Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have been thinking about this for quit some time now. Has anyone bred a line of milks or kings solely for their feeding response to rodents? Basically ignoring all other traits except feeding response? Could they be selectively bred just like what has been done for color and size etc? Instead breeding them for willingness to feed on our commercial lab mice?

Mike

I am not sure if they are purposely bred for feeding response, but I do know some breeders who do not use poor feeders for breeding stock specifically for that reason with their cornsnakes. I assume if a breeder has a choice of using solid feeders vs. poor feeders and all other traits the same, they would opt for the solid feeders. There may be limits on the number of solid feeders in a collection when dealing with certain species, especially smaller milks, etc.

I've been keeping back some Sinaloans that have started from f/t pinkies out of the egg. Hopefully in a few generations we will see what happens. There is no reason you couldn't select for it though.

Vinny

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“There is a grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that whilst this planet has gone on cycling according to the fixed laws of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.” -C. Darwin, 1859

Natural Selection Reptiles

yep....people do it......it eats it's the one you start with....

I know a guy that did it with pygmy rattlers more or less...we did it with corns...like back in the bloodred days of old...good reds.....balls...yea...some bite some don't and some eat better than others....some will not touch frozen....better the ones that eat it all.....some of my balls eat what the mother ate...sucks....

....should work with milks...lizard starters sell mice eaters keep...

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................JY

Don Wilson from Seven Generations Reptiles line bred beautiful Blairs greybands back in the day and feeding response is one of the "traits" he bred for. I got the line from Tad Fitzgerald a number of years ago and that was one of the strong selling points of that line. When I ended up breeding mine, usually more than 75% would start on unscented with no problem. One year I produced a 12 egg clutch and all of them started with no problems. I can tell you first hand that it works well you just have to do it for a few generations.

Wayne Sanders

Thank you all for the great responses to this thread. My threads seem to get hijacked up here. Maybe I just ask the wrong questions...Nahhh

Anyway, I have 2 groups of Ltt's I will be ready to breed next season. There are 4 "stand outs". 1 pair from each locality. They are not my favorite as far as looks but they are by far the best feeders. They will be the founders for this project. The whole feeding, on then off then on then off is quit frustrating! These 4 are consistent so far.

And thank you Mr. Sanders for that post. Fact filled and to the point!

Mike Hall