First off, thanks Dave (great post too) and no, the post wasn't intended to flame (I don't even know Oz).



Now, let me get this out of the way right now: I cannot seriously believe we're having a debate on whether people should buy CB Ball Pythons or wild-caught. Wow. That kinda depresses me that in 2003, this discussion can actually take place. Sad.



Now, you state the in nature, its "survival of the fittest"? Yes, that's kind of how natural selection works (sort of). Basically, it means that the animal with the phenotype (physical characteristics) that exploits the desired niche(s) the best, has the best chance to breed and further its DNA production. Its the reason for living and is the underlying theme that ties together ALL biology.



Phew, got that nonesene out of the way early! Now, how does that make my argument when I basically just supported yours? LOL. Well you see, its not the strong that survive. Its the animal that can get the most resources and find the mate the fastest and produce viable offspring. This doesn't necessarily mean stronger blood and it most certainly doesn't mean a physically mightier/healthier animal that will beat up captive-bred counterparts, ha ha. Balls (and all other animals) have become adapted to a set(s) of conditions that they can exploit better than any other animal. If they didn't, then they wouldn't be there and another animal(s) would take its place and its resources. But just because they can find food better or breed at the right time in nature, doesn't mean that they will live better in a wood box in your reptile room. Unless you are God himself, you will not be able to distinguish what "blood" an animal carries in it in captivity. Ha ha, I'd be hella interested as to how you think you could.



Its not like BP's have been bred for 50 generations, or even 20 for that matter! You seem to forget (or didn't know initially) that evolution takes GEOLOGIC TIME to occur. Deleterious genes in captivity exist in nature. Its where they came from. Runts find food in nature, runts breed in nature, and runts die in nature. If they didn't, then the mechanisms and DNA to create them would not exist in our captive populations. Captivity doesn't CREATE genes, ha ha. It just uses the ones already available in nature.



Point is, the benefits of wild blood over captive blood is DWARFED by the fact that:



1) Its morally wrong to take an animal from the wild when captive-bred specimens of the same morph exist.



2) Captive-bred snakes are not parasite-loaded and if from a good breeder, won't have mites, ticks, or disease.



3) You cannot distinguish between the two "bloods" to begin with!



It may not be asinine to not have the same opinion as what I just wrote. Not at all. But I think its asinine to suggest buying wild caught Ball Pythons over captive-bred animals because you think that the wild ones will have better genes!! Ha ha. Do you know how wild BP's are collected? They collect gravid females, hatch the eggs and ALL the babies are sold. Is this your "natural" selection that you speak of? I'm interested as to how you think that this process acts in an evolutionary sense to weed out the runts and produce stronger blood? REAL interested.



So it boils down to either buying animals that were born in captivity by animals already in captivity as oppsed to animals that were born in captivity from animals that were caught in the wild (and then skinned) and then shipped 1/2 way across the globe in conditions that would make your skin crawl. If it makes you happy to think you have a "stronger" snake that ha the fortunate happenstance to by ON TOP of the pile of snakes in the shipment box from Africa, then buy all means, support the farmed BP trade.



I'll take the breeders any day for the reasons listed above.
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