Actually I don't HATE hybrids, I am just very suspicious of the mentality the seeks to produce them, and as Glimmerman implies, as long as the doer is honest about his animals, there would be a reduced problem. I am passionate about pythons, especially Morelia, within that genus are some of the most beautiful snakes in the world, just as pure species/subspecies. I am always looking for exceptional PURE animals (and exceptional is a very subjective judgement I admit). I would be EXTREMELY annoyed if I was sold an animal which turned out to be genetically contaminated because some d***head wanted to reinvent the wheel. And this WILL happen down the track - those interested in only one or two pet snakes see something pretty (appearance is all they care about), buy it and forget about it's provenance when it's passed on, so it's origin is forgotten in one generation. And not all hybrids are distinctive looking, many will have major characteristics of one parent or another, so can be very difficult to distinguish from a pure animal, but will pass those foreign genes down the line FOREVER. As Glimmerman implies again, and it is my opinion also, that over half the "diamonds" sold these days are carpet hybrids of some sort. I don't believe that those of us who like pure species of known provenance will ever muck it up for anyone else, but those who knowingly hybridise species and subspecies will eventually do huge damage to the genetics of our captive populations of snakes, and will muck it up for EVERYONE.
Jamie.
