What do you do with kinked snakes?

4 of my hatchlings have what feels like kinks. Most are very slight, I only found them because I was feeling specifically for them. One is a little more visible from the side, but still not severe. All are mid-body, none near the vent.

If they all eat, poop, etc., and seem to thrive, then what do you do with them, as far as selling/giving away/whatever?

Also, do you feel it is 'wrong' to breed a snake with a kink, no matter how small? (Just curious)

I would probably either sell them at a reduced rate or give them away. The most important thing is for people to be told that they have kinks. As long as they know what they are getting, then I think it is OK to sell them.

I personally have also seen minor kinks go away after a while, by the way.

I'm not sure about the breeding thing, though.

Over the years, I've gotten numerous hatchlings with kinks, some very mild and some very severe. Most of the more severe ones were euthanized, the rest were given away or kept. The one with fairly severe kinks that I gave away is now 5 years old, doing great, and his owner says that the kinks are hardly noticable. Others given away say the same thing. The few I kept with minor kinks are '01 and '02 hatchlings, also doing great, and their kinks are barely noticable. I haven't bred any of these snakes, yet, but do plan on doing so.

It is my understanding that most kinks are a result of incubation problems, mostly too high temps (I believe), and are NOT genetic. But only future breeding trials will tell me for sure. I have only 1 hatchling this year (so far) that is kinked, and it is fairly severe. This hatchling is also very small and her belly button hole didn't close until about 4 days post hatching. She has pooped okay, so far, but still hasn't eaten yet. She is still very active however, although she can't move as smoothly as a normal snake due to her kinks. She is my first and only snow stripe so I plan on doing everything I can for her. If she survives, I can't say whether I'll try to breed her or not. Only time can answer that one.

call me evil but...

I freeze them. Every one I've ever had, regardless of severity except one. I gave away a gray band once and saw it recently at our herp society, and wished I'd frozen it too. REAL bad. I took a photo, I'd post it, but it's not a corn. In this case, it got much worse. Hard as a board, I can't believe it can pass food. I suspect this was different than the usual genetic/incubation problem.

I had thirteen hatchlings and one had a minor kink in the tail which isn't bad but the other one has a major kink in its back. Looks like the hunchback of notre dame, like it brokes it back coming out of the egg. I guess I'll keep that one and see if it will eat after it sheds but it has me worry. I don't know how long it will live due to the severity of the kink.

I usually give them away, there are a lot of people that love to take them. I have one right now in fact that I need to find a home for...

I only give them away on the condition that they do not breed or sell it (though I agree it's almost always an incubation problem.)

I was of the mindset that giving them away to pet homes was good enough, but there are people who will breed them anyways, so now I'm leaning towards culling.
It is individual, of course. Not just across the board, but if I feel that a snake would suffer from breeding as an adult, (primarily females) I'd rather cull that animal than chance them going through that.

I prefer to give them away, but my worry is that they will be bred. I sort of lean to the "cull" them side too. There is a reason I have a king snake!

I like to feed them, smaller meals, day old pinkies for as long as possible. I feel that it's better for them to be able to pass a LOT of small meals. If they are hellbent on living, I see no reason to cull them. I want to make sure they can easily pass their food (through their bodies) and do not want to complicate their lives. With Males, for me, kinks are not an issue. For females, I will make darned sure they never breed, or do not breed until they are HUGE. WELL BEYOND that dumb 3-3-3 "rule", but then I make sure ALL my females are able to pass rat pups/weanlings 30+ times before breeding ANY of them. Passing rubbery small unfertilised slugs has never been an issue, though regardless of bred or not, they still get lay boxes and left the hell alone until they come out of the laybox on their own. I have one jumbo female, she's over 5 ft, and only after she reached this huge size, I have bred her and not had any issues with her getting clogged with eggs. She has a half dozen kinks mid-to-lower body. None of her babies are kinked. All that aside, I sometimes give away (or free+shipping) babies with potentially disabling conditions.

If they are horribly kinked, too bad to survive, they are euthanized. If they are minor- given away to pet homes. I kept one super-kinked baby- Krinkle. I just got too attached to him. He thrived for a while, but in the end, I found him dead one day, with nothing leading up to it except a weird shed and a feeding refusal. There are a ton of pics on here if you search his name.

I haven't bred a kinked snake, but I am really leaning towards it's most likely developmental, not genetic. I don't know about lavender. These days, I guess I wouldn't fault someone for doing a test breeding of a kinked snake, if it was an otherwise top-quality specimen with a minor kink.

I am not at all opposed to test breeding, (I'm all for it, that is how we learn whether something is genetic or due to incubation) if the best interest is taken for the snakes involved, especially the females, but when you see someone take a couple kinked females, both well under the 300 gram minimum recommended weight and breed them (before the kinks get worse), it altered my view on animals going to pet homes.

I do believe that some defects are more likely genetic, especially with years and years of inbreeding.
Someone buys a 1.1 pair from a clutch, breeds them, someone buys a 1.1 from that clutch, and the cycle continues, resulting in genetic defects. I know many breeders here are careful to outcross to prevent that, but many others do not.

The two genes I have seen most kinks in are Lavender and Pied Bloodred. I hope to see someone do some test breeding on those.

An 11 year bump might be a record! But I haven't changed my stance since 2003.

LOL Chip. There is still a usefull conversation in this thread.