Reptile & Amphibian Forums

What percentage of the babies you produce do you sell? Are you more into holding onto a lot of your stuff, do you sell most, swap most, release...

Just wondering. I have checked out web sites of well known breeders, but many of you in here seem to produce quite a bit, but I rarely see your name come up in classifieds. Do a lot of alterna breeders "keep it in the family" and only sell and swap amongst each other?

Thanks,

Bill
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WJS Herps
Brooksville, Fl
Bill & Jennifer Smoot

Yes, its a big "clique" and you have to know the secret alterna handshake and password to get the real legit locale animals.We keep most and swap between us.LOL...j/k
I rarely if ever have any alternas that make it to the classifieds.I usually only produce a few clutches a year and they are usually pre-sold.

Shannon

Who do you pre sell them too? I am breeding them purely out of interest and was going to try and get rid of the babies as fast as I can instead of housing them. I already talked to some local shops who will take maybe one of the clutches but I will still have 2 more. Any suggestions on how to sell them quickly.

Alterna may not make good pet shop snakes... They may end up going to keeper that wants a low maintenance pet, and lets face it a young alterna that may change feeding habits at the drop of hat is not the safe bet for a beginner that has not done the research.

Lance
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___________________________
Herp Conservation Unlimited

Lance is correct.If you don't want to house baby alternas and get the going then you shouldn't breed them or you should breed cal kings,corns mexican black kings etc...
Pet shops eat those things up and you don't have them calling you a month later saying "the baby snakes I bought from you won't eat"
I pre-sell to other collecters that have experiance getting small alterna going or I get them going and then sell at shows/internet etc.....

Shannon

I have no problem working to get them feeding. The local shop I am reffering too is a reptile specialty shop that has regularly sold alterna and the owner is very experienced and helping me with any feeding issues that I have. Some of the babies I may decide to keep but housing all my clutches will have to be done in one large tank as opposed to a hatchling rack unless I decide to build one. I was told that this is an acceptable option by other on this forum.

Well, yes an no...If one is sick are you going to know what one and will it get the other sick etc... There are way to many dis-advantages to housing them together.
Anyway, good luck this year.

L8r Shannon

Another major problem of housing alterna and even alot of other snakes together is that they are a solitary animal and want to be alone. If a bunch of baby snakes are housed together, they will crawl over each other again and again and with no way of escaping this, causes a baby snake alot of stress to where it just stops doing well and even stops feeding...

I have been trying to think of a more space and cost effective way but draw a blank. My only thought was to use gladware containers with thier lids and lots of holes and setting these along a long strip of heat tape that I unroll along the back of whatever surface they are sitting on. This way they would all have a temperature gradient and be in indivitual containers. LIke a makeshift rack to only set up in the spring. I do not see much of a problem with this but maybe someone with more experience will tell me a flaw.

I would be cautious as to what exact containers you would be using. If those Gladware containers are perhaps made of a thinner plastic, would there be any possibility that heat tape would be too hot for those?? You don't want TOO hot of a temp for the little alternas. It may be a good idea though, perhaps others can chime in as well.

Everyone else here has thrown in some really good advice. Caging all babies together would be very stressful for them and if something is sick, it would be near impossible to figure out which one had it first, etc..

If space is that much of an issue, then perhaps you should rethink about breeding your graybands to begin with and consider not doing so. If you are not prepared to give the babies the exact and best suitable care they do need, then why do they need to have a less-than-suitable captive life to begin with, all for just the sake of their parents practicing the ability of being able to breed? I am no way judging your thoughts or intentions, so please do not take this the wrong way. It is just that breeding snakes and the babies that come with it is a BIG responsibility, and unless you are willing to do whatever it takes to make sure the animals are given the best care, then there is no need to breed.

Take care!

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Genesis 1:1

... or just buy a hatchling rack to properly house your babies until they are sold?

~ Mike Russo

Good idea Mike!!!!!

That way, the whole situation is solved.

There are cheap but decent hatchling racks available for a few hundred bucks or less, I believe.
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Genesis 1:1

Space was never an issue I just thought it was pointless to have a snake rack around that I am only going to use for less than half the year. I know a cabinet maker that will but the whole thing together for me for the price of materials and a few good beers so maybe I will talk to him.
Just becuase I do not breed on a large scale does not mean I should rethink breeding. I have nothing but time to take the proper care of whatever hatches out, lets face it college students have the most free time out of anyone. That is why we get drunk all the time.

HA HA!!!

Yeah, college guys do have a lot of time!!! I will agree with ya!!

By all means, check it out with your friend and see if he can build you something, and if you have the time, then you are set!! That way, you can have the ease of having everything in a rack, and the snakes can have their own enclosures. It's one of those situations where once you start using a rack, you will really be glad you did. It will definetely make everything so much easier.

Also, if the room that they will be in is warm enough, then you may not even need to build any heating device in it as well, making it all the easier, but that is all up to you.

My old breeding partner was able to build a rack for hatchlings that was just as good as anything out there, and it was dirt cheap.

Take care and keep us posted!!

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Genesis 1:1

Omg I know this isn't relevant to the conversation but Discern that gray band is amazingly beautiful! Wow.

.
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Genesis 1:1

>>Another major problem of housing alterna and even alot of other snakes together is that they are a solitary animal and want to be alone. If a bunch of baby snakes are housed together, they will crawl over each other again and again and with no way of escaping this, causes a baby snake alot of stress to where it just stops doing well and even stops feeding...

That sounds like my house when I was growing up. My brothers would always push me out of my favorite warm chair and invade my space. The worst problem was when one of them would piss in my bathwater. Older siblings suck! What I needed was a private cage, or at least my own hide, warming rock, and bath.

You must be chosen by a Master Breeder and then marked as a familiar with his glyph. Once you have proven yourself, he may choose to turn you into a Master himself. You can find secret breeding facilities and hangouts using a black light and shine it on the outside wall, you will then notice the glyphs similar to the ones you are marked with.

It's a tough society to crack, but once you are in your are part of the super high elite crew.

Good Luck,

SXO792

"once you are in there is only one way to leave..."

Steve, You know the rule.. Never speak about Alterna sales!

~ Mike Russo

and can never be allowed out of the society!!!
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Todd Hughes

I can bust my way into the clique eventually...
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WJS Herps
Brooksville, Fl
Bill & Jennifer Smoot

lol
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honesty is my only policy

n/p

Hey steven, did you copy the by-laws from Blade?? LOL You know you have to watch those copywright laws!!!!!!!!

In some things I think cutting corners is ok. When you talk about breeding and raising animals, I would not do it if I couldn't do it right. Alterna can sometimes take weeks or months to switch to unscented pinkies. It would be tough to tell which ones were feeding or not. My opinion, and just my own opinion, don't do it unless you can do it right. You have to think of the animals first. Wait until you can be setup for breeding and raising snakes. There is plenty of time. Then you can breed your heart out. Derek