Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello All,

I have been on KS for about two months now and I really enjoy everyone's questions and feedback. This is my first post and I would appreciate any feedback.

I am very interested in breeding ball pythons as a hobby (understanding the hard work involved). I currenty have a 1.0 normal ball python and wish to accuire a few more i.e;poss hets, pastels or Spiders). What would be a good route to take just for a small start up project?

Thank you for any replies

Nick

I'm also just starting up, and my plans were once I successfully bred my normal pair, I wanted to get a pastel or two and then save up for either a spider or a piebald, 'cause I love both those morphs and I'd like to make my own bumblebee

Find a morph you like and play with that one, is your best bet. That way, if you can't sell the offspring, at least they're snakes you like looking at

~jenny
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1.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, and Periscope)
0.0.1 california kingsnake (Tetris)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
1.1 betta fishes (Vicious and Killer)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
2.0 horses (Buddy and Sam)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
1.25 chickens (Ugly the rooster and his harem)

"God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh." - Voltaire

I would get a Pastel and a Spider. You should be able to do this for under 2k... From these, you can get Super Pastels.. bees.. the sky's the limit. If you have the finances, here's what I would get: 1.0 Spider; 1.1 Pastel Jungle. 0.4 normals. Breeding the spider or pastel to these normies will produce some visible morphs of each type, and give you a few normal offspring..
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1.3 normal BPs
1.0 Pastel BP (Graziani, from the Sutherlands)
1.0 Boa Constrictor Imperator
0.1 albino Cranwell's horned frog
1.1 breeding Clawed frogs
1.0 black cat
0.2 paint mares, 1.1 paint foals
Also have fancy goldfish, african cichlids, and rats.

Thanks for the advice!

I definately will get a pastel next weekend at the midwest reptile show. I am meeting with Jason from Jasons Jungle next saturday to look at a rack system to start housing these guys.

Nick

sorry forgot to mention my short term goal here.

I plan on getting a 1.0 pastel & 0.3 normals and hooking the 1.0 pastel up with the three normals for next years breeding. Do you believe this will get me started in the right direction

What are your future goals?

IMO - the day of the pastel market is coming to an end everyones got them and everyones making them - next year they will be down into the buy one get one free range (oh wait they already are). Unless you plan on either forking out the cash for high quality animals and selectively breeding them - or holding your offspring back for future projects be prepared that there isn't going to be much value in your offspring. If you are just starting out and want to use this as an opportunity to learn or are just doing it for fun then thats cool - but if you aren't just doing it for fun - be aware that there are hundreds of ugly pastels sitting on the market for months and despite the rumors they aren't getting any more expensive as they grow.

There are a couple of alternative I would consider if I were in your shoes - If you want to work with pastels - think about getting maybe a spider (or other morph) to raise up to breed to your pastel the following year (if all goes well). Combos and Pastels Het for something else are still holding their own in the marketplace.

Alternatively you can consider getting another low price co-dom morph to work with that still has a good foothold - mojaves, spiders or cinnys are still in demand and will provide a good return if you plan to sell or trade the offspring and you don't have to be so selective when breeding these.

I don't mean to sound like a wet blanket - but there are a lot of people that don't realize how fast this market changes and when they buy into a breeding project to find it's not what they thought a few years down the road they get discouraged. If you are just out to have fun - then go for it - breed what you like, be it pastels or normals or triple recessive combos.

Whatever you decide to do - best of luck!!!
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Tosha

I appreciate your feedback-would I want to purchase 1.0 or 0.1 morphs, or does it really matter as long as you have a buddy for the morph

Nick

Get your female's first. If you are set on getting a Pastel, I would buy a proven adult male...why not, you will see what he will look like as an adult, and he is proven, and you can get one for less than $400. I would forget the normal females, I would get two or three Pastel females, and wait until next year and get a nice Mojave male, Spider male, or adult Pastel male. If you are going to be small time, the price of female Pastels is so low, it is worth it to start with female Pastels instead of normals. BUT, get what you like! Do not buy a Mojave if you do not like them....

Dave

Dave: Awsome information it really hit home.
Nice Photos

Nick

The funniest thing I've ever seen is someone spending $2000 on a first time breeding project. I would make sure that you can get them to breed first. I would get an 800 gram female with plan's to breed her to your normal male next year. This will give her time to settle in and get up to breeding size.

If this goes off without a hitch, keep your females as future breeders and invest in whatever morphs that you like. Plus you'll already have a proven breeder female.