Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So I've been taking what everyone has been saying into consideration, and here's a couple of things I have realized about desires for breeding:

-I don't want to make money (well, money is nice, but you get what I mean). If I could make enough to pay for a portion of what I spend on reptiles, then I would be happy with that. The reason I want to breed is mostly the excitement of it (waiting for successful breeding, eggs hatching, etc.). When I said in the other post that I would like to get it to a point where it could be kind of a 'small business' type thing, I meant like what some of you are doing (internet site and whatnot). Not necessarily a business that is turning a recognizable profit.

-The reason I like morphs is the look of them and their uniqueness, as well as the excitement factor of waiting for a clutch of eggs to hatch out to see what you have gotten. I know there are a lot of people out there that depend on the high prices of morphs, and they'll probably hate me for saying this, but I can't wait for the price of albinos and pastels to drop. As some of you have said, the price of pastels is dropping. Once they get down into my range (meaning $200-400), then I will get a pair. I just can't justify paying over $1000 for a snake, no matter how much I like the snake. I'm only 17 and have other things that really need to be paid for (gas, vet bills, etc.). I can't wait for albinos and pastels to come down in price though.

-As far as getting some females and raising them to adulthood to sell them...I know exactly what would happen in that scenario. I would get too attached to the snakes It will be tough enough selling hatchlings, but I couldn't keep a snake around for a couple years and then try to sell it.

So with that in consideration, I'm going to keep it slow and simple to start. I'm just going to get a female normal this summer (as planned) since I already have the male normal that I got before I even started thinking about this. I'll raise them to adulthood, breed them, see how I like it, and hopefully by then some of the morphs will have gone down in price so I could actually afford to work with them.

The good thing about starting with the normals is that I have enough connections with the reptile world around here to be able to sell them easily. If I can't sell them outright, I know a reptile shop that would pay $40-50 per snake...which isn't too bad for baby normals. I paid $60 or $70 for mine (which I bought from him).

I'm also reconsidering buying the boaphile cages, because I'm considering building my own cages (I have already built 3 4'x2'x2' stacking enclosures with framed, hinged front doors...with the help of a skilled wood worker), or buying a couple of used wooden cages locally. Still thinking about it. I'll figure it out eventually.

I am still a small time breeder, very small time actually. I have 6 females, and 2 males and all of which are normal. Well, except for a granite "looking" male, but he very more than likely just good looking. When I got into snakes, I bought females and the two males that I have now. I wanted to breed a few normals the first go around. The way I see it, I cant justify taking out a loan to work with some animals and find out down the road that I suck at breeding. So, I got normal females with a male (the "granite" was a bonus later down the road), knowning full well that this set-up will allow me to "practice" breeding, but later down the road be ready to add morphs when ever I wanted. To me, this seemed like the best deal possible, it allowed me to dive in, but not so deep that I sink. Although, I think the suggestion about het males is a good one, and I will actually take that into consideration. Thanks, I was going to cut back on getting any more snakes for a few months... Good thing I always order a few extra feet of flex watt!! Good luck, and take it easy,

~Johnny

I've never bred anything before, and I would like to know that I 1) am actually able to make it happen, and 2) really want to put up with breeding snakes instead of just keeping them as pets.

I would love to work with morphs in the future (like I said, I'm a big fan of the pastels, super pastels, and albinos). I would kind of like to see what happens with the prices though over the next couple of years anyways. It bothers me sometimes that snakes can cost so much money.

Also, I love snakes, but I'm going to be attending college next year (while staying home), and I don't want to get in over my head with tons of snakes to take care of right away, so when I do get into morphs, I'd rather do it the simplest (and probably most expensive) way. For instance, if I want to breed pastels and super pastels, I would probably most like to buy a pair of pastels. Same with albinos. If I want to breed albinos and het albinos (which would be my goal) I would rather just buy an albino and het albino to breed in the first place. But then again, I don't really know much about genetics and breeding, but I don't really have space either for too many snakes. I would prefer to keep them in cages than racks, because I would consider them (referring to the breeders with this, not the offspring) as being pets, not just business partners.

So basically, before going to far out there and spending a ton of money on snakes, I would rather just start with the idea in my head that the snakes are my pets, and breeding is just something to try when they are old enough.

Hey Ryan,
You might want to atleast see if you can find some poss. het. albino females. They should'nt be too expensive. I don't see them often, but if poss. het. pied females go for $400-$450, maybe poss. albino females would be half the cost. This would be a cool way to potentially see a surprise down the road. Just a thought!
Take care,
Glenn

Thanks for that idea! I will have to look into that! If nothing else I would still have a normal anyways. I'll have to see where I can find something like that.

If you go to a show, or even maybe on the classifieds you could easily get a male pastel for under $400.00. I am guessing at a show you could talk someone down to $300.00-$350.00 for a 06 male. Just wait till late in the day when they are getting ready to leave and I bet most would take it. You wouldn't be able to get the best looking one out there, but that doesn't mean its babies can't be.
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1.2 Het Pied
1.1 Het Lavender Albino
1.1 Het Albino
0.7 Normals
1.0 50% Het lav albino