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View Full Version : Can you breed two different species of snakes???


creepiecrawlie
03-26-04, 12:18 AM
I friend of my dad's is offering me either a five foot Columbian redtail boa, or a baby Central american boa. I was wondering if I ever wanted to breed them (not the two but different ones) that I could breed them with different specids like Hog Island boas. I need a response by tomorrow morning please.

lostwithin
03-26-04, 12:24 AM
Columbian boas, Central American and Hog island are all forms of BCI, they are the exact same species just from different places therefore will breed successfully and there young may show any traits of there parents, although most people tend too avoid cross breeding too keep blood lines pure, I would not suggest crossing them for that reason alone, but yes they will breed.
Devon

Dani33
03-26-04, 12:28 AM
Ditto what Devon said. I wouldn't ever cross them.

Drew S
03-26-04, 12:43 AM
I wouldn't breed a Hogg Island to another species of BCI because of the fact that they haven't been seen in the wild for years. If they really are extinct, then once the captive bred specimens become impure, there's no going back. Also, what would you sell the offspring as? It just leads to confusion, and why mix species that wouldn't normally mate together.

M_surinamensis
03-26-04, 06:26 AM
I'm a purist, I don't like seeing species crossed... I don't like seeing locales crossed... I don't like seeing uncommon or unnatural subspecific integrades created.

Thing here though is that EVERY SINGLE snake hybrid which has been created AND been used in attempted breeding rojects has proved to be fertile back to either parent species, with other identical crosses and even to a third species in some cases. They are NOT sterile like a mule and that does not apply to all animals... Heck, it doesn't even apply to all mammals.

This is one of the biggest arguments against hybridization, the ease with which the mixed animals could be introduced into the larger, pure captive population. It's not always easy to get something into a bloodline, but it's much easier to create a hybrid than it is to remove a set of genes from a breeding population once it gets "loose" Morality and ethics differ from person to person but there is a fairly large segment of the herp owning population which sees hybrids as being a negative thing, the equal of deliberatly breeding for kinked tails or eye deformities. Of course... the boid community seems far more opposed to hybridization than the general colubrid community, but there are individuals on both sides of the fence for pretty much all species.

BoidKeeper
03-26-04, 06:36 AM
I'm a purist, I don't like seeing species crossed... I don't like seeing locales crossed... I don't like seeing uncommon or unnatural subspecific integrades created.
Very well siad. I could agree more.
Please no mutts! Keep the local/blood pure. Especially when it comes to Hog Island Boas.
Trevor
PS
It's one "G" people.

creepiecrawlie
03-26-04, 08:06 AM
Okay I get the idea.

creepiecrawlie
03-26-04, 08:22 AM
You guys know the Columbian I was talking about. Well he has a weird pattern. He is a light grey withbars going to his tail and his tail is heavly spotted and mottled.

XtremeReptiles
03-26-04, 08:56 AM
To the first ?.........ya I wouldnt ever cross them. Not worth it.

As to the post above? Cool....pics may help abit

Invictus
03-26-04, 09:48 AM
Originally posted by lostwithin
P.s. Your question did ask what would happen if you could breed 2 different species, IF you managed too have the 2 separate species breed and they had similar enough Genes too actually produce young, all the young would be Sterile and incapable of reproducing, like a horse and a donkey making a mule, same principals work for all animals

I'm sorry but this is simply not true. Look at Jungle corns. Those are a cross between corns and kings, which aren't even of the same GENUS, much less species. The young produced from these breedings are perfectly fertile and capable of reproducing. Don't assume that certain principles that apply to mammals apply to all animals.

lostwithin
03-26-04, 01:29 PM
Oops, sorry everyone, your right I don’t know what I was thinking when I put that bit about them being like mules, my mistake ill delete it from the post,
thanks ,
Devon