hi monklet i am going to paste your reply to address a few things, but first let me say i TOTALLY agree in proper representation of what we produce unfortunately that has not always been done, i do know that i properly represent everything i produce and sell.



>>>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.



> oh i so hope so to. but let me ask why do you feel its eons? have you ever bred locales and watch what happened after just 3 generations or even crossed ssp. and then line or backbred to parent ssp.? i have and i respectfully disagree that its eons. and what do you feel about intergradation over ranges like nelsoni&sinaloae?



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



>what is your definition of faithful representation?



>>>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.



>corruption? i agree labeling what we produce should be truthful but unfortunately it always isnt. but corruption?!?! poor choice of words imho. where is the line? on a range map created by a taxonimist who's goal is to proove there are diff. enough to warrant a new ssp., let me ask you if a breed an e.milk from ny. to one from ky. are those animals now corrupt?



>>>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.



>tainted?!? no the sad truth is there are breeders marketing what they feel is pure for money, has nothing to do with genetic integrity or even the look of whats produced. clean lines haha after F3,F4 any locale starts to change in looks we breed for looks, and looks are ever changing even introducing animals from the same area is gonna change that look.



>>>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.



>good for you, i myself am a lumper NOT a splitter and have my own perspective as well.



>>>We can all do our thing and do it responsibly



>absolutely, but crossing a nelson and a sinaloan isnt about responsibility they are the same snake imho.

,,,,,,,,,thomas davis
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Morphs... just like baseball cards BUT ALIVE, how cool is that???



my website www.barmollysplace.com

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