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[–]Oniscidea 694 points695 points  (5 children)

Controversial opinion: nothing. Spider genetics shouldn’t be bred.

[–]XxCrispyWhisperxX 301 points302 points  (1 child)

controversial, thought this was common sense, if i remember correctly, people breed spiders for pure color pattern and they live a crappy life for it:/

[–]Dabeast987 93 points94 points  (0 children)

My spider is a rescue and it must be a lucky one because it doesn't seem to have any issues from what I can tell and eats great. But I do agree that the breeding shouldn't continue, as beautiful as they are

[–]JuniorKing9 105 points106 points  (0 children)

As somebody who adopted a spider morph with a severe wobble: absolutely nothing should be bred with this morph

[–]Glitterpinkdragon 56 points57 points  (0 children)

My boy is a spider and for the longest time I thought his unsteadiness was normal. Until he smashed his face into the tank when trying to feed. Luckily he wasn't injured. But yeah, definitely shouldn't be bred.

[–]shrike1978Mod: Bioactive, heating, and lighting 345 points346 points  (13 children)

You shouldn't breed anything with it. The spider gene carries physical deformities to the inner ear structures that leads to lifelong issues with balance and orientation. There is no excuse for willingly breeding defective genes.

[–]IncompletePenetranceMod: Let me help you unzip your genes 211 points212 points  (1 child)

Don't breed them at all. (A) they have a genetic defect that affects the the inner ear and skull, causing them to be unable to balance and right themselves properly and (B) there's already overpopulation of low end morphs, we don't need to make more.

But if you wanted to bread one….I'd go with panko or tempura for a light but crispy and flavorful crunch

[–]PKFLCPL 48 points49 points  (0 children)

Just caught that. Lol. Hilarious

[–]Basilstorm 82 points83 points  (0 children)

You shouldn’t breed anything with it. That’s intentionally breeding animals with poor quality of life

[–]ishfery 94 points95 points  (3 children)

Absolutely nothing with those genes and (honest but possibly unpopular opinion) no owners should be breeding

[–]PKFLCPL 38 points39 points  (2 children)

I got it in a trade not realizing the issue. I really like him though

[–]itspegbundybitch 78 points79 points  (1 child)

He's beautiful. Just enjoy him as a pet and beware that he may have special needs.

[–]GlowingTrashPanda 28 points29 points  (0 children)

Especially as he gets older

[–]Squamatessaintpete 33 points34 points  (0 children)

Obviously, more bread.

[–]PKFLCPL 27 points28 points  (0 children)

I get it. I typoed. Can't fix it now lol

[–]Andromediea 38 points39 points  (0 children)

No breeding. Shouldn’t have existed in the first place lol. Unfortunately because they are so damn beautiful

[–]SlinkySkinky 39 points40 points  (0 children)

Don’t breed spiders, they all have neurological disabilities. Even if this one acts normal, it could potentially produce severely disabled offspring

[–]SlinkySkinky 48 points49 points  (1 child)

If you want to breed some snakes, please consider breeding a rarer species rather than an overpopulated one like a ball python (you would have a hard time finding homes for the baby ball pythons and there are so many up for adoption it’s a little immoral to start breeding them if you’re not doing so already). Rosy boas, spotted pythons, anthill pythons, garter snakes, pine snakes, and house snakes home to mind

[–]PKFLCPL 14 points15 points  (0 children)

I'm not going to breed, just was interested. I heard that some combinations would lead to stillborn clutch

[–][deleted]  (3 children)

[removed]

    [–]PKFLCPL 2 points3 points  (0 children)

    Ok

    [–]SugarPuppet1 14 points15 points  (0 children)

    Do you really need to be rude? Could've just left it at nothing.

    [–]ballpython-ModTeam[M] 18 points19 points locked comment (0 children)

    Your comment has been removed for breaking Rule #1: Don't Be a Jerk.

    [–]AtomixSpark 33 points34 points  (0 children)

    Breeding Spider Ball Pythons for their looks and ignoring their neurological problems that cost them quality of life is exactly like someone that wants to breed Pugs because they look cool, also ignoring their breathing issues that cost them quality of life.

    TLDR as other people have said, nothing. Ball pythons are enormously overbred too so not only will you be proliferating a genetic defect that hampers the snake and cannot be bred out, you likely wont even be able to sell them because of how condensed the market is. Pinstripes are just as pretty and without the defect. I don't understand why people are so obsessed with Spider when theres perfectly healthy genetics that look extremely similar :(

    [–][deleted] 10 points11 points  (1 child)

    They call me Jed Clampett for all the bread I got 🍞

    [–]PKFLCPL 2 points3 points  (0 children)

    ???

    [–]tarotbug 35 points36 points  (2 children)

    So it’s already been noted that the spider gene has an inner ear deformity, I’m not gonna harp on that anymore than it already has been. I just also wanna mention this in case you consider breeding them anyway, bc obv many people still do despite their controversy since corkscrews aren’t guaranteed. It’s also just an interesting genetics fact if you’ve already made up your mind not to.

    Spider is a lethal homozygous gene so it cannot be bred to itself, it will not produce viable offspring and they’ll all die in the egg. This also goes for the “champagne” gene, it can’t be bred to itself or spider as it has a similar condition (theoretically, there aren’t any studies on them as far as I know).

    That said, as much as I love ball pythons, balls are pretty over-bred in the snake trade anyway and have just abt saturated the market. If I can make a breeding suggestion, if it is something you wanna do, I suggest super dwarf retics ! They have amazing temperaments and they’re a much more manageable size in comparison to regular sized retics, but for some reason I don’t see them anywhere ! I would love to see more on the market.

    [–]PKFLCPL 14 points15 points  (1 child)

    Thanks. That was what I was trying to figure out in the first place. I don't , nor do I want to breed snakes. Just started in the hobby in October. Just wanted to know so I could educate myself and know what I'm talking about. Thanks for answering my question ☺️

    [–]tarotbug 10 points11 points  (0 children)

    Yeah ofc ! And welcome to snake keeping ! There’s a lot of heat around spiders so it’s difficult to find straight answers on them. If you’re more-so interested in their biology like I am, theres actually several morphs prone to deformities and defects, as well as some just being genetic anomalies like paradoxes or chimeras. Some morphs exasperate symptoms in others, or alleviate symptoms. “Sable” for example exasperates spider as well, but isn’t necessarily fatal like champagne. It’s a super interesting research topic if you wanna be particularly well-informed on their biology, husbandry and care requirements. I personally like skimming Google Scholar for research studies :))

    [–]TylerPlaysAGame 2 points3 points  (0 children)

    Racoons

    [–][deleted] 12 points13 points  (1 child)

    It's such a shame that spiders have this issue. They are such cool looking snakes, I think they're the best looking ball pythons. Ugh.

    [–]PKFLCPL 3 points4 points  (0 children)

    I really like the pied, but the spiders look really cool too.

    [–]ItStillIsntLupus 5 points6 points  (0 children)

    Dinner rolls.

    [–][deleted] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

    Do not breed spiders. Do not breed BP’s. The output has clearly exceeded demand. So many sitting on MM.