Future of our Hobby??

[Hsut77]

Just wanted to get a few points of view in relation to which direction our Hobby (in Australia) is going in the future? With all the talk about Hybrids / Intergrades, Exotics, genetics etc, I was wondering, do you think keeping reptiles in Australia will become much like the USA & Europe in terms of breading for colour & looks instead of keeping snakes in their pure forms?

I can see by looking back on some old posts that different form such as Blonde Macs and Hypo Bredli's are getting popular. Is this a shift in the type of person who is taking up the hobby? Are the next generation (of which I am one) just looking for a good looking pet?

 

[horsenz]

well i hope snakes stay in there pure form .we are only new snake owners started in the last year.

 

[Tatelina]

I think we are definetly headed towards breeding for the colour and looks.
Seems to me that now a days its already difficult to be able to specify which animals are from which areas and which patterns and markings are genuinely from that location or not..whether this is from people not caring or lack of knowledge I'm not sure..probably both actually.

I get a sense that people seem to want the rarest animal which is usually 'the prettiest' by group mentality standards so to keep up with being the most different, people will be searching out the most different looking colours and patterns, (eg. I'm under the impression that blonde macs were hardly heard of a while ago..and now they are quite popular and becoming increasingly common) and thus eventually we will have such an array of different colours and patterns that are probably quite far from their native colours.

 

[Tatelina]

well i hope snakes stay in there pure form .we are only new snake owners started in the last year.

Do you mean their pure form?

 

[horsenz]

yes that to

 

[Chris1]

as long as people make an effort to use different bloodlines i think breeding fro looks is great!

alot of people seem to buy the snake (or pets in general actually) they find most attractive, rather than 'just a snake', so as long as its done properly i think it can only be a good thing,...

arent blonde macs any hypo bredlis 'in their pure form'?....just bred from specially selected parents thru a few generations?

 

[morgs202]

Whilst there are certainly some nice looking strains of snake, I still think that most look best in their original forms. The only different colour form s I have seen that I really liked were the lavender phase albino carpet in the most recent reptiles australia, and the hypermelanistic carpet in the issue with a scrubbie on the front a few months back.

 

[dragon_tail]

i agree with chris 100%, im not gonna get into the hybrid descussion, but as for selectively breeding unique patterns/blonde/hypo/and melanous or albino of natural species is concerned im all for it! and why not? as long as their labeled and sold this way its just more variety in the hobby! i love the idea..... crossing species im not even gonna touch apon but i share more or less the general concensus

 

[morgs202]

I just dont want to see the market completely flooded with colour morphs so that there is a huge shortage of naturals. It would be good to see a balanced mixture of both.

 

[Mork]

IMO...

The hobby in Aus will branch in 2 directions.

The first branch is the bloodline branch. In this branch we see all the morphs and strains of species. Similar to what has happened in the USA where certain traits have been selected for over many generations.

The second branch is the locale branch. In this branch we will see the establishment of recogniseable locales after ALOT of debate. This branch will aim to preserve the "natural" look of species from specific locations.

Both these branches can currently be seen in the hobby. And there will always be your "standard" snakes at the "entry level" so to speak. I think that the hobby as a whole is currently quite balanced and we should strive to maintain this. Locale lines should be preserved and various species should be line bred to reveal the potential for amazing patterns etc that exist in the genome.

Well thats my opinion neway.

 

[swingonthespiral]

very well said mork i agree totally...

 

[nickamon]

I agree with Mork. I think morphs/locality-specific looks are really coming into fashion in the herp world.

 

[Sandman]

The future is somewhat bleak, isn't it? There are people deliberately hybridising snakes (some even out of spite) and falsely labelling them out there. There are also nazi purists that think it's wrong to breed different localities, despite ultimately coming from the same species. Though, paradoxically, certain ssp are open to debate as to whether they're ssp at all, yes?

My ultimate stance is "meh". Go with the flow. Sadly, every aspect of Australian culture is being Americanized. You can see it in the way dogs and other pets are bred. All livestock and pets are bred with the intent to improve the physical and mental aspects to make them more desireable. With snakes being regarded as pets, and demand aimed at unique (which, as mentioned earlier, is synonymous with designer colour and pattern strains), how can we expect anything less?

 

[junglepython2]

We can still have all the morphs and desirable traits while keeping snakes locality pure.

Morphs and hybrids are too totally different things.

 

[Glimmerman]

Mork you nailed it son :lol:

I actually a few animals that I am playing around with for colour / patterns etc, then I have my locale specific animals that I intend to keep that way.

My biggest regret in 10 years would be if we did not keep any locale or original linage going strong and ended up with a collection of designer snakes with no true heritage or traceable roots.

 

[MoreliaMatt]

yes we can have both, pure lineages and colour / pattern morphs

 

[junglepython2]

Morphs and designer snakes can come about from locality pure animals, you only have to look at the original albino darwin, thats as pure as you can get.

 

[olivehydra]

I feel the hobby will create a few, very large commercial breeders. All the recent small time keepers with visions of sitting back and watching the cash roll in will be disappointed. Of course there will be the few exceptions to the rule. If you want to make a living out of herps, I believe the only way to go is big (unless you have something very special indeed). Morphs will become "king" as humans always seem to want to have the newest and the best. When chondros or rsp's no longer impress fellow herpers, what will people turn too?

Many of the "old timers" will turn to locale specific, and mock the newbies scrambling for the latest patterned snake to match their designer mobile phone.
The "oldies" will try and out do each other with tales of lengthy heritage, and laugh in the face of anyone who fails to identify the exact log or stone from under which was discovered the great, great, great grandparents of their charges.

Bitching will continue, many friends will be made and lost, and herpers will still talk about cats and integrades with much passion.The "boys club" of herping will fade as the ratio of male to female herpers evens out, and we will see groups of young desperate female herpers drooling over their keyboards on herp forums as nubile young boys introduce themselves as newbies......"show us ya snake big boy!" will be an all too common cry.

Well thats how I see it going anyway.

 

[reptyle]

i personlly would rather that the reptiles of australia be kept as pure as possible and not be crossed with other species or sub species. however, it will happen one way or another as it has already started to, so i think it is important that some breeders need to keep there pure animals as pure as possible so that we will always have some
thanks, ian

 

[Charlie]

Unless you have alot of "new blood" coming in all the time nothing will ever stay "true", as inbreeding inevetably occurs and certain traits are formed through that, whether it be intentional or not. I am aware that some inbreeding occurs in the wild but it wouldn't be nearly as much as in captivity.
But in saying that i think if you could keep locality pure animals it would be great for the hobby and would be worth a bit in the future (speculation of course). But i also love genetic morphs, as for hybrids, not a fan! but each to their own.