Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So, I recently decided I want to try breeding a few select reptiles (ball pythons and russian tortoises, to start). Here's the plan so far for the ball pythons, and I would appreciate it if someone here can tell me what I might want to change or modify.

-I have a baby male ball python who is about 18-20" long right now. Right now he's in a 10 gallon tank, but sometime in the next three monthes I'm planning on buying him a boaphile 221D cage (30"x24"x11.5" with some sort of belly heat run with a thermostat.

-Once Steve (the male) is moved into the new enclosure this summer, I would use the 10 gallon tank to house a baby female ball python that is unrelated to the male. Sometime around the holidays I would [probably plan on getting her the same setup as the male.

-Then it's the waiting game until they are both grown and ready, at which time I would go through the motions with the winter months (I have read I should gradually decrease and then increase the temperatures....is this true?), and then let them have some... "visits" together, and keep my fingers crossed.

-Pregnancy of the female is a part of this whole thing I'm still very confused about. When the female is gravid, does that then mean that you should not handle her until she lays? Also, how do you deal with the females once they have layed the eggs and are coiled around them? Seems like a dangerous situation That's the one thing I'm worried about with the boaphile cages I've picked out. They are very low and therefore have a narrow front opening, so it seems like it might be hard to deal with an upset snake.

-Offspring: I figure if, after the first few years, I can get the normals to reproduce, then the real test will come. The test to see if there is room for another breeder in the market. If the snakes do sell well, then I will definately plan on doing it again, and consider buying more snakes (the jungle pastel line insterests me, as well as albinos). If all goes right, I would like to have a small business breeding them. However, if the snakes don't sell well the first couple of times I breed them, then I will consider ceasing breeding efforts for the time being, and keeping the two snakes as pets (which is their primary job anyways )

So, that's the plan so far. What should I change about it? By the way, I would plan on building a small (10-20 drawer) rack for the hatchlings.

You should invest in a morph. Dont waste your time with normals, if your thinking business wise, morphs is the only way to go. Im not saying go all out, but you should start with at least a pastel or spider those are a good starting morphs, there not to expensive and you can get your experience through them. when good and ready, then you can sell your offsprings or trade for more expensive morphs, and then you can go from there. You dont want to fall to much behind on morphs, because a lot of people are way ahead of you, but you do have one advantage, and that is your young. I believe your 17. well if you start with a spider or a pastel now, and do what i suggested earlier, think what kind of collection you will have in 10 or so years. well thats my strategy for you. Thanks for your time

sargon

Thanks. I really understand what you're getting at with that. My only problem is money. I don't have enough money to invest in something like a pastel right away (though I would like to), and I can't justify a loan from my parents unless we know that the snakes are actually going to sell.

How well do morphs sell anyways? It seems like the prices on them are typically so high that people wouldn't buy them. Do people really buy a $10,000 snake?

So I'm unsure what I will do this summer. Of course buying a normal female and then waiting for them to reach breeding size (how long does this typically take?) will set me back a while, and then once (if) the babies sell, I would have to wait more time after purchasing some kind of morph until it is large enough to reproduce.

I say get 2 normal female NOW. The normal male will not matter so much, you will find the females are what is really hard to come by. If you really want a ballpython morph starter kit get 2 baby normal females, and 1 het albino or pied male. In a few years when they breed, you will atleast be producing poss hets insted of normals. With only 3 snakes your feed bills will be low. They will only need 10 gallon tanks with a little under tank heater until they are about a year old... then you migh want to upgrade them all to a self made 3 or 4 bin 41qt starilite tub rack... or even buy one... that small they are not too expensive. Females will be the key. 2-3 years from now, you can buy a pastel male and breed him to all your females. The more females the better. I add about 10-15 to my collection every year.

Ben

your plan sounds fine. Maybe you could pick up the BP breeding video from the sutherlands? Lots of good info there.

As far as introducing the males and females, do that right as you start the cool down period. My males go in with the females the first night I start to drop them temps. in a few days, out a few days, then reintroduce.

thanks for the info. I will have to get that video.

I've been thinking about it a lot today while in school, and I think that I probably should start with just a pair of normals. That way if things don't go right (like having trouble getting them to breed, or having trouble selling the offspring), I don't have anything more invested in the whole thing than I would if I just wanted to keep them both as pets (which is still the main reasoning for keeping them).

Here is another strategy you could work with.What you could do is try raising some CB females to adult size. Say you go buy 5 females today. You could raise them up to breeding size. Then you could sell 3 of them, because everyone knows that CB adult females are hard to come by, and keep 2. You should be able to get at least $400 or $500 per female. Take that money and invest in a male CO-Dom. now you have 2 females that are ready to breed, and all your waiting for is for your male. Females take longer time than males to be bred, so wait a year and breed your male to the females you held back. I really think you should not buy and waste your time with normal males, because pastels are dropping in prices, few years from now they will cost propaply around $200-$300. By then your females should be ready to breed, and by selling your 3 other females you have some money to play with. Im not trying to discourage you out of breeding normals, but with normals you return will not even cover the food bill, let alone help you buy other more expensive morphs. Hope i was of some help.

np
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I have Balls!

Ok - let me just say that starting off with normals is fine - don't let anyone else tell you that you HAVE to breed morphs your first year running. There are a lot of things that can happen between now and then and the last thing you want to do is to find out that you spent all this money on snakes and the necessities and your girlfriend, wife, mother, landlord, etc. is not going to let you keep the snakes, or that you just don't have the time, money, enthusiasm anymore for the hobby. Starting out with a few normals is fine, maybe you can pick up a fairly cheap pastel male this season and a normal female and go from there. It's not a race to see who can have the biggest badest collection - its a hobby to enjoy.

Best of luck with whatever route you choose!
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Tosha

"Nihil facimus sed id bene facimus"

6.42.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and gang)
1.0.0 Angolan Python (Anakin Skywalker)
0.0.1 Green Tree Python (Verdi)
0.1.0 Bredls Python (Smurfette)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Desert Tortoise (Pope John Paul aka JP )
2.2.1 Fish (1,2,3,4)
0.0.0 frogs rescued from pool skimmer
0.0.1 Lizard of unknown origin