Hybridization of pythons has been a topic of debate for a while in the reptile community. Some hate them and feel it is wrong and others love it. It can be a great new step in the genetics of snakes for those who know what they are doing and have a good ethics about it.
I personally have a love hate relationship with hybrids. I love to see them, study them, and love them as a new area for herpers while I am afraid of what the unethical will do. People will come up with new patterns and color variations and sell them as pure bloods. This already happens with diamond to jungle carpet pythons. As more people breed reptiles solely for the profit I am petrified that hybrids will kill the industry on a genetics level.
The last concern I have with hybrids is the people purposefully trying to break the Lacey act. The Lacey Act are the laws on larger reptiles that protects from the environmental destruction that non-native species can have. Some breeders are crossing pythons on the Lacey Act with pythons that are not and trying to create a loop hole. The government will not just let that happen. When someone tries to beat the government then we all get screwed and it won’t be long before even ball pythons will be either illegal to own or the sale of them will not be able to cross state lines thus destroying the reptile trade across the US. 75% of people breeding reptiles are about the dollar and nothing more. For those of us who truly love herpetology we may seen many bad changes.
Part 2 of the intro will be the beginning of what this blog is mostly about. The Hybrid pythons as pets, reptile trade, genetics, and other information one may want to know for keeping a hybrid python.
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