Fred,



As I stated earlier, if we don't agree with each other (and we probably won't), that's ok. We are all entitled to our opinions and I do respect that. I have enjoyed our conversation very much.



Please don't take this the wrong way, but what difference would it make if an 88% Diamond X did sell for $1000, or if a pure Diamond sold for $100? Does that seem unfair? Things are only worth what people are willing to pay for them, and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I honestly don't see what this has to do with whether or not people should produce X's.



And what if someone does unintentionally sell an 88% Diamond X (which happens to look like a pure Diamond) as a pure Diamond? Now we have an unsuspecting buyer that "thinks" he has a pure Diamond, but in reality it's only an 88% X. And what if he then proceeds to breed this animal to other pure Diamonds and markets the offspring as "pure"? What then??? Is this really going to change the world as we know it? I completely fail to see the significance of this situation -- real or hypothetical. There are more important things in the world to lose sleep over, IMHO. In fact, this reminds me of the old saying, "When a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it fall, ...does it still make a noise?"



Obviously if someone does this sort of thing on purpose and with intention to deceive, I agree that would be wrong -- BUT -- it still wouldn't make a hill of beans difference in the big picture. Life would go on, regardless. There will always be people in this world that do deceptive things, hybrids or no hybrids.



Diamond x Jungle crosses and RS x Carpet crosses are not exactly a fair comparison. There are currently numerous Diamonds & Jungles represented in private collections and zoos all across the country, whereas we have a very small group of RS Pythons represented in a single zoo (at least to my knowledge). Apples and oranges. Besides, I started in on this discussion to somewhat defend the DxJ X's (which are an established hybrid between two very similar snakes), not necessarily defend and/or promote all crosses.



Again, thank you for the kind words and though provoking debate!
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Will Leary

Reptilicus Reptiles

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