Culling off weak reptiles?

[Troy K.]

I see that there is a thread going on at the moment saying that there aren’t enough decent reptile discussions happening on this forum at the moment so I thought that I’ll put one up that I find interesting and would be interested in other peoples thoughts on the matter.

I breed a few snakes every year and the hatchlings that I find aren’t up starch, either with kinks, problem feeders, or deformed in any way get culled off. I used to give these snakes away as pets with strict instructions that the snakes I give away are never to be bred or sold, as I believe that breeding weak snakes just creates more weak snakes, but after a few years I found that some of the snakes I’d given away had either been given away again or sold or even worse, been bred.

What I’m wanting to know is how many other reptile breeders cull off their weak or deformed hatchling and if you don’t cull them off what do you do with them?

 

[CarpetPythons.com.au]

God forbid you do that Troy! You should get some interesting replies from the members. We are also going to get a veterinarian to cull what we deem to be non viable animals this season. We could also just drop them off to the authorities to re-home them for us.

 

[JAS101]

I am by no means a experenced breeder but if i was to breed any reptiles that have a deformaty or is weak ,and iam not going to keep it for its whole life then yes i would consider culling it/them off .

 

[Bez84]

I personally would cull any animal i thought wasnt going to have a good quality of life, be it from deformity or just a weak hatchling that was never ment to make it on its own.
I would how ever want to make an effort to see the culled hatchling was used perhaps to feed a reptile eater or something rather then just thrown in the bin.

 

[Kalashnikov]

I have seen runts grow to be healthy adults and have seen healthy reptiles die.

Depends on the breeder I guess

 

[Snake-Supplies]

I personally have a soft spot for the weak animals and ones with deformed limbs etc,
Would you "cull" your own son or daughter cause she/he had a missing leg?
Two heads?

I know it has NOTHING to do with reptiles,
but the dog we bought, was the runt of the litter... small, skinny, picked on...
yet she is the best dog we have ever owned... apart from her being a traitor at food time, she is quiet, yet playful at times, and just really damn good company.

I also bought a clown loach (fish) because it was getting picked on by the others and was very skinny, I get him cheap because they said it will most likely die... yet now, it's the better of the two I bought.

I think, personally...
If you are 100% certain that it's not going to recover it's going to die slowly and painfully then yes, you should.
But can you be 100% certain?

Give them the same love and appreciate that you give your other animals, love them for what they are, not what they should be.

That's my view anyway.

 

[cadwallader]

i guess it depends how badly it is deformed but i dont think i would cull it as i am not breeding 100's of hatchlings i would just keep him as a pet.

 

[tympanocryptis]

Gday Troy
In the past I have given animals away that are not up to scratch, only to latter see people try and sell these animals. Let me tell you that it really ******s me off. As breeders we need to ensure there is some quality control of our prodgeny. This will also help maintain value in good lines. From now on if its not up to scratch it is in the freezer!!

 

[scorps]

I bet you receive about 100 pm's now Troy from people hitting you up for these animals promising they wont sell or breed

 

[Jungle_Freak]

Good topic for a thread Troy .
I feel this threads focus is mainly on deformities amongst offspring.
So yes i would cull offspring with deformities / kinks/ neuro issues etc.
My acception was last season when i hatched out a possible new morph displaying hypo like traits of a pink tongue and light blue eyes and neuro issues etc , this week and neuro jungle has managed to survive and thrive now .
But only after a lot of effort .
It is now doing well and she will always be my pet even if her looks do not prove to be a genetic morph.

Poor feeders ? , i keep them the longest to make sure they are feeding properly and then move them on .

Will the RPM/JAG breeders be culling any severe neuro cases in neonates this season ?




cheers
Roger

 

[Snakewise84]

i would do the same but take them to the vet to do as i would not be able to bring my self to do it. my olds use to do it the our birds if they deformed even to the rats i use to breed.

 

[hornet]

I would have a hard time killing off deformed herps, not saying i wouldnt do it but it would be hard. If its something minor like a kink in the tail or even just a single promlem limb them i dont see any reason why they couldnt be given away as pets, good chance its not genetic so i wouldnt even see an issue with them being bred. Weak feeders. As roger said poor feeders can often turn out fine so they are another i wouldnt cull but it would be different with the breeders who are producing heaps of clutches and may not have the time to work on the weak feeders.

@ Josh, i dont think he is talking about culling smaller runty animals, if they feed fine, dont have any major deformities i dont see how a smaller then normal specimen is much of an issue, as said they can do just fine. Thanks for getting this going troy, be interesting what are some other peoples thoughts on this

 

[Snake-Supplies]

[scorps]

haha, yeah, I would be happy to take any deformed animal, I am only a beginner in the world of snakes but I give my snake alot of care and attention, while most people are sleeping I will occasionally get Scarlet out of her tank for a midnight wonder.

Insomnia make you do things that you never thought possible, who ever thought I would read a book?
haha.

[Hornet]
"aren’t up starch, either with kinks, problem feeders, or deformed in any way get culled off"

He never mentioned small animals.
He said, aren't up to scratch...

Trying to breed two striped jungles and not getting them, that's not up to scratch...
cull them all?

I'm always going to be on the Animals side here... I am going to be biased towards the issue of culling animals.
Just cause my TV has a missing button does not affect the performance, only the value.

I agree that they should not be bred though 100%
I will agree there.

 

[D3pro]

Will the RPM/JAG breeders be culling any severe neuro cases in neonates this season ?

Question is, will that be all they will be culling?

Ether way, if the culling is humane then sure. I would rather have an animal that's healthy and happy then an animal that could be the main attraction in a circus for back flipping.

 

[zuesowns]

A question to be asked would be, what is the most humaine way to cull off offspring, due to de-formalities etc.

I am an animal lover, however, if they are deformed and would struggle to survive, unable to scent food for example, I wouldn't hesitate to cull to put the offspring at "rest"

 

[Troy K.]

Good point Rodger about the RPM/JAGS. All of ours have been bought from parents showing no neuro problems. Will be interesting to see what happens with this but my understanding with the neruro problem in the jags is that they have to be put under a bit of stress to show any real sign of it. I could be wrong as we have only been working with them for a few years and still have plenty to learn about them.

Another good point with the new morph. When we are working on new morphs we will keep a weaker hatchling if it is showing signs of the traits that we are looking but with plans of breeding out the defects later, and as you know this process can take several years.

 

[Allan]

About a year ago, I read something on the net about commercial US breeders culling off nonrodent feeders among their Corn snake hatchlings in order to outbreed this behaviour. I found that a bit disturbing. Some Corn snakes naturally start off their feeding with Anoles and oyher lizards just like some of our aussie pythons have a preference for skinks in the beginning. I wouldn't cull a tricky feeder, but a hatchling with any deformities that compromises its life would get the chop.
Good one Troy!!!

 

[Bez84]

Co2 gasing would prob be the most humane or if thats not available the severing of the spine always works, but only if you know the correct way to break an animals neck.

 

[The_Dreaded_Pets]

as i am not a breeder this is just a matter of opinion but i do think it would be acceptable in extreem cases as roger said for minor cases i would probably keep them on board for awhile and see how they turnout before decideing on selling cheap/giveing away or culling.

as for runts i dont think troy ment these as there just minitures my cat savage was a rung and my closest oldest pet she lived to 13yrs which is pretty good for cats and was teh size of a 6mnth old kitten (never left the cute and cuddley size lol) i think the same would be said about almost all animals they may be smaller and possibly even a shorter lifespan but none the less they are just as good as the bigger pets.

i also think the animals culled should be done so hunmanly and given or sold to people owning reptile/snake eaters

as stated im not a breader and this is just my apinion wether others agree with it cheers

 

[Troy K.]

[scorps]

He never mentioned small animals.
He said, aren't up to scratch...

Trying to breed two striped jungles and not getting them, that's not up to scratch...
cull them all?


No I wouldn't go culling snakes because they didn't turn out the right colour or with the right markings, I'm talking about weak or deformed.