John,
**This thread has gone on long enough and I don't want to turn it into a debate on ethics and purity. **
I'm sure you could debate about this, but it is a little convenient that apparently you are spent on this topic after only a few days and a few posts. By the way, what debate did you intend in the first place if it is not on ethics or purity?
**My original post was to show how they are hitting the market and being marketed as pure strain. Let's face it, most pet shops are not above making up names for things. One of the first snakes I ever bought was sold to me as a south american brown something or other. It turned out to be a brown water snake, Natrix taxispilota. **
Yes, this is nothing new. I have seen MY OWN hybrids that I have produced being marketed incorrectly by other people. But, isn't this about personal responsibility? What can I do about that. If people really cared about it then they wouldn't patronize that store, and they would go out of business, or start being honest, right? If you bought a misrepresented snake, that mistake is really on you for not doing the research into either 1)what you really were buying or 2) the reputation of the store.
**What will happen if someone actually hatches out an albino alterna? Will he be believed or will it ba assumed to be a 4th or 5th genreation outbreeding from the Osborne ruthveni crosses? Will a potentially valuable snake be rendered worthless? will its offspring be mated to the existing mixed blood albinos? **
I agree, but the damage is done. Hopefully when this happens, DNA technology will be such that we can test to see what bloodlines are present.
**Basically, when I buy a snake I want to know that it is pure, that it hasn't been crossed to something similar. **
Exactly, then why did you buy that first snake. I feel the same way, that is why when I buy something, I buy from someone I trust, or I make SURE of what I'm getting - OR I DON'T GET IT.
**I don't really have a problem with hybrids. I can understand how they can be fun to make. Some of the 4-5 way crosses that Retes created 30 years abo were neat looking animals. **
This is not the impression you gave. In fact, the title of the post is "mutts are bad." Am I to understand from that title that you enjoy hybrids?
**HOWEVER, I would hate to think of them getting into the wild or even into pet shops where they will be mis-represented. **
I feel the same way. However, what if I bred a Hueco alterna to a Bracketville alterna and released them in Iraan? Would that be more of a sin than if I released a king/corn in South TX? Which animal would have more of a chance to survive in the wild? If the release or 'escape' of captive bred animals is your true concern, then you should be afraid of it across the board and not simply as a convenient argument against hybrids.
Glenn
