Reptile & Amphibian Forums

first off i love this forum so much info from pro breeders.now i want to get a milk,not as a pet but for breeding i want to buy a pair,i like blacks because of there size but i love hondurans because of there colors.wich is more rewarding in your eyes.

I love them both but I enjoy breeding hondurans more because of the surprise element of the hatchlings coming out when it comes to colors and variation. The excitement never seems to fade every year when looking forward to the hatchling colors.
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RAY - "Laziness is nothing more than a habit of resting before getting tired!"

what morphs do you breed

Ghost, Snow, vanishing hypos, hypo extremes, tricolor hypo, anery, Tangerine Albinos, tricolor albinos...

Thanks,
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RAY - "Laziness is nothing more than a habit of resting before getting tired!"

Yes, Ray is correct in saying that they are both rewarding.
I really like Black Milks as they are large robust easy to handle snakes but the down fall if there is one is that no matter what they look like out of the egg they will be all black as adults.
Now,with hondos its like the sky is the limit.We are in the stage of wre the cornsnakes were about 12-15 years ago.
The color and pattern morphs are well underway but I am sure in the next five or six years we will probably see many new color and pattern morphs.

Shannon

Well, I can only go by looks alone, but a well bred black milk snake or a well bred honduran are equal in looks. The jet black is just magnificent, while the eye catching colors of a morph or tangerine honduran are also very neat. You just have to pick what interests you more, and also fits your budget. Good Luck with making your decision, I know it is hard for me when searching for the next snake to get.
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-J.Hill

is the size of the cage. A black milk will need more room than a honduran. And you will want to look at your room temps. From my understanding, a black milk does better at lower temps than a honduran. So if your house is not airconditioned in the summer, that could be a problem.
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phflame
kingsnake.com host

But I am biased! LOL. A nice looking Black Milk does take a loooong time to turn beautiful Black but they are very mellow and laid back, almost Boa like when large and the babies are generally not wiggly squiggly like other tri-colors.

If you don't have the patience to deal with the ugly duckling long phase of a Black Milk you might want to consider the Hondo beacause they might have the visual pizazz you are looking for right out of the box er...egg

blacks sound nice,are they normally cheaper than hondos?im very patient and will wait lol

I have seen them offered from $75.00 to $150.00 I would check to see what the adults look like if possible. While not a guarantee that the babies will mature without any traces of banding, seeing perfectly Black adults helps. If you are looking for monetary rewards I would probably go for the Hondos but if it's just the love of the animal I would go Black. IMHO. Good luck whatever you do.

i never knew there could be banding left,that sucks because i surley cant see the adults from a show vendor.

A lot of vendors at shows bring photo albums, and will have pics of their breeders. One show I recently attended one breeder had his laptop on the table with a slide show of his snakes running. Granted you are taking the vendor's word as to which snakes parented the hatchlings. Many reptile keepers are proud of their animals and will take advantage of an opportunity to show off their stock. Always remember though, just like people, great looking snakes can throw medicore hatchlings and average snakes can throw screamers.

Hello,
I'm biased as well, because I breed black milks, but I think they have incredible color, you just have to catch them at the right angle under bright light. Their iridescence is incredible. I've also been to a couple shows as a vendor now, and have brought whichever of the parents isn't in shed to show off... adult black milks are still calm and composed after 8 hours of being handled by the public. Even the hatchlings that weren't in shed could be handled for an hour or two without getting too twitchy. Hondos are nice, too... I think you'll be happy either way.

Nate

I have seen them offered from $75.00 to $150.00

This cracks me up. Several years ago we had a "discussion" here where several people said black milks were inherently valuable and their price would NEVER fall below the $200 a baby level (in spite of the fact that some baby black milks were available for $150 at the time). As several of us predicted, they have come down to about $75-100 and stabilize there.

While not a guarantee that the babies will mature without any traces of banding, seeing perfectly Black adults helps.

I have never seen a Black Milk adult with banding. Does anyone have a photo of a banded adult?

I guess they would be patterned in the mts of central Costa Rica or possibly the midlands of Costa Rica/Panama. The only wild one I have ever seen was jet black and 4-5 feet long.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

you seem to know your stuff,i'll take your word and not worry too much.

thanks

n/m