super ball pythons

Connor0729

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Jan 21, 2007
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Ontario, Canada
hey guys/girls

i was surfing the net and i stumbled across super ball pythons, which are a hybrid of bloods and balls. they are 100% fertile, and they fetch a high price ($3000:eek:-$3500:WHOA:). i was wondering if anyone else had ever heard of them, or if anyone knows anything about them (care, history etc.)

i'm not planning on getting one, but i think that this is an interesting snake, and i want to know more about it:D
 

lovespunaround

Feeder Fish
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Dec 29, 2005
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I saw one at a reptile show recently. It's actually a hybrid between a Borneo python and a ball python. They show what is known as heterosis, or hybrid vigor, meaning they exhibit the stronger aspects of each parent's genetics--they grow faster, reach maturity more quickly, are more tolerant of a wider range of environmental conditions, etc.

Personally, I wouldn't have anything to do with them, either from a ball standpoint or a blood/STP standpoint. Both are beautiful snakes in their own right (though I obviously prefer STPs), and I think it's a shame to create an animal with the potential to muddy bloodlines on both sides....somebody is definitely going to do that one of these days--breed a superball back into a Borneo or a ball or even a blood python line, and then not tell anyone.

All in all, I feel the temporary novelty of having a "way cool hybrid" is insignificant compared to the potential danger that the breeding of these animals poses to bloodlines of several different species of pythons, especially considering wild-caught/wild-bred Borneo pythons are no longer easily obtained. There's enough to worry about already from careless breeders producing blood/Borneo or blood/black blood, and Borneo/black blood hybrids, as well as those who outcross known locales in order to produce a new morph.

I believe superballs were first produced by Steve Roussis.
 

Jessica Dring

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Apr 9, 2007
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Liverpool, UK.
I agree. I don't like the idea of maybe one day owning a snake that isn't all it's said to be...
Theres enough of that with corns.
 

Connor0729

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Jan 21, 2007
1,390
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Ontario, Canada
i already knew about the hybrid vigor,and i find it very intruiging.

now, with these snakes, i think that they look different enough than either parent to not be confused with one species or another (unlike flowerhorns and trimacs).

i'm kinda torn between likeing them and hating them. i love the look, but at the same time, there is that risk of having the blood or ball bloodlines 'contaminated'. the only way to fix this problem would be to micro-chip every hybrid, which i doubt is ever gonna happen.

any other opinions or info?
 

lovespunaround

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 29, 2005
737
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Spartanburg, SC
The 50/50 superballs look different enough so they won't be confused as a full Borneo or ball python, but what happens when you have a 75/25 or 88/12? One generation of backbreeding with one of the parent species is all it will take to produce a snake which will only look like an odd specimen of the 75% species.
 

Connor0729

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Jan 21, 2007
1,390
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Ontario, Canada
i understand that, and that is where you have to trust that the public won't create a 25/75 'superball'. however, to trust the public to do anything is kinda stupid.

but then again, with dogs, we have managed to keep bloodlines pure and mixed at the same time. it all depends on who gets ahold of the snakes, i guess
 

lovespunaround

Feeder Fish
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Dec 29, 2005
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The reptile hobby is too disorganized to support a pedigree organization. And there's absolutely no reason to believe somebody would not breed a 25/75. The people who are into hybrids are into them because of how "cool" they look and because of the novelty of breeding two different species together...and it will progress to trying to incorporate, for instance, the marble morph of Borneo pythons into a pied ball python, or vice versa, which will require backbreeding.
 

lovespunaround

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 29, 2005
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Connor0729

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Jan 21, 2007
1,390
1
68
Ontario, Canada
lovespunaround;1331223; said:
The reptile hobby is too disorganized to support a pedigree organization. And there's absolutely no reason to believe somebody would not breed a 25/75. The people who are into hybrids are into them because of how "cool" they look and because of the novelty of breeding two different species together...and it will progress to trying to incorporate, for instance, the marble morph of Borneo pythons into a pied ball python, or vice versa, which will require backbreeding.
i understand that.

it was just wishful thinking.:D
 
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