There is widespread and growing public and professional awareness of genetic disorders associated with artificial breeding, and its implications on the health and welfare of companion animals. Despite increased captive breeding and popularity of atypical color/pattern variants, little research has been conducted, to date, into genetic variants of reptiles, relative to common domestic (e.g., dogs, cats). This work aims to raise awareness among the animal welfare science community of the potential for welfare problems in inbred reptiles, and to stimulate further research in this field. A survey of expert opinion was used to establish a description of a heritable disorder, the “wobble syndrome”, associated with a widely propagated phenotype, the “spider” morph of the ball python (Python regius), a common “pet” snake species. This information was used to provide an assessment of animal welfare impacts of the “wobble syndrome” condition.