Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So, I’m a 21 year old college senior. I have had a pet ball python for about a year, and would like to start a breeding colony. What does any one think about an investment in 5 adult females, 5 hatchling female pastels, 1 breeder spider male, and a hatchling bumblebee male? The hope would be to produce bumblebees and killer bee’s, with pastels and spiders simply being a bonus. I would hold back all females for the first two breeding seasons, and continue expanding on the collection. I realize that a profit will not be made for 4-5 years, but does this sound like a reasonable investment as a second income? I am currently in the process of buying a house, and have a job secured for after graduation next semester. Also, a loan and financing is not a problem.

If you have a bumblebee male you will produce spiders a plenty. Get a cinny male instead for the same money and you also produce pewters. Just my opinion as it is your money but not mine. I do know quite a few people are replacing speders with bees because of the fact that you don't need a plain spider to make more bees, you can do that with the bumble bee.
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Happy Herping,
Jody Barnes
Royal Kreationz

My snakes aren't fat, they're big boned.

I agree with the last poster, about the cinny. You may also want to look into some simple recessive morphs. They tend to hold their value longer than codoms. Hope this helps.

My first advice would be that if you cant pay cash for it - don't go into debt to start up your collection - if you can work out payment plans with the breeders - that would be far superior to taking out loans or credit lines to pay for them.

Adult normal females arent really useful in most collections - you have to have a fairly established name to sell hets of any sort and co-doms are really lucrative if you're looking at it in a purely investment perspective.

The pastels girls is a great pick - I wish I'd picked up more.... remember crosses are the future...
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Tosha
JET Pythons

Insert Silly Quote Here

My advice: Stay SMALL. A collection can quickly build up, doubling your cleaning time AND rat bill. If I was starting out now, I would forget normal females. I would buy 2 Het Hypo females, and two Het Albino females. Wait a year, and buy a male Albino and male Hypo. GET QUALITY animals, do not look just for the best price. I would get the 5 Pastel females, and Bumblebee male, or 3 Pastel females and a Cinn female and a Pastel Het Hypo female. Do not go overboard all at once! Get your incubator set up well in advance of any anticipated eggs. Get your females first, and maybe get a nice proven breeder male Pastel, Cinn, or something, just in case your male Bumblebee does not go when you expect him too, a back up male is always a good thing. I would also get a Sulfur, Fire, or Vanilla male eventually. Stay small! When the hobby turns into a business, it loses some of the fun factor. Oh, and grab some YB females too!

Dave

Breeding Balls, "Ain't a money thing, must be an Ego thing!"