"ALL snakes are cool and our captives are DEAD to nature anyway, so what does it really matter?"



Yes, captives are dead to nature but does it matter? To this I say 'yes', it matters to me. My interest in snakes is much tied to my enjoyment of natural history and creatures as products of evolutionary process, refined over eons to perfection. I will always enjoy a natural morph most of all for what it represents and so hope that there will always be responsible, dedicated breeders to maintain that natural heritage.



Yes, I do accept that you can't reproduce nature, but at least we can maintain faithful representations.



This is not to say I'm down on morphs and breeds etc, but I believe it is our responsibilty to "label" them clearly to avoid corruption of native lines.



A recent case in point has made this very clear to me and that involves the extremely rare Louisiana Pine Snake, of which a critical line was "tainted" years back and now there are animals out there which appear to match the phenotype but are not pure. This to me, and many is tragic. Fortunately there are some careful breeders who are commited to restoring the genetic integrity of the captive population. There will continue to be questionable animals out there but at least some clean lines with documented history will continue to exist.



I'm not an absolute purist and this isn't about righteousness, just felt the need to present an alternative perspective and share what is most important to me about the hobby.



We can all do our thing and do it responsibly

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