Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know very little about hybrids in the hobby, which is why I am taking the plunge to ask some questions--so please don't flame me. My purpose is not to start trouble, but to learn.

Both bluerosy's orange & white baby, and the charpondro pic posted are absolutely gorgeous animals. Do the offspring look like you thought they would when you began the projects?

When a hybrid is offered for sale, is there like, a code of ethics which says that you disclose the genetics to the buyer? The reason I ask is that I've seen snakes sold in pet store as say, a kingsnake, when it is clear that there is something else in the mix. Also, as in the antaresia complex of pythons, it seems that there are many offered who are not pure maculosa or childreni. Yet, because they are small and brown, they are offered as "childrens" or "spotted".

In the world of dogs, standardized breeds have evolved out of hybridization. I watched a televised show during which the announcer explained the history of certain breeds. Is this what is happening with reptiles? An example that comes to mind is the Jungle Corn or Jurassic Milk. It seems accepted as to what creates them, and are recognized as such in the hobby.

It has been my observation that many who are critical of hybrids have no problem with color/pattern morphs within a species. It is still genetically determining an animal which, for practical purposes, would not survive long in the wild--ie. fluerescent orange corn snakes. In terms of genetics, from what I know it seems that the in-breeding for morphs would weaken a genetic line, whereas the creation of a hybridized animal would strengthen it? It seems to me that in a hobby which loves the newest candy colored snake morph, hybrids should be equally valued?

Thanks you for taking the time to read this post. I look forward to learning from your experiences.

I do think this a very important forum to post the crosses/hybrids that have been DONE.Why would someone intentionally reinvent the wheel if it has been done and available elsewhere?It is a GREAT idea to standardize but if every hybrid had a new name we would soon be overrun.Some are real nice,but you dont get to see the mutts very often,and there are more of them than we see,Jeff

The terms "Jurassic Milk" or "Jungle corn" are misleading. I am hoping as more hybrids appear that the standardization will be WHAT the actual animal IS and not make up names for the sake of marketing. For instance look at the creamsicle corn . Most people don't even know this is a crossed cornsnake with intermontana ratsnake (guttata X emoryi)but people who bought them have bred them into pure corns of all kinds. This is where the hobby needs to focus on. Dishonest people and dumb people are everywhere. How can the poor snake be bad? Thats prejudicial. The real villans are those who are producing and selling hybrids without diclosing their true ingredients. To them its all about the money no matter what the long term implications are. You can find these same people selling pure morphs as well, so its not just a hybrid thing. In this hobby you have the good and the bad just like everywhere.

AND...Don't take the "one bad apple rots the whole bunch" attitude. If someone selling hybrids wants to hide whats in them then don't buy them. Its that simple and everyones choice.

We also need to speak out on proper indentification on things that the "purists" are calling pure.. when in fact they are not "pure".

So what IS a purist? A purist is someone who speaks up the loudest against hybrids because they are to dumb and to new to the hobby to know the difference...These same purists with their heads stuck in the ground or the wool pulled over their eyes are the ones screaming foul and thats whats polluting herpetoculture the most. They want/need the attention and this is their way of getting it.

So what have we learned?

a) dishonest people are bad
b) purists (by definition)= bad
c) dishonest purists who refuse to properly identify their creamsicle corns = really bad.