Questions about python temperament??

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damo77

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Has anyone tried breeding pythons for temperament (better handlers)? Is it possible? What species would you start with? Does gender play a role in temperament?

I read heaps about morphs, jags, reduced pattern etc but I have never heard about temperament as driver of breeding. Just thought i would ask the question.
Cheers
Damian
 
im pretty sure temperament has nothing to do with genetics, more just how you raise/treat the snake, and mainly it always depends on the snake itself every snakes personality can be different
cheers daniel
 
I completely disagree...it is commonly known that personality in people is formed by genetics and environment, why should snakes or any other animal be any different.

As to temperament I dont think it is a deliberate thing...but one of the theories going around out there is that as breeders select calmer females to breed with because it is easier to remove the eggs to incubate them so this gradually influences the temperament of the snakes. We have seen this in jungles where more and more people are reporting a calmer snake than has been observed in the past.
 
Most breeders would not even consider pairing certain animals based purely on temperament.Things such as patterns and being good feeders etc would be considered more important.

I completely disagree...it is commonly known that personality in people is formed by genetics and environment, why should snakes or any other animal be any different.

As to temperament I dont think it is a deliberate thing...but one of the theories going around out there is that as breeders select calmer females to breed with because it is easier to remove the eggs to incubate them so this gradually influences the temperament of the snakes. We have seen this in jungles where more and more people are reporting a calmer snake than has been observed in the past.

Where did you hear this theory from? Absolute bollocks I reckon. It is an easy matter to remove eggs from even the nastiest python.
 
I was wondering if this may be an area that nobody really looked into very seriously. I am sure there is a market out there for easy to handle snakes however I have not seen a "brand name" breeder use temperament as a key part of their marketing. I wonder if the same amount of years of effort that has gone into creating or promoting specific physical appearances had been directed at improving temperament, what improvements in temperament might there be.

Of course it is a combination of nature and nurture but is there a possibility of a genetic predisposition for being placid or aggressive or nervous. I think it is quite probable and very possible.

Personally i would prefer an asthetically unattractive snake that had a great temperament over an aggressive or snappy but good looking snake. Each to their own and I understand and appreciate why owners collect snakes primarily for their looks.
 
I was wondering if this may be an area that nobody really looked into very seriously. I am sure there is a market out there for easy to handle snakes however I have not seen a "brand name" breeder use temperament as a key part of their marketing. I wonder if the same amount of years of effort that has gone into creating or promoting specific physical appearances had been directed at improving temperament, what improvements in temperament might there be.

Of course it is a combination of nature and nurture but is there a possibility of a genetic predisposition for being placid or aggressive or nervous. I think it is quite probable and very possible.

as with every hypothesis there will always be a possibility, however the main issue here is proving that genetics play the major role in all of this. The variables are astounding as it is already, environmental conditions of the specimen kept, handling and human interaction, age, gender differences (if there are any at all), seasonality, breed, and the proposed genes and all.

The brand name breeders if you will, if they are serious (because there has been instances where certain establishments push "bred for temperament" to potential buyers as a marketing scheme, without much proof really), are risking a huge hurdle, not to mention scrutiny from others in the trade as you can see from this thread already, there are two separate views on the issue on how genetics may or may not affect temperament.
 
Continuing research in zoology has also established that none of the categories of aggressive behavior exists in the form of a general instinct over broad arrays of species. Each category can be added, modified, or erased by an individual species during the course of its genetic evolution, in the same way that eye color can be altered from one shade to another or a particular skin gland added or eliminated. When natural selection is intense, these changes can occur throughout an entire population in only a few generations. Aggressive behavior is in fact one of the genetically most labile of all traits… There is no evidence that a widespread unitary aggressive instinct exists. Wilson, Edward O. On Human Nature Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA 1979 [abridged— 3020 words] — on human aggression

This piece of writing is not directed at snakes specifically and it appears that real peer reviewed writing on this subject will be difficult to find. Luckily my wife is a librarian at UQ so i will ask her to see what she can dig up.​
 
Ramsayi I have read it here on APS....

I agree with Ramsayi, I think he is 100 percent correct. For example, I've bred giant irritable burmese pythons and taken their eggs, ( I'm American my wife is Australian) and temperament has no bearing on the removal of eggs. If anything, the females' temperament is remarkably similar when they are on eggs, as opposed to normal conditions where individual differences in temperament are easily observed.
 
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