Reptile & Amphibian Forums

(in response the the hogg crosses discussed below, but relative to all conservation)
.......that animals removed from the wild and bred in captivity should never be released back into wild populations as it disrupts the natural balance or changes natural progression of the species or something along those lines? I know that certain organizations do this with birds, but I think they go through great lengths to provide as natural a habitat as possible for the animals that they reintroduce....including NO human interaction and feeding them natural prey. Are these the same guidelines relative to to the collections of those trying to keep pure species? In addition I am curious how one would know that the animals they are keeping/breeding come from the same precise location from initially imported animals, and does the pairing itself disrupt the natural selection of these animals? I recall a number of years ago a HUGE discussion on this and thought there were many individual published studies representing this side of the coin....is it the opinion of those NOT in favor of cross breeding that their animals will be used to revive the depleted wild populations? Not trying to come off as coy, just curious and would like to hear more views representing the strong opposition. Thanks for your replies.
-Dino

Many want to keep hogs "pure" so they can be around for future generations. IMO its too late for that. Most of the Hog Island Boas kept in captivity today look very different from the original animals taken from the island. Breeders have selectively bred animals that are high in color with low speckling. The same thing can be said about most other localities as well. I understand why many are apposed to crossing hogs with hypos but feel they are defending something that has already been tainted by selective breeding. IMO if someone has a pair of hogs and a female Hypo, breeding the male to both will not harm the Hog population. The resulting offspring are easily distinguished if labeled properly. First of all he would be producing a litter of "pure" hogs. Second, the hypo/hogs are easily distinguished from "pure" hogs and sell for five times as much so breeders would be foolish to sell them as "pure" hogs. Also, from what I have seen the boas that are born without hypomelanism are not very attractive and could not be confused with a "pure" Hog. I feel the most compelling reason not to do this is that you would have a difficult time finding homes for the not so nice looking normal crosses.

That question has definately been one that has; " Fired things up around here a time or two. " The question itself is a kind of paradox. Their are a few Hobbyist around that have had the benefit of collecting exact locality animals and if you buy their bloodlines, you can almost rest assured that you are; " getting what you paid for. " For most Hobbyist, the locality is simply misrepresented. Physical characteristics, have always been: " A piss poor representative of were an animal comes from ESPECIALLY in true red tails or B.C.C." The Island boas are however, somewhat of an exception.Through years of seperation from the mainland most of them have developed physical characteristics that differ them from others. The difference between a Suriname and a Guyana locality boa is really NOTHING, but the difference between a Hogg Island and a Nebulosa is night and day or the difference between a Hogg Island and a Suriname and Guyana is night and day.Their has always been an issue on crossbreeding and here is my theory; " There is no excuse to cross breed Island boas. I believe it is an atrosity to ruin such evolved perfection, just to try and create something COOL. As far as the rest, if you are lucky enough to have locality specific True Red Tails, and can prove it, keep them pure. 80% of what is out there though, is being falsely represented, so just keep them within the species. " You may feel that the saddles and color and physical characteristics of a Peruvian is different from a Guyana or Suriname and so on and so forth, but ten years or more ago, we thought that; " All purple ones came from Guyana, wich is Bull. " Basically. if you doubt the locality, do not lie or make one up, just keep it within the species. Boa constrictor constrictor, Boa constrictor imperator,Boa constrictor ortoni " Northwestern Peru ", Boa constictor longicauda Boa constrictor amarali and so on and so forth. Surinames may indeed look different from say Peruvians, but they are the same species. The Island boas, however is alot harder to mistake.............John Johnson

A perfect example. Scroll down and look at the pictures that PAF posted. If you look at the paraguan boa, you would not believe me, if I sold it to you as a Hogg Island. Now, look at the Venezuelan B.C.C. that he posted with it. That animal is from Venezuela, but if I had it and sold it to you as say a Guyana, you would not doubt it for a minute. Just a little food for thought.........John Johnson