| In the wild, ball pythons are usually brown and tan. In America, breeding them to produce eye-catching offspring has become a lucrative, frenetic, and—for some—troubling enterprise.  Photograph courtesy Kinova Reptiles Justin Kobylka was well known in the snake community for his meticulous breeding practices and inventive creations. Then, in 2016, he got quite a bit more famous after one of his ball pythons was born with what looked like three orange smiley faces popping from its white skin. A video of the “emoji python” soon went viral. In this week’s issue, Rebecca Giggs takes us inside the world of creating, marketing, and selling what are known as morphs, snakes whose skin and other features reflect prized genetic mutations, which Kobylka describes with such shorthand as “orange dream, yellow belly, enchi, leopard, desert ghost, carrying axanthic and clown genes.” And although breeders say they seek mutations that are only “skin-deep,” many scientists view the practice with skepticism, both in terms of its effect on individual snakes and the species as a whole. There are more existential questions as well. Giggs asks, “Could a python raised in a tray, fed, kept warm and watered, and bred be said to live a full life?” Support The New Yorker’s award-winning journalism. Subscribe today » | 
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