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Species crossing question...

SouthernSerpent Mar 16, 2010 11:12 PM

Ok. I have heard of people crossing burms and tics, coastals and irian jayas, angolans and balls, but a ball to jcp cross...Who and why would you want to do something like that? This species obviously would never meet in the wild as perhaps some others never would. This was one crossing that completely baffled me. Anyone else have any observations or comments on this?
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1.0 red phase western hognose
1.0 100% het albino columbian
1.0 pastel columbian
0.1 dub het sunglow
0.1 hypo columbian
0.1 guyana
1.2 jcp
1.0 irian jaya
1.2 normal balls
1.0 spider ball
0.1 pastel ball
1.0 granite al burm
0.1 granite het al burm
0.1 albino burm
1.0 sunfire retic
0.2 tiger retics
0.0.1 sulcata tortoise
1.0 potbelly pig (Oscar)
1.0 pug (Frank)
1.1 pit bull terriers (Marlboro & Coco)
1.0 house cat (Kitty)
0.1 wife who puts up with me

Replies (13)

kingofspades Mar 17, 2010 12:18 AM

People like to mess with animals to see what they can create.
Happens all the time.

That's pretty much my only comment. Not a huge fan of hybrids, with the exception of mules and Ligers.
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"What is man without the beasts?
If all the beasts were gone,
men would die from great loneliness of spirit.
For what happens to the beasts,
soon happens to men.
All things are connected."

-Chief Seattle (Duwamish Tribe)

Bolitochrome Mar 17, 2010 10:01 AM

For me the mating would be partly curiosity of how the animal would look, and partly curiosity about the scientific nature of it. How would the hybrid function compared to its parents? Lifespan? Potential of back-breeding to one of the parent species? Genetic difference (if only I had the budget) and so on. So if I were to create such a combo I would most likely keep all the offspring for myself, just as I intend to do with my Kingsnake hybrids.

I do take issue with people who seem to be exceptionally good at creating hybrids and then selling them off as something else. They often try to sell these off as a new morph or even a new species (which is actually debatable).
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Lincoln, NE
0.1 Pastel, 1.0 Pastel het Pied, 0.1 Pied, 0.1 Cinn, 1.0 Black Pewter, 1.0 Woma (hidden gene?), 0.1 Yellowbelly
2.0 Normals, 1.0 Thayeri, 0.1 Thayeri X Alterna, 0.1 crazy cat, 1.0 husband

TerryHeuring Mar 17, 2010 11:18 AM

If it were a pure bred dog they would not want to make mutts,I do not agree with it and cetainly do not buy them.

Amanda_D Mar 17, 2010 12:09 PM

Well to each his own.

In MHO muts are gread dogs and pure breeds are often in-bread and have genetic problems, like defness in dalmations and hip displasia.

Hybrid snakes can be healthy and very interisting as pets. I agree that misrepresenting what a hybrid is is wrong. But that should not spoil it for the beautiful snake that can come out of it.
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1 BP
4 Cal Kings 3 alb 1 het
3 Alb Corn
1 Rev Alb Nelsons

Bolitochrome Mar 17, 2010 01:34 PM

n/p
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Lincoln, NE
0.1 Pastel, 1.0 Pastel het Pied, 0.1 Pied, 0.1 Cinn, 1.0 Black Pewter, 1.0 Woma (hidden gene?), 0.1 Yellowbelly
2.0 Normals, 1.0 Thayeri, 0.1 Thayeri X Alterna, 0.1 crazy cat, 1.0 husband

TerryHeuring Mar 17, 2010 04:49 PM

I agree with you about mutts being good dogs,but snakes get ayway and are released, why chance the wild populations.

PHLdyPayne Mar 17, 2010 05:26 PM

There is a big difference between breeding to separate species of reptiles than breeding two different breeds of dogs. Breeding an Alaskan Malamute to a Golden Retriever/Lab mix..still produces a pure domesticated dog. Mutts are the same as any other dog, pureblood or not, they just look different.

Breeds of cats and dogs are pretty much equivalent to morphs of the same kind of snake. (ie piebald ball python, pastel, spider, etc. just like husky, labs and retrievers.)

A Liger is a hybrid between two species of cats, maybe closer than say, two species of pythons, but they are two separate species. Crossing a domesticated cat to a domesticated dog would be a hybrid, not a breed.

Actually only hybrids in domesticated dogs and cats would be wolf crosses and Bengal wild cats with domesticated cats.
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PHLdyPayne

ohernz Mar 17, 2010 04:07 PM

I am not a fan of hybrids. Some that I have seen look interesting, but I don't really like mixing different species together
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Neutiquam erro. Hostes alienigeni me abduxerunt.

PHLdyPayne Mar 17, 2010 05:08 PM

I don't see much point in hybridizing any animal, unless its something that occurs naturally in the wild when ranges of two species cross...

In the pet trade, I don't see any point in doing it. However, I have seen very nice results of hybrids and plenty of results that don't look any better than the individual animals.

My personal views on hybrids aside, the only major issue I would have is anybody selling offspring or even hybridized adults as pure. Even if its been 5 generations or more since the initial hybrid breeding occurred. However many people both intentionally sell them as pure, or bought a snake they liked not realizing it was a hybrid...just assumed it wasn't and breeds it, and sells the offspring as pure without realizing it. Mistakes do happen and if buyers don't recognize the offspring as a hybrid it can happen again...and again...till pure stock ends up polluted, solely due to either ignorance (just not knowing the true genetics of the snake initially) or intentionally being misleading.

Ball pythons are beautiful snakes all by themselves, with many morphs and combinations...not to mention just a wide range of 'wild type' versions. Why mar their natural beautify with another species genes? Same with Irian Java Carpets...they are beautiful on their own etc.
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PHLdyPayne

zefdin Mar 18, 2010 07:27 PM

~np!

toshamc Mar 17, 2010 06:15 PM

One must remember that species is simply a term that is created by humans as a way of classification. If they were not intended to reproduce - they couldn't.
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Tosha
JET Pythons
The Blog
nihil facimus sed id bene facimus

Patrick562 Mar 17, 2010 08:57 PM

If you really break everything down, we would never find a Ball Python "morph" in the wild or anywhere other than captivity...right? Many people inbreed to create even more extensive Ball Python "morphs." Cross breeding speices doesn't harm the animal anymore than the inbreeding does. I'm ALL FOR Hybrids!
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Reptiles:
2.2 Leopard Gecko Morphs
1.0 Bearded Dragon Morph
0.1 Box Turtle (Rescue)
0.1 Albino Ball Python (BHB line)

Bird:
0.1 Jenday Conure

Pups:
1.0 Black Lab/Pit Bull
1.0 Maltipoo

and lots of tropical fish!

-Patrick

zefdin Mar 18, 2010 07:23 PM

To me it like creating a custom car in a way. When i was younger, I used to think that if you took a Chevelle LS6 and cut out a big hood scoop, jacked it up in the air, carved out massive speaker holes and shoved a big ole' spoiler on the back made it look cool. As I grew up I the learned to appreciate the prefection in the original design and I now shudder when I see a 'custom' job. Snakes are the same for me now, I used to believe the most outrageous cross was awesome...not so much anymore?

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