Yep, I decided to let that cat out of the bag and open up a can of worms on a topic which can get fairly heated. I am new to tortoises so I'm not overly familiar with their hybrids, what people think about them, what issues people have with them, ect. However from being on here for a bit there's seems to be a negative vibe towards them.
While I may not be familiar with tortoise hybrids that much I do keep other animals and its interesting to see how different groups of people react to the same issue but with different animals. For example there seems to not be much of an interest in them in the lizard and aquatic turtle hobby but if one pops up people are like "Oh that interesting." And then move on with their lives. People who keep fish, cichlids mostly, seem to either like hybrid fish like blood parrots and flowerhorns or they just don't like hybrids and prefer the pure forms. And lastly people who keep snakes so far have seemed the most diverse bunch over this issues. You have the extremist who will not even do business with people who own or breed hybrids fearing that all captive lines of all species will be ruined, there's those who aren't against it but would not breed hybrids themselves and prefer other just keep them as novelty pets as well, and then you have the people who are completely for it and have breeding projects trying for new crosses and mixing up different genes and seeing how they interact with another species genes ect.
I myself do find hybrids quite interesting and I always have as well. I currently own two snake hybrids also, a creamsicle, albino corn snake (Pantherophis guttatus) x Emory's rat snake (Pantherophis emoryi), and a jungle corn, corn snake x California king snake (Lampropeltis getula californiae). I do plan on breeding some in the future and I would love to study hybrids once I get out of school as I'm switching over to a bio major next year and then hopefully get a graduates in zoology.
While I do find hybrids interesting I do understand the fear and risks with them contaminating pure lines. The creamsicle I have mentioned above is a very common hybrid in corn snakes and when it was first introduced and still today it's often sold as a pure animal and therefore many corn snakes have Emory's blood in them and its impossible to tell the pures from the hybrids unless you can trace their linage all the way back to the wild.
Because of this I find it important to always label hybrids for what they are and to make cross that strongly stick out from one another. For example, crossing a corn with an Emory's rat snake will result in offspring looking very much like pure corns as the parent species are extremely closely related (they were even considered the same species at one point.). On the other hand crossing a corn with a king snake or a milk snake results in offspring that look nothing like pure animals and are easily spotted as hybrids.
Now I understand everyone has their own opinion and I respect that. However I know in some places hybrid discussions can get extremely heated and can result with people ready to shoot each other. I just wanted to see what everyone's opinions on tortoise hybrids and hybrids in general are, why you do or don't like them, ect.
While I may not be familiar with tortoise hybrids that much I do keep other animals and its interesting to see how different groups of people react to the same issue but with different animals. For example there seems to not be much of an interest in them in the lizard and aquatic turtle hobby but if one pops up people are like "Oh that interesting." And then move on with their lives. People who keep fish, cichlids mostly, seem to either like hybrid fish like blood parrots and flowerhorns or they just don't like hybrids and prefer the pure forms. And lastly people who keep snakes so far have seemed the most diverse bunch over this issues. You have the extremist who will not even do business with people who own or breed hybrids fearing that all captive lines of all species will be ruined, there's those who aren't against it but would not breed hybrids themselves and prefer other just keep them as novelty pets as well, and then you have the people who are completely for it and have breeding projects trying for new crosses and mixing up different genes and seeing how they interact with another species genes ect.
I myself do find hybrids quite interesting and I always have as well. I currently own two snake hybrids also, a creamsicle, albino corn snake (Pantherophis guttatus) x Emory's rat snake (Pantherophis emoryi), and a jungle corn, corn snake x California king snake (Lampropeltis getula californiae). I do plan on breeding some in the future and I would love to study hybrids once I get out of school as I'm switching over to a bio major next year and then hopefully get a graduates in zoology.
While I do find hybrids interesting I do understand the fear and risks with them contaminating pure lines. The creamsicle I have mentioned above is a very common hybrid in corn snakes and when it was first introduced and still today it's often sold as a pure animal and therefore many corn snakes have Emory's blood in them and its impossible to tell the pures from the hybrids unless you can trace their linage all the way back to the wild.
Because of this I find it important to always label hybrids for what they are and to make cross that strongly stick out from one another. For example, crossing a corn with an Emory's rat snake will result in offspring looking very much like pure corns as the parent species are extremely closely related (they were even considered the same species at one point.). On the other hand crossing a corn with a king snake or a milk snake results in offspring that look nothing like pure animals and are easily spotted as hybrids.
Now I understand everyone has their own opinion and I respect that. However I know in some places hybrid discussions can get extremely heated and can result with people ready to shoot each other. I just wanted to see what everyone's opinions on tortoise hybrids and hybrids in general are, why you do or don't like them, ect.
