What's the deal with scaleless snakes?

[Scubadiver59]

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Originally Posted by akane

While I'd never own one scaleless snakes are not only the result of strict inbreeding and many in more specific colubrid groups post them in any typical enclosure designs with no special precautions. Things like susceptibility to parasites and external health problems has been discussed occasionally, there was a thread on mites in the pituophis group and one on corns overall in the general colubrid group in the past month, and those who have them say it's been no more of a care issue than their scaled snakes. About all that comes up is whether some are hybrids and not being marketed truly as such when it matters to some people.

The fact they don't make a stable population in the wild is no different than the many morph colors that don't make a population in the wild and heck even endangered species since they can no longer meet the requirements to survive even if they once did. Should we stop keeping everything that's natural food source has become too scarce or no longer has enough suitable land to reproduce on because like morphs they can't make a wild population anymore? Plus many of the traits that create benefits of buying cb individuals over wc make them unable to survive back in the wild again anyway so it's not really a good argument for anything. They aren't in the wild with those requirements of predation and finding suitable food and surroundings so I care about their ability to live normal in captivity only. You can inbreed any typical wild looking snakes with normal scales into health issues too. You can do it with anything. Whether someone inbreeds to the point of problems or not is the breeder not the morph. It just tends to happen more with morphs since people will still pay for unique even if it takes extreme measures to keep healthy or will always live a shorter lifespan. One reason in other species I prefer performance/working line animals and don't show anything that is only based on appearances. If they can't do their job they aren't worth more to people for some unique trait so people won't breed them unless they think they can eliminate the problems. Sometimes they will keep a new breed or type under strict control for decades before allowing other breeders and then the general public access to make sure they have created a stable population of healthy individuals again with the new trait. Some responsibly created dog breeds were kept hush for 50 years and some lines of performance horses with a recessive issue require genetic testing to be released with the papers or you know someone is hiding something to try to get their money despite a positive result. It can be done to the benefit of the animal or not no matter what it is. It doesn't mean they are all that way. Unfortunately much of it is only kept in check by the buyers and whether there is still a market for it or selling something with a genetic problem regardless of its' other traits ruins your reputation instead.