What an individual breeder decides to keep or cull from their own clutches is their own personal business. In the example of jungle corns, if the breeder only wanted to perpetuate the look of a hybrid that showed the characteristics of both the kingsnake and the cornsnake, culling those that too closely resembled either species, that is just fine by me. Doing so in hopes to prevent the possible mistaken identity of these hatchlings and therefore possibly "contaminating" the pure species is a very good thought, IMO. It may not be 100% effective, but it's got better potential than many of the current practices.
A comparison to a dog breeder culling puppies that don't fit a breed standard has been made. An example of this that I am personally familiar is with "lemon" colored German Short-haired Pointers. Way back when that breed was being created, a then well-known pointer breed was used in the mix, and that breed could produce light tan-colored pups. However, over time, that color was not allowed by the breed standard of the GSHP. But as occasionally happens, you get throw-backs. These puppies are culled by the breeder to prevent them from potentially reproducing and perpetuating that color. Yes, the breeder could sell it as a pet-quality dog with the stipulation of it being neutered/spayed so it can't reproduce. But how do you guarantee that happening? You could have a written contract, but unless you spend the time and effort to keep track of that pup and verify the owner does as the contract says, it's just a piece of paper. OK, you have it neutered/spayed yourself. Now you have invested more time and money in a pet-quality dog. How are you going to be reimbursed for that time and money? Raise the price of the dog? But who is going to spend even more money on a neutered/spayed pet-quality dog that doesn't fit the breed standard when they could get a breedable dog that does fit the breed standard for an equal price? And with snakes, you don't even have the viable option of getting them neutered/spayed.
And now lets use pure cornsnakes in an example. I'm a middle-of-the-road breeder, currently capable of producing about 200-250 hatchlings a year. I currently can produce a wide range of morphs, but most of them are middle- to lower-end morphs. Since I am the mother of 2 elementary school children and have a full-time job to help support my family, the time I have available to raise 200+ hatchlings, and sell them, is limited. In previous years, I was able to wholesale them all. Unfortunately, I no longer have that outlet and I have had to sell them myself. I am unable to attend shows because of my job and family so have had to depend upon the internet for sales. I had a difficult time trying to juggle my work-load when I had the maximum number of hatchlings still in my possession. I am seriously considering culling many of the least sellable hatchlings in order to not only reduce my work-load as well as my expense in simply raising those hatchlings, but to also be able to provide more time and effort in the remaining hatchlings. There are more than enough normal, amel and anery cornsnakes on the market. My 50 - 75 will not be missed, and my kingsnakes will be well-fed as a bonus.
