Hybrid snakes...

[lovespunaround]

The reason you have that bateater crossed back to a retic up there is because only one sex of the hybrid is fertile. There will be no 2nd generation 50/50 bateaters, and this probably applies to most of the other hybrids out there.

I personally am not a fan of hybrids. I prefer the "real thing" and I think the parent species just plain look nicer. But the only problem I'd really have with hybridizing snakes is when a breeder outcrosses, then breeds the offspring back into one of the parent species just to pass it off as a new morph rather than 88% this or that. That's really a problem with breeder dishonesty though, and not with hybrids themselves.

Although why someone would want to do that to some perfectly good-looking snakes is beyond me.

 

[davo]

The reason you have that bateater crossed back to a retic up there is because only one sex of the hybrid is fertile. There will be no 2nd generation 50/50 bateaters, and this probably applies to most of the other hybrids out there.

I personally am not a fan of hybrids. I prefer the "real thing" and I think the parent species just plain look nicer. But the only problem I'd really have with hybridizing snakes is when a breeder outcrosses, then breeds the offspring back into one of the parent species just to pass it off as a new morph rather than 88% this or that. That's really a problem with breeder dishonesty though, and not with hybrids themselves.

Although why someone would want to do that to some perfectly good-looking snakes is beyond me.

really? didn't know that. Which side?
Anyone else got pics of more of these frankenstein snakes?

 

[Ophiuchus]

I did wonder if there was a combo that could produce a largest snake in the world (you know like the liger, have a combo that creates giganticism) like a retic x anaconda.

That would be pretty impossible since pythons lay eggs and boas give live birth. Methinks they're too distantly related to breed. All the hybrids we've seen so far have been boas with boas and pythons with pythons.

If it were possible though, I'd like to see it. After all, we were able to put jellyfish DNA in zebra danios.

 

[TheBloodyIrish]

We can still have a Retic x Burmese though, which would be stupid.

 

[Ophiuchus]

The burm x retic cross (aka Bat-eaters) I can halfway accept since the species naturally overlap in distribution and can cross-breed in the wild. Any of these other hybrids I'm not too sure about.

I could accept the Amazon x Emerald TB hybrid as well for the same reason.

 

[davo]

Do you really ever see them though out in the wild. I know saying distribution overlaps can make it ok, but it still has always sounded like an excuse to me. I mean, it is still a rare occurance for what I know. Same with the rhinos and gaboons overlapping...

I'd agree with you with the conda x retic, but still... I see it more of a matter of time than anything else. Someone in science at some point will do it.

 

[TheBloodyIrish]

The only problem with the Retic x Burmese argument is that there are geographical isolations that seperate the population in the wild, whereas there is no barrier in captivity except for sterilizing.

 

[Ophiuchus]

Do you really ever see them though out in the wild. I know saying distribution overlaps can make it ok, but it still has always sounded like an excuse to me. I mean, it is still a rare occurance for what I know. Same with the rhinos and gaboons overlapping...

Yeah, I wouldn't guess too often. I wasn't advocating hybrids at all really; I'm generally against them. But if I had to allow one, that would be it.

 

[tRiP]

The retic/JCP has great colors and that gambino hybrid

 

[Nocturnal]

I'm not a big fan of hybrids, but I do own a corn/California kingsnake.