Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've been thinking about sets of earlier posts regarding hybrids and more recent sets regarding gene pool for captive bred Eastern indigos. When pondering where the captive "population" of indigos will end up, think of how people have selectively bred numerous species to create breeds that never existed in nature. Breeding snakes in captivity is still a new phenomenon, going back only 30 - 40 years. In that short time look where we've gone with corn snake morphs. It's irrelevant whether one prefers striped motley candy canes to Okeetees or not. They exist and will proliferate further. Heard the one about the "Conduran"? It's no joke.

I could easily produce some really impressive snakes by crossing different Drymarchon species or subspecies. I guess the best we can do for captive indigos is breed with integrity. I remember purchasing a captive-bred Eastern from a noteworthy breeder a few years ago that arrived small for its age with an obvious deformity. I should have put her in the freezer instead of trading her away. She's possibly weakening the captive population pool as a breeder at this moment. I'm kind of depressed because I did recently freeze an 04 Texas hatchling that had abnormal scalation at the base of her tail. It became more obvious as she grew. Last spring I also froze a young adult Texas indigo (really did look like a hybrid) with questionable ancestry. I couldn't see breeding her this winter if I couldn't confidently claim offspring as the real thing. Selling/donating such snakes as I've done in the past doesn't prevent them from being misrepresented in another setting.

I don't know where captive indigos will end up in a few hundred years, but I hope that some wild populations will continue to survive. The Everglades National Park could be one safe location. Maybe Key Largo or Ocala National Forest? Of course Florida habitat will be reduced as the oceans rise with global warming.

Winter in New England sucks and it isn't even here yet.

Global warming?! You're kidding right? Let me get my hip boots on.

Eric

I think the trendy term is "Climate Change". It's not as scary sounding but the effect is the same. You want evidence... The glaciers in Glacier National Park are almost gone. The snows of Kilimajaro which covered 100 acres about 50 years ago only cover 10 acres. The Matterhorn can no longer be climbed in summer as the deep ice that held the mountain together year round is gone in summer. The permafrost southern boundary is moving north... blah blah blah...

The most notable effect for me is that it's DECEMBER, I live in friggin Seattle and my lawn needs to be mowed and there's weeds popping up everywhere in my yard. I used to be able to count on a solid 4 months with no yard work. Now it's down to 3. Bummer.

Doug T

>>Global warming?! You're kidding right? Let me get my hip boots on.
>>
>>Eric

"The permafrost southern boundary is moving north... blah blah blah..."

this is the phenomenon that causes my colleague (who works in the manitoba wetlands) to wet himself. i'll get really interesting when the organic carbon held in the frozen northern peatlands starts to decompose. we may see a CO2 and methane spike that is completely unprecedented. but hey it's just a hypothesis, let's not worry about until the oil companies tell us we should.

matt

p.s. while we're on the subject of science education, let's give two hoots and a holler to dover PA.