Avoiding Snail Breeding Snafus
Not new to the hobby but new to breeding with an end goal in mind -
I come from a background in reptiles where you can have the expectation of color morph development and naming to have ALL four of a “first public proven line, first dibs on naming and claiming”, xyz morph is called xyz morph regardless of whether it was a conscious pairing or an unexpected random mutation, and xyz morph actually has two different names due to pedigree/line split or regional dialect and even some morphs having multiple names because one specific breeder calls their line of that morph something special just because they want to, type of breeding culture.
This is a low stakes, just for fun, side project for me right now but if I can get my end goal really nice and clean I would love for them to be sold in my LFS. As I go about this and am influencing my breeding population I have realized I don’t know what the social expectations are for “going public” with a color you’ve cultivated and I would hate to step on anyone’s toes!
I know it likely isn’t that serious but I am also autistic and, unless they are told to me directly and explicitly, 99% of the expected social rules fly right by me and I wind up building a bad reputation just because people assume I (should) automatically know these things when I just don’t.
My interest in learning the culture of developing a morph and then how people “go public” (and specifically my interest in how morphs are named) is really just so that, in the future, the snails can be labeled accurately so that everyone can have the same definition of the color type to make labeling for discussion or purchase easier for everyone. I’m not looking to “be known” or anything, I know even if they are accepted into several LFS I would earn very little… I just want to have fun, try something new, and avoid making myself look like a fool 😂
If anyone has personal experience in running a store where you purchase inventory from (new) local breeders OR have experience with developing a morph and successfully developing them enough your local community wants to purchase them - I would love to hear from you!