friggen morphs

[snakeguy101]

[Rant]

I am young but I am not so young or new to the hobby that I have not seen a huge shift in reptile keepers over the past decade or so. I remember being able to go to the shows and see the rarest and most interesting snakes in the world available because people were interested in trying to challenge themselves by breeding rare and difficult to find animals and introduce them into the hobby.

Lately however, I have not seen any new species or really anything rare at the shows because people have abandoned the difficult to breed or species that have never bred before in exchange for the easy to breed species that can be mass produced in bizarre genetic deformities at outrageous prices. A ball python no matter how messed up its genes are or how inbred the thing is should never be worth $10,000.

Another shining example of this shift is evident right here in this site- the sections in snakes are divided into several forums that focus on popular boas and pythons. You might be hard pressed to find where to post a question about breeding your pipe snake, tentacled snake, or file snake. (not to say that it is the fault of the mods but rather a product of where this hobby has gone- please don't ban me).

It is similar to maize (corn). There used to be hundreds and hundreds of species and varieties of it with different colors and flavors but the market has favored the mass produced genetically modified version and now less than 10 species of corn dominate the market with many of the others going extinct or nearly so. Now substitute ball pythons, BC's and leopard geckos for the genetically modified corn and things like the elephant trunk snake or Philippine sailfin dragon or shingleback skink for the other species that are no longer favored by today's market.

I would hate to see species go extinct because people would rather sell an extremely inflated morph rather than try to learn the husbandry of a rare species and attempt to breed it.

Just food for thought

[/Rant]

 

[wayne the pain]

Well said Cant stand the way man has to meddle in things, playing god. Surely putting effort into hard to breed or hard to get sp would be worth much more than a genetic manmade freak. But its natural or nothing for me.

 

[barberking12]

i like the morphs but everybody is different i feel getting new morphs is an accomplishment especialy if you breed for a liveing. and the money is good too

 

[RMorrow]

I feel your pain Chris but believe it or not, it will all work out in the end. A similar situation came up when the internet started homogenizing the herp societies. It used to be hitting local herp shows sponsered by the local herp society was like xmas. Different areas of the country with different knowledge bases and tastes led to shows with different selections of animals. The internet opened those areas to everyone, everyday and the variety dropped. The good thing is with time, the folks who are in it for the passion will always be in it and those in it for the money will fade away. They always do. The passion will keep the hobby alive. The concern should be with the disillusioned law makers who do not understand that private breeders are light years ahead of most zoos in captive breeding techniques. Laws put in place to "protect" are often times aiding the demise of rare and endangered species. So, hang in there. Your frustration alone should tell you that you are in it for the long haul, and once all this new generation of "jobbers" has gone, you and others with the passion will still be advancing the hobby. Sometimes a little revolution can be a healthy thing. Sorry for my rant.

 

[ozz465]

I understand where your coming from but to each there own.many prefer the rare and unusual look to morphs and still have rare species and everyday learn more of there care and behavior. I just don't understand the hate to the awesome variations in color and pattern there produce and most are out bred so the the inbred argument does not apply to most .


As for the prices true some can be insane but the same can be said for high end anything , u pay for thentaritynof such animals and can make up the money if u sell the offspring
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[Lepisosteus platyrhincus]

I do like some morphs but im with chris. Reptile shows are starting to piss me off. I went with a list of sp I was interestex in at the last show. Not one of my sp was there and they aint that rare. All that was there was ball pythons or retics. Its getting irritating.

 

[ozz465]

well most shows dont cater to the people looking for the lesser known species , thats what i use the online dealers for.

 

[kittyhazelton]

My biggest problem with the morphs: everyone and their brother who wants to try to "hobby breed" for a quick buck is trying to breed to produce morphs and when they don't sell they just dump em. It took me over a year to re-home about a dozen "normal" ball pythons that came into the rescue because people only want the darn morphs around here.

 

[barberking12]

but everybody that dont like morphs like flowerhorns dont be a hypocrite

 

[Wiggles92]

Morphs are hit or miss for me as I don't appreciate it when people breed for morphs that clearly have genetic deformities associated with them, e.g. spider ball pythons & their head wobble, but I still find certain other morphs to be attractive, e.g. granite Burmese pythons. I also don't like that some people cut their eggs to assist with the hatching process when that whole process is supposed to be their first challenge that decides if they're fit to live or not; if people would allow for their animals to hatch on their own, then most, if not all, of these extreme genetic deformities would be eliminated. In the end, if the animal is just as healthy as a normal one, then I don't see too much of a problem with it being a morph.

On that note, I had been getting irritated with shows, but I've started asking around and have found vendors that are willing to bring some of the odd/rare stuff to the shows, too. I should be getting some interesting stuff over the course of the summer as a result.

Also, don't you have an albino monocle cobra, Chris? Monocle cobras are becoming like the ball pythons of the Elapid world now; there are quite a few morphs out there, and I bet that more are in the works.

My biggest problem with the morphs: everyone and their brother who wants to try to "hobby breed" for a quick buck is trying to breed to produce morphs and when they don't sell they just dump em. It took me over a year to re-home about a dozen "normal" ball pythons that came into the rescue because people only want the darn morphs around here.

Some people call normal ball pythons garbage while others call them king cobra & kingsnake food.

but everybody that dont like morphs like flowerhorns dont be a hypocrite

Flowerhorns aren't morphs; they're hybrids. That's another discussion for another day...