"Reverse" identification -- possible?

[LadyJemima]

Tango is a normal ultramel. His previous owner said he was an Okeetee, which he is not (as I learned myself when I first joined...a common misconception about normals!). She also said his sire was a big Okeetee named Elvis (possibly true). This has me wondering...can could actually tell what morph a snake's parent's were, or do hets make this impossible?

On a related note...do breeders tend to keep records of all of their pairings and offspring? Do breeders keep records of who adopts them, or are there way too many babies?

 

[Karl_Mcknight]

The people I got Rufus from do keep records of pairings and offspring.

However when I bought Rufus, I simply wrote them a check and walked out the door. They did not have me fill out any forms or nor did they take any personal info from me.

I would think, and I would hope that any breeder with any type of reputation does keep records of the pairs and babies produced, and they should be able to tell you about the snake if you ask them.

However I can't see any practical reason why they would keep records of folks that purchased which snake.

I mean if somebody knocked on my door, or called me, and I found out the snake breeder gave this stranger my address or phone number I personally would be pissed.

 

[Tavia]

I keep some records of my babies produced, what the parents were and what the genetics and possible genes are. My breeders are also registered with the American Corn Registry (ACR) basically the AKC for corns and I give the buyer the info to register their baby and what they need to link it into the family tree. (It's free) Probably only 1 in 10 buyers are actually interested in the ACR info and I wouldn't be surprised if the genetics, ACR info and even possibly the birth date and feeding info, don't all get lost within days or weeks. Each baby is assigned a letter and number combo while it's here and with that, I could go find info on one of my babies for an owner but that's only if they managed to keep the number, otherwise I've produced too many babies and sold to too many people to remember those details offhand and I'm a pretty small breeder.

I keep up with some of the owners, that's one reason I like this site and a few of the local Facebook reptile groups I'm on, sell to the active membership and I get updates but probably at least half of the people I sell to are never heard from again. If I shipped the snake, I do keep invoices with contact info on the owner but I wouldn't give that out and don't usually initiate contact with them later, because I don't want to be a pest.