# Breeding Woma pythons



## STVLL (Apr 22, 2019)

Hi,

I am looking into possibly breeding Woma Pythons, and cant find anything about captive breeding online. Any information would be appreciated, My understanding is they only mix with black head pythons but I cant even find anything about that either. I may just resort to Bredlis, Darwins, and Jungles if all else fails. But would rather stick with pure bred breeding then all the health issues you get through Het and hypos ect...

Any info would be appreciated


----------



## Abstractivity (Apr 22, 2019)

The best book and is probably recommended by most people on here is Keeping and Breeding Australian Pythons. theres probably a website which you can by an online copy or you could by the hard copy


----------



## Pauls_Pythons (Apr 22, 2019)

STVLL said:


> My understanding is they only mix with black head pythons



? Maybe Im not reading this as its intended but you are looking to cross breed Woma's with other species?


----------



## Barry (Apr 22, 2019)

STVLL, check ur info , breed woma’s with woma’s , bhp with bhp, as for hets & hypos that’s all about genetics, read books as mentioned above


----------



## Sdaji (Apr 22, 2019)

I've always wanted to see what a Woma x Water Python would look like.

Let me know if you breed a Woma with something other than a Woma so I can set up a popcorn stand and make a fortune.


----------



## Abstractivity (Apr 22, 2019)

I was going to tear into him like everyone above has done. but I'm nicer than that. Better read that book and catch up on some Biology while he's at it.


----------



## Sdaji (Apr 23, 2019)

Abstractivity said:


> I was going to tear into him like everyone above has done. but I'm nicer than that. Better read that book and catch up on some Biology while he's at it.



If it was ambiguous, I wasn't tearing into him, just commenting on the reality that many people will if he does this and dares to be open and honest about it.


----------



## Abstractivity (Apr 23, 2019)

Sdaji said:


> If it was ambiguous, I wasn't tearing into him, just commenting on the reality that many people will if he does this and dares to be open and honest about it.


Fair enough


----------



## Sdaji (Apr 23, 2019)

What's the biology you think he should catch up on? I see the social issues and perhaps there are legal issues, but as a biologist myself I'm not sure what the biological issues you're talking about are. 'Everyone will be angry and hate you' is a social issue, not a biological one.


----------



## BrettJ (Apr 23, 2019)

STVLL said:


> Hi,
> 
> I am looking into possibly breeding Woma Pythons, and cant find anything about captive breeding online. Any information would be appreciated, My understanding is they only mix with black head pythons but I cant even find anything about that either. I may just resort to Bredlis, Darwins, and Jungles if all else fails. But would rather stick with pure bred breeding then all the health issues you get through Het and hypos ect...
> 
> Any info would be appreciated


Do a search for Southern x reptiles (as spelt) old website. click on articles. there is a very informative article on keeping womas and a bit on breeding written by Doc Rock. 
As for cross breeding.. cannot say I'm a fan. Nor will you garner much support on that. 
also as mentioned the book above is about $55 - $60 A worthwhile investment.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk


----------



## Abstractivity (Apr 23, 2019)

Sdaji said:


> What's the biology you think he should catch up on? I see the social issues and perhaps there are legal issues, but as a biologist myself I'm not sure what the biological issues you're talking about are. 'Everyone will be angry and hate you' is a social issue, not a biological one.


What science does Breeding fall into if not Biology?


----------



## BrettJ (Apr 23, 2019)

Abstractivity said:


> What science does Breeding fall into if not Biology?


breeding is the process of selective mating of animals with desirable genetic traits, to maintain or enhance these traits in future generations.
Therefore i would suggest Genetics?


Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk


----------



## Sdaji (Apr 23, 2019)

Abstractivity said:


> What science does Breeding fall into if not Biology?



The scientific aspect of breeding is primarily biology. What I was asking was "What aspect of biology says hybridising different species of pythons is bad?" (yes, I was assuming the inference you were making was that it was bad to do it). What does biology say which means it is bad to do this?


----------



## Abstractivity (Apr 24, 2019)

Sdaji said:


> The scientific aspect of breeding is primarily biology. What I was asking was "What aspect of biology says hybridising different species of pythons is bad?" (yes, I was assuming the inference you were making was that it was bad to do it). What does biology say which means it is bad to do this?


Lol why are you giving me a quiz or something? I was talking about the fact that they are two different species and they cannot reproduce. What Biology says is if it was two different species they'd most likely eat each other (as well as not be able to create offspring) or for Carpets and hybridization Neuro being the main problem.


----------



## Sdaji (Apr 24, 2019)

Abstractivity said:


> Lol why are you giving me a quiz or something? I was talking about the fact that they are two different species and they cannot reproduce. What Biology says is if it was two different species they'd most likely eat each other (as well as not be able to create offspring) or for Carpets and hybridization Neuro being the main problem.




Oh, I see. That's what you were getting at. I wasn't trying to quiz you as such, I was just wondering what you meant. I see now what it was (that different species can't reproduce), but this is incorrect.

They actually can reproduce. Most (perhaps all) species of pythons are genetically compatible. It's quite amazing, but even radically different species of pythons can reproduce, and perhaps even more remarkably, the offspring are often even fertile.

One of the most distantly related pythons to Womas is the Ball Python. These are about as unrelated as pythons get, but they have been hybridised. It was first done quite a few years ago and at the time was quite a big surprise. Reptile genetics work very differently from mammal genetics. Reptile DNA between species is much more compatible, there are far fewer blockages to the genetics of the two species 'refusing' to work together because they are not the same. Different mammal species of the same amount of genetic divergence could never produce offspring.

Sounds like you're the one who should do some looking into biology  It's certainly an easy mistake to make if you aren't already familiar with reptile genetics. I'm a geneticist myself and I'm sure even most geneticists would not expect a Woma and a snake from any other genus to be capable of reproducing, largely because most geneticists aren't especially familiar with reptiles.


----------



## Southernserpent (Apr 24, 2019)

Not sure what nuero has got to do with crossing carpet sub species. If you have a carpet with nuerological issues and its not a jag you have some big problems


----------



## Sdaji (Apr 24, 2019)

Southernserpent said:


> Not sure what nuero has got to do with crossing carpet sub species. If you have a carpet with nuerological issues and its not a jag you have some big problems



Yeah, what we're seeing in his posts is the common phenomenon which goes something like 'I don't like x. I have no actual reason to dislike x. In the absence of any actual tangible reason to convince you of it, I will make something up, because I honestly believe so strongly that x is bad, so there must be some evidence, and since I don't have any, I will create it myself, and it must be true because I am just so convinced that x is indeed bad'

Crossing Carpet races (or Carpets with any other python) doesn't cause neurological disorders.

I wouldn't do it in Australia, but at some point in the future I'd like to make some extreme hybrid pythons. I'd quite like to see Antaresia x Chondro which I expect would work. I'd love to see Aspidities x Chondro but while the genetics should work I don't think it would be easy to get them to copulate since you would need a male Chondro and a female Woma. I have a few others in mind. Maybe one day I'll get around to it if I'm living in the right place and have the opportunity.


----------



## Abstractivity (Apr 24, 2019)

I don't feel strongly about crossing carpets at all. I dislike things that won't have a good quality of life thats all. An interesting fact Sdaji, if you could breed them easily and no ad verse affects then sure why not.


----------



## Southernserpent (Apr 24, 2019)

How does crossing different races or sub species of carpets affect their quality of life.


----------



## Pauls_Pythons (Apr 24, 2019)

Southernserpent said:


> How does crossing different races or sub species of carpets affect their quality of life.



Affects life expectancy in some states if that counts.


----------



## Sdaji (Apr 25, 2019)

Pauls_Pythons said:


> Affects life expectancy in some states if that counts.



Haha, that's why I wouldn't do it in Australia. It sure would be fun to watch all the triggered people screeching though.


----------

