I think it may be that Burms, being larger, are a better candidate for dissection and such when it comes to physiology studies. I also think the huge number of offspring they produce makes for a more an easier “resupply”
And, yeah, their status as invasive probably makes it easier to secure funding for studies
Enjoy (I specifically cover glowing snakes starting around 1:20:20):
Thanks for the fun watch!
I think a clear skin snake in where you can see their organs, would be quite cool. It would also be pretty expensive. 
I’d love a see through reptile of some sort! But now that I think of it, would being clear affect its ability to bask?
@t_h_wyman would it be possible to make a venomous snake like a Monocle Cobra non-venomous? Because as a person that feels that keeping venomous snakes is too much of a risk for heath issues etc. Could Cas-9 do that? Because that would open many doors for many keepers in the hobby. So that is what I would want.
First off, most venomous snakes especially Cobras do not constrict their prey and their only means of effectively killing prey is their venom. So if you were to take that away how would they kill prey? I don’t think it’d be a wise thing to do at all. Messing with the colors on a snake by breeding them? sure. Making a glowing snake? go ahead. Taking away their means to kill prey that they developed over millions of years of evolution? that’s a big no no from me. @t_h_wyman what do you think?
I actually asked Travis this question recently.
Though, more around selective breeding than Cas-9. Here is his answer…
"How to breed a non-venomous cobra? take a bunch of cobras, have them bite mice and look for ones that die slower. Take the ones that have the venom that takes the longest to kill and breed them. Repeat, repeat, repeat… Once mice stop dying, move up to rats. Repeat, repeat, repeat… Once rats stop dying, move up to rabbits. Repeat, repeat, repeat… Once rabbits stop dying, move up to dogs. Repeat, repeat, repeat… Once dogs stop dying, move up to monkeys. Repeat, repeat, repeat… Once monkeys stop dying, move up to NHPs. Repeat, repeat, repeat… Once NHPs stop dying, perform analysis on saliva and see if there are any kind of venom compounds left. Next, CT scan animals and see if they still have venom glands and take the ones with the smallest glands and breed them together. Repeat, repeat, repeat… Next, genome sequence representative animal. Find the genes responsible for growth/development of the venom gland. Genome sequence individual animals from all these years. See if any have mutations to those genes that renders them permanently damaged, ideally you want multiple different mutatoins. Use those animals as your permanent stock for producing non-venomous cobras.
Or… Just buy a cribo"
So true…I personally have looked into cribos
Google image search “glass frog”:
https://www.google.com/search?q=glass+frog&client=firefox-b-1-e&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjtlbbDrPrrAhX-lnIEHQ6VBtoQ_AUoAXoECBsQAw&biw=3440&bih=1326
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Generally I agree with you, although, for a species like a king cobra or something similar, it might not make a difference as they can just overpower their prey like Drymarchon do.
That said, if/when “at-home” genetic manipulation becomes available you will inevitably face the ‘Why climb Mt. Everest?’ phenomenon
I agree with the fact that gene editing could be used just to the point that we use it to make whatever we want. Like for instance what your kids should look like or even if it is a boy or girl. But I do believe that this is too far. I way saying would that be possible to make a venomous snake more or less like a crbio? If so, that may be to far in my books. So that what I wanted to know
Possible now? No. Possible in the future, probably. How far in the future? Who can say
I don’t believe I have heard of that. Could you explain?
Why was Mt Everest ever climbed?
Because it was there.
People will tinker with EVERYTHING just because they can.
I think there are some boundaries that must be set in place
@lumpy
That’s is a complete topic in itself, the ethics of genetic modification. Where do we stop?, Why do we stop?, How do we stop?
Once it becomes readily available then it gives rise to a whole new breed of “geneticists” working from the basements, with next to no regulations.
As Thomas noted, when asked why he wanted to climb Mt Everest, George Mallory replied “Because it is there”.
Put boundaries in place and people will just see those as a challenge to circumvent. Genetic engineering/manipulation is basically no different than computer programming. There are, in theory, boundaries in place to not create malicious computer code, and yet there are more than enough hackers out there that create nasty little viruses and trojans and worms and the like. Biohackers are already tinkering with things in their basements/garages without any oversight. Some are even self-experimenting… 
To somewhat roughly continue this discussion.
Would a company along the lines of 23&Me be at all useful in building a Ball Python genome?
Or even a lab with huge resources like HudsonAlpha?
If I (or 100 of us) sent them a test tube of snake saliva or blood, could they do anything that would help us understand certain morphs more?
I think the main issue here is cost. To sequence an entire genome is roughly $1000. To build a reference genome of a normal/WT we’d have to sequence a bunch of snakes that were were sure were “normal/WT” and then use that as a reference. Then for every morph we wanted we’d have to sequence a bunch of single Mojave’s, then a whole bunch of single gene lessers, then a whole bunch mystics, etc and compare them against the reference to find the causative mutation while weeding out random SNPs and genomic rearrangements. It’s a lot.
I have a few friends who are working on the DNA zoo project - https://www.dnazoo.org and have thought about asking them to generate the sequence of a normal ball python for me, but haven’t bothered yet.
Finding a lab capable isn’t a problem, it’s funding the project. My school has one of the best sequencing centers in the US, so if someone wants to send me $100,000, I’ll walk some samples over today 
There is already a draft ball genome out there. It is not annotated though, and I am not sure it is fully scaffolded…
But yeah, just having the base genome is not enough, you would have to find the locus for every major morph/complex. But as @chesterhf said, that takes $$$
And then what do you do with all the info?
Once you have the loci, you could set up a real simple PCR panel to test for het status on things, but I am not sure if that would really be worth it in the long run: I do not see breeders spending hundreds of dollars to screen poss hets to find out which are or are not just so they can sell them as 100% het, it would be more economical to just sell them as poss hets.
The only other place I could see it being useful would be for clearing up things like allelic complexes, but even then, we already can do that way cheaper. Are Spider and Spotnose actually allelic?? Run the PCR and find out… Or just make the Blackhead/Spotnose combo and bred it out a few times and see if you only get clutches of Blackhead and Spotnose but no combo and no normals.