So I’ve recently discovered that there are actually a fair amount of hybrids and it got me thinking about why these were produced and if there is even a market for them? What do you guys make of this?
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Maybe people wanted a more resilient and calmer green tree python that could be handled, so they bred it with a calm species of snake? Or maybe someone was just curious if they could breed them? I have a feeling that if there was a market for these hybrids, they would be pretty expensive. I never knew there were ball python hybrids tbh lol.
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I knew you could do like Rock Pythons with balls… Though that’s a scary combo with the way Rocks often are bitey. Didn’t know a Green Tree could be hybridized. Could be a way of getting different colors/patterns in the species.
I personally don’t see a problem with any hybrid as long as they are two species that could naturally meet in the wild. Though I know some people who don’t want hybrids cause of the nonsense in Florida with people letting exotics go in the wild.
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The pic you linked is not a GTP x ball. It is a carpondro, specifically an IJ Carpet x GTP (if you click the URL it links to it take you to a forum thread where hybrids are discussed.)
To date I have yet to see and actual GTP x ball but a few years back someone did carpondro x ball. I remember seeing the hatchlings but I have never seen any kind of follow-up on them so… 
The hybrids with ball that I know of are:
woma x ball aka wall
Burmese x ball aka BurmBall
carpet x ball aka carpall
retic x ball aka Ballitic
Angolan x ball aka AngryBall
Borneo x ball aka SuperBall
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Here some interesting reads on hybrids.
https://www.reptifiles.com/hybrid-reptiles/
Also if your just interested in hybrid snakes of any sort @thebeardedherper works with hybrid colubrids and has made some interesting topics on here about them.
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Bob Clark has some Burmese x Ball hybrids on his website. They are gorgeous IMO!
Ahh so I see. Thanks for the clarification
Bob Clark had two for sale on MM and it looks like one of them already sold.
I am against hybrids. I do not believe there is a need for a snake hybrid, ever. I imagine people get bored at home and go “what if…” and then go about their plans to see if it’s possible. My favorite movie of all time pretty much sums up my feelings for snake hybrids:
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So let me ask this, both as a genuine inquiry but also a little as a devil’s advocate:
What are your feelings on designer GTPs?
Likewise, what about carpets? Diamond IJ Jag?? Granite Jag Zebra??
Also, retics? Dwarf and Superdwarf designer morphs?
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I personally will never buy or work with hybrids, unnatural intergrades, or most locality crosses. I do work with some sand boas that are locality crosses, but you won’t find me crossing any of my pure locality rosy boas or pure locality boa constrictors. A lot of pure locality animals have become rare due to excessive outcrossing. For example, it is hard to get a truly pure Hog Island boa constrictor these days due to the popularity of crosses. I choose to stand up for pure animals and breed them so that future generations can at least have pure animals as an option in an industry that increasingly does not care about them. Anyone who sees my pure boa constrictors says that they are stunning, and they are stunning because they are different and unique, and they are that way because they are pure.
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I really only like ball pythons because their faces are cute.
The faces on the other pythons is something I will never like, and never will own.
I am extremely particular about animals and their physical appearances.
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Haha at least you’re honest.
Hear that y’all she just called your boas UGLY 
I’m probably gonna be strictly BPs for years to come as well tho. A lot to learn before I try getting anything else.
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MINE TOO ANNA! (Did we just become best friends?!? Uh Yupp!!! Do you wanna go do karate in the garage?!? Uh Yupp!!!)
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I dont think you should do a karate session in the garage with him. Lol
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I agree. And bunk beds are a terrible idea!!!
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I could take him 
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I get both sides of the argument I really do. I personally just love reptiles too much to snub my nose at any of them really. I love pure locales and hybrids alike. The thing is that hybrids are here to stay whether people like them or not because it happens in the wild and those snakes are every bit as likely to find themselves in captive populations as pure animals. Without DNA testing you really can’t say if a lot of these animals are pure or not. Some you can sure but so many have overlapping boundaries it’s just impossible to say 100%. We have found numerous wild hybrids over the years and it stands to reason that for every one we’ve found there are several others we haven’t which means they’re out there breeding on both sides of the line muddying up those “pure” animals some people covet so fervently. And when I say hybrids I dont just mean intergrades. Then you have the issue of incorrect identification in the hobby where animals that are closely related but separated by species or subspecies and end up being filtered into the hobby by mistake like Honduran Milk snakes and their sub species who’s scientific name I cant recall just now.
Yep hybrids are here to stay. Now I will say that I don’t see a point in breeding hybrids that produce sterile offspring, and personally if the clutches have a high mortality rate I’m not going to continue the project but that’s just me.
Here’s a fresh pic of a ½ Sonoran Gopher snake ½ corn snake het albino F1. Don’t think I shared this pic yet.
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I completely agree with everything you said, I myself have nothing against people breeding hybrids and I myself can appreciate them. The only thing I was questioning was what was the end goal? Like for a ball python project there is a end goal so I was wanting to know if there was one for hybrids.
I think that’s going to be different with every breeder and project. Sometimes it’s as simple as exploring boundaries and other times it will be color and patterns etc. Thing with hybrids is it is such a toss up it’s hard to plan a project out because you almost never get what you’re expecting when it comes to a new project, and the changes tend to keep happening for several generations.
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Also, personally I wouldn’t cross gtp and balls. Two completely different habitat types, feeding habits, body structures, etc… I would expect nothing but issues with the babies, but I could be wrong and that’s part of where “exploring the boundaries” comes in.
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