Accidental Cross Breeding

[liveunderoath]

I have a female checkered garter 100% het albino, and a male checkered albino. Back in March my brother caught a common garter snake and put it in with my checkerd. Before I could remove him he had already started mating with my female. Afterward I released him. My female showed no signs of being gravid, but a little over a week ago she had 28 babies. They all look like normal checkerd garters. I don't know what I should do. They are all healthy and eating nightcrawler pieces and feeder guppies.

[guidofatherof5]

Welcome to the forum. Tough situation you are in. Above all DON'T release them. These snakes should not breed, period. Steps need to be taken to be sure this doesn't happen. They must be kept in captivity by someone that knows about this being a hybrid. On the other end of this discussion is, they should be euthanized. I don't advise this but if they cannot be accounted for the rest of their lives it would be best.
I value life very much but keeping the genetics pure is also very important. This was very hard to respond to.

[Dan72]

Yeah I agree with Steve, it would appear from your telling of the story no attention was paid to a quarantine period which is not very responsible toward the checkerds you have as pets. I don't want to start a soap box, bottom line for people that enjoy the hobby are pure breed lines of snakes. I love ball pythons, garters are not bp's and we don't want them to be. So these guys need a home where it is known what they are and they will not be breed, or put down. How sure are you the wild caught is the sire?

[oman]

I absolutely agree with and understand not releasing them, and that if they change owners it should be known they are hybrids. But why should they not be bred at all? Does crossbreeding never happen in the wild where different garters exist? Would they even be able to breed? Is crossbreeding known to cause problems, or is it just a concern for muddying the gene pool?

Sorry for all the questions, but ever since I read a passing remark about hybrids in a thread here, I have been curious. This post roused that curiosity.

[Tommytradix]

Yeah I agree with Steve, it would appear from your telling of the story no attention was paid to a quarantine period which is not very responsible toward the checkerds you have as pets. I don't want to start a soap box, bottom line for people that enjoy the hobby are pure breed lines of snakes. I love ball pythons, garters are not bp's and we don't want them to be. So these guys need a home where it is known what they are and they will not be breed, or put down. How sure are you the wild caught is the sire?

if no albinos were produced its a hybrid plain and simple haha i agree with both dan and steve......

[liveunderoath]

I wasn't home and I thought my brother would have known better than to put a wild snake in with mine. I was severely pissed. I am pretty sure that the wild one was the sire because my 2 snakes were bought from Bhb reptiles. The female is supposed to be 100% het albino, and the male is albino.

[liveunderoath]

Will the female be safe to breed to the albino next season?

[Tommytradix]

Will the female be safe to breed to the albino next season?

yes it will be safe and so no albinos were produced right? if its from bhb the hets are correct

[liveunderoath]

yes it will be safe and so no albinos were produced right? if its from bhb the hets are correct

Right. None were albino. And I love garter snakes. I want to eventually get a few more and I would never put 2 different species together.

[Tommytradix]

well steve gave you 2 options to keep them out of the hobby and risk a future breeding