Hey guys! So me and my husband were thinking about maybe possibly getting into hybrids with short tails and ball pythons. I’ve done quite a bit of research too. I was wondering what you guys think of them? Now I do know this can be a touchy subject. So please no hateful comments just constructive and polite feedback we are adults here 
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Don’t like them, in general. Especially short tails, there isn’t a single reason to make a muddy looking snake and we have to deal with short tail hybrid blood from irresponsible breeders from years ago. That being said, if it’s just for a single generation and you’re keeping them all or selling to people who have no intention on breeding them then it’s alright I suppose. The trouble is you can never know for sure if someone is really going to be responsible with that animal.
There’s some really awesome looking hybrids out there (non that are short tail mixes though), so I’m not totally opposed to doing it, as long as you’re doing it with good intentions and being respectful of the greater hobby and the species you’re working with. However, I have a policy of making a note of who works with short tail hybrids and to never sell or buy from them. I can’t for certain know that their bloodline is pure and I don’t want any of my animals to go towards hybrids.
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Thank you for the valuable feedback! If we did proceed we would only use 1 male ball python that way no matter what no bloodlines would be messed with! Also, we love short tails and ball pythons so when we seen the hybrids with our love for them it peaked our interest to the max! They are so beautiful! We are still unsure of doing it but im happy you guys are giving valuable feedback
Yep, just keep in mind the vast majority of short tail enthusiasts are rather zealous about the hybrid debate. It’s not something I would suggest pursuing, IMO. I’m curious as to what short tails you have
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I personally agree with @tigenraam. I would add that as a community we are under so much pressure from invasive species regulations, I would not want any waters further muddied by creating any doubt toward ball pythons. i.e “Is a ball python hybrid more of threat than a ball python?” I am not arguing any actual greater threat, but the more convoluted the species get the wider net will be cast by regulators.
As a BP breeder living in Florida I am particularly concerned about the threat of further restrictive regulations agains BPs.
My opinions, and they are meant with respect and care.
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We currently have 3 Ivory female,sumantran short tail female and a male blood python. They are our babies lol 
it was legit a thought we are definitely putting allot of consideration into it. We might do it one time just to have a superball from our ivory girl 
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thank you! yea like I told him its just a thought. Also if we did it would be a one time thing just to get one for our personal collection and selling the rest to responsible people that are known for keeping them 
But nothings set in stone thats why I posted this to get a feel of what people think!
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It is my understanding that SuperBalls are Sumatran × Ball and BloodBalls are Blood × Ball, and that Sumatrans are the easier of the two hybrids to make. Don’t quote me on that though.
I am categorically opposed to hybrids in general, for the reasons some have mentioned above plus a few more. I would also be unlikely to buy a “pure” animal from someone who is known to produce hybrids.
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Keep in mind that’s an incredibly hard pairing that not a lot of people produce.
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Personally, I love hybrids. Borneo bateaters (retic x burm) for example, I think are absolutely spectacular looking. Superballs are pretty cool too, and I don’t think you’ll necessarily have the same pushback as you would by crossing 2 species in the short-tail complex because you won’t be producing animals that can be passed off as a pure version of either parent species. Of course you will have pushback from some people that are opposed to any and all hybrids anyway, but I’d think about who are you breeding for, is it to make yourself happy or for other people?
I’m not opposed to hybrids myself, I have considered pairing balls x bloods before as well.
Though I’m probably gonna stick with breeding pure x pure, simply because it isn’t within my means at the moment to potentially be stuck with hybrid babies nobody wants.
In the end, it’s 100% your choice if you decide to try producing hybrids. That’s what I always tell people, anyways — your decisions are yours and yours alone.
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This is my stance, almost verbatim. Ultimately, though, I need to admit I’m becoming more of a hardliner every day. We have a responsibility to preserve the natural history of these animals’ populations, and we’ve done a ■■■■ poor job to date. That’s my stance on it. Do what you like, but here’s where I’m coming from.
As a smart guy said to me not long ago “Try to find a pure mainland Malayopython reticulatus, good luck.”
What is more beautiful than a normal Retic? What’s more beautiful than an Okeetee Corn Snake or a 50/50 Black and White Cal King, a Brazilian Rainbow Boa, Argentine Boas? Nothing, they are spectacular wonders of nature. They don’t need to be albino, it doesn’t make them better, just different. Morphs are fine, but focusing on morphs to the exclusion of an appreciation of the natural beauty of these critters is not a wholesome approach, in my opinion. And so I can’t cross the line into cross-species hybrids, much less cross-genera, and for goodness sake, mixing African Pythons with Australian Pythons? Super no.
“True” retics have almost all been interbred with other scientifically yet-to-be described island forms that may be their own species. What we think of as “retics” may be more than 10 separate species, especially given what we’ve learned about cryptic diversity in the Green Python clade. There is so much still to learn about the Australo-Papuan radiation of Pythoninae alone that we should be ashamed, collectively, of how we’ve neglected preservation of those distinct forms.
There are tens of species, minimum, that have been lost to the hobby, perhaps forever. For the last thirty years everyone has been chasing morphs and money to the exclusion of establishing breeding populations of rare species. We have squandered our access to the diversity of animal life on Earth, and largely squandered the lives of those individuals that were imported into the pet trade. Hooray capitalism… 
And now many of those animals are no longer available to private herpetoculture, effectively forever. So, yeah, not a lot of great feelings about hybrids.
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