Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was wondering if anyone out there might be able to answer a few of my questions. I am a junior in high school and would like to breed snakes. I have been fascinated by reptiles my whole life, and have been keeping them for about four years. I asked my favorite reptile shop today if they had any advice on certain species I could breed, ect.. However it seemed like he was trying to discouraged me. I know that somebodys got to do that, but even though I was persistent, he just kept giving me excuses not to. However I know everything he said, and I have been thinking about this for the past few years.
My question is, do most people have a hard time trying to find homes/places that would buy their snakes. Also what might be a snake that I could breed that has relatively few young. (I have no intention on making money, I just want to do this as a hobby.)
Thanks

i'm going to take a second and be blunt: screw those who tell you not to do what you love. if reptiles are your thing, have and breed reptiles. there'll always be someone trying to tell you it's not a good idea. i'm 19, heading into college this year, and i have 14 snakes of my own, 5 i'm babysitting for the summer, and 18 hatchling corns that i'm selling.
probably 30 people have told me how "dangerous" they are, and how "hard" they are to take care of, and how with college i won't have enough time, and about a million other reasons.
taking people's advice is fine, just don't let them dissuede you from doing what you want to.

as for good snakes to start out with in a breeding project, my immediate answer would be corn snakes. you can play around with morphs without spending much money.
the only drawback is that they can have anywhere from 2 to something like 30 eggs. my candy cane just laid for the first time, and she's laid 8 so far. so there's a danger of having a ton of babies.
you could go with king snakes (i have grey bandeds, nice and docile and don't lay very many eggs at once last i checked) but you have to be wary about what kind you get, some of them IMO have attitudes, even with constant handling.
i would not recommend ball pythons. there are too many in the world as it is. that and most people i've talked to say they're a pain in the rear end to breed.

all this is my opinion and advice from my own experience. i could be wrong on a few numbers, but i don't think so..

i hope i've helped.

I agree with silvio. If snakes are your thing, go ahead and breed them.

I don't have any advice on which species to breed except to pick one that you like.

Paul Hollander

I agree do what you enjoy. As for the type of snake. Corns are easy to breed, cheap (for the most part), and pretty tolerant of temp extremes. They do sometimes have 30 eggs, but most pet stores will take them if your not worring about making money. King are harder to breed, but have less young. Milks are the about the same as king, but they are difficult to hand until they are yearlings or so. any questions feel free to email.

xtremeherps@yahoo.com