hybrids for money, but that doesn't mean they're not gorgeous snakes. I also wonder how big they'll get. There's a big size difference between a ball python and a Burmese!

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"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines." - John Benfield

Yea I think the hybrids are yea, somethin else, I dont really like the idea either, but they are absolutely stunning... I actually just herd about them from bob clark, and I have an strange interest for oddities... To put it flat out... Im a really strange person lol

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"We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals." ~ Immanual Kant

"Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened." ~ Anatole France

Wow. They really are gorgeous. I do wonder how this will affect their care, size and temperament, though. For instance, with a carpondo, do you care for it like a carpet python or a chondro? And are they going to take the best aspects of both snakes, or the worst?

I guess I agree with rest of you. Not a good breeding practice, but lovely animals.

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Guess im the odd ball and want to breed retic to bp or and sdretic to a bp. Size is about med I think, cause I dont think it unlocks a super gene like the liger. If it did that WOW that would be one **** of a snake.

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LOL, that would be something else. Just a tidbit though, ligers actually get that size because they lack a growth-inhibitor gene, not because they gain a new one. In tigers the growth-inhibitor is in the males and in lions the female carries it. Breed a female tiger with a male lion, and it has no growth-inhibitor gene, thus the monstrous size. It's something like that anyway. Breed a male tiger with a female lion and you get what's called a "tigon", which is average size.

As for hybrid breeding, I don't have a problem with it if you just want to breed two of your snakes to keep a hybrid baby. It's when hybrids start getting produced by breeders to be distributed that I start having a problem with it. I don't think the market/gene pool needs to be clogged with a bunch of mongrel snakes, beautiful they may be. Eventually someone gets a hybrid, doesn't know it, breeds it to a "normal", and now the gene pool is polluted. It happens with subspecies all the time, like brown anoles, tiger salamanders, garter snakes, etc.

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"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines." - John Benfield

Wow! I didn't know there was all of that going on with snakes! My girls are rather against designer pets. Their professor/veterinarian always tells them the worst thing that can happen to a species is to become popular or be "designer" because it causes a lot of health problems, and also attitude problems depending on which genes are inherited. I think some are so cool looking though, although I could never afford to own one. What kind of humidity and temperatures would have to be used with some of these mixes? What physiological problems occur? What other kinds of problems can occur? Does anybody know, I haven't researched this, as I didn't realize it was a possibility for balls and others. I do have a jungle-carpet x diamond, is that considered a designer snake as the two would not encounter each other in the wild? So many questions, so little time!

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Kat

That's the other reason I'm against it. Who knows what kind of health problems will arise when you combine two species so drastically different in size. Granted, dog breeds are the same way, that's how new breeds are made. Still, there's no sense in creating a "disease prone" breed when you don't need to. And of course there's the question, "which habitat do you use for the snake?". On the upside, at least the hybridizing of such snakes isn't done on a massive scale, and with the price tag they come with, they should go to people who know how to take care of them.

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"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines." - John Benfield

This is really the first time I had ever heard about it in snakes unless you take into consideration the Emerald Tree Boa and Amazon tree boas which I dont know that that counts.

I would think caring for them would cause problems... er... be very much trial and error. They are not a natural species so their requirements would not be known and it would be best guess judgment... Kinda unfair to the snake.

Either way, no doubt they are beautiful snakes.

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Randy

I plan to live forever... And so far its working

0.2.0 Ball Python (Jaxxie and Kyree)
1.0.0 Savanah Monitor (Sullivan)

I have the same feelings about them, they are pretty and fascinating because of the unknown... I hope someone that has a hybrid replies to this to give us a little bit of an understanding about their care and health issues... I would love some first hand info... Pythons are my "area of intrest" so I just cant learn enough... Even IF it is a subject I really dont approve of....

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"We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals." ~ Immanual Kant

"Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened." ~ Anatole France

Not exactly the best analogy, since all dog breeds are the same species just different packaging! With snakes they are mixing up different species. But I understand where you are coming from.
I, myself, am not a big fan of the idea of hybridizing for exactly the reasons stated. Who knows what problems you may be creating. There are more than enough species in the world for people to keep and learn from without crossbreeds that may pollute the captive gene pool. There may come a time when a species goes extinct in the wild and the only specimens of a given species left in existance are those in captivity.
I would hate to think that the only specimens left to reintroduce into the wild were genetic mongrels.

Just because we can do something doesn't mean we should.
My two cents.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!