In my never ending search of information today i came across a youtube that mentioned shark nose. It wasnt a defect ive heard of yet, so i went to research. Unfortunately it seems like chloe, my leopard pastel yb seems to have a mild case of sharknose.
Im feeling deflated, as i had planned to breed her to my pied (shes triple yet clown albino pied) when shes older. Im rethinking this, as i dont want to produce more defects.
Morally and ethically this is something im mulling over.
For those of you who breed, what do you do in this situation? What defects have you experienced? What caused it? Was it genetic, or an incubation cause defect?
Some BPs are just a little pointier nosed than others. It’s more of a conformation thing than anything.
What we can’t see is what you actually want to watch out for with shark mouth, which is the underside of the mouth. Shark mouth is an underbite that can affect feeding and respiratory health.
We need better pictures of the underside of the mouth to see how bad the shark mouth could be.
I’ve always assumed it was incubation related but I don’t breed anything that has conformation defects so I’ve never pursued it any further. Travis may know more. @t_h_wyman
Yeah I’m not really seeing an issue at all aside from the upper jaw just having a little bit more nose? Her mouth seems to look pretty good! Even if her jaw is just slightly too short, it’s so minute I don’t think it’s an issue at all.
This is what you look out for with shark mouth. (Thank you google)
Now… it definitely isn’t a bad thing if you wanted to avoid breeding because of that longer nose area. But that again s a conformity thing. Like some ball pythons are longer and leaner, some are shorter and a little stockier in girth.
If she actively had shark mouth, I would avoid breeding just in case. The only time I would maybe… maybe… reconsider is if you knowingly had an issue with the incubator. But even then, I personally wouldn’t risk it.
I do have a rescue in my collection that was from an incubation failure. The breeder just wanted a home for him as he was kinked in the neck, but was feisty and a great eater. As he’s grown it’s definitely less noticeable to someone who doesn’t know better.
I personally hatched one that is just VERY small and runty. If she hadn’t been captive bred, she would have died in the egg or shortly after. She’s 1/3-1/4th the size of her siblings currently.
For sharkmouth… AFAIK, it’s usually an incubation issue, like cleft lip and eye deformities can be as well. But it is definitely something to watch out for with super cinnamons and black pastels as they are known for facial defects and kinking.
In my experience with myself and my mentor, shark mouth seems to be an incubation error - something that happens at exactly the right (or wrong) time. I’ve seen females that produced shark mouth babies go on to produce none at all in the next clutch or two.
That said, for me personally I don’t breed anything with any defect, regardless of whether I suspect it’s incubation-related, so they’re automatic pet-only rehomes for me.
Your animal is not a sharkmouth, so nothing for you to stress over
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It can be a result of incubation issues but it can also be a result of bad genetics. it is often seen in inbreeding situations. I would generally advocate against breeding sharkmouth animals
