Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok so heres my hole herp storie. I have been keeping bearded dragons for about 5 months now and have wanted a snake the hole time. My parents wouldnt let me have them but i have convinced them to let me get a snake. So ihave done my research and have decided on ball pythons. I do plan on breeding them in the future. My parents said that i had to be able to cover the cost of food and other supplies and make a little extra on the side. BUT i said i didnt want to doit for the money and they said i had to. What i was getting to was my local pet store has what looks like an adult for sure female for 100$, I know that it is good and healthy because they have a guy that does mostly reptiles and especially snakes. I was wondering if that was a good price and i was thinking about getting a male het for albino and then eventually breeding the babys to the father and try to get some albinos. Can i make any money at all to prove my parents wrong so that i can have a start to my snake collection. All post are welcome so please post if you have any info to help me out.
-----
Lizardboy
1.4 leopard geckos (6 leo eggs cooking)
3.3 bearded dragons

The $100 requested is a little high for a BP even if it were to be sexed as a female... I would say it depends on where you are located, as to which route to go... Purchasing through dealers is a little cheaper, but then shipping may come into play... The best research you can do is by reading books like The Ball Python Manual or Guide to owning a BP... As for the cost of breeding, and profit, I will leave that alone... I do it for the joy of it...but that just me...

I'm not saying that I was going to do it for the profit but just that i had to atleast cover expenses to be able tohave them im hoping to make extra $ so i can get some cooler morphs not there is anything wrong with normal but thanks for the info.
-----
Lizardboy
1.4 leopard geckos (6 leo eggs cooking)
3.3 bearded dragons

How much does it cost to keep an adult bp for a year?
-----
Lizardboy
1.4 leopard geckos (6 leo eggs cooking)
3.3 bearded dragons

The cost to keep an adult ball python can vary. For instance, you need to take it to a vet to get it checked out and stuff. And an emergency can come up at any time, you never know. So that can make the cost jump some. Also, it may depend on how often you feed and what you feed. Enclosure and other stuff vary too. But for a guess: $30 for a vet check-up and then feeding every other week which would be around twice a month would be around $250 for food, if you fed it a small rat every other week, but it varies with the snake, we've got one htat eats 2 mice and a rat every other week or so.

-Drako

How many do you have? and do you breed????
-----
Lizardboy
1.4 leopard geckos (6 leo eggs cooking)
3.3 bearded dragons

i love my bp.i have a small breeding colony that just keeps growing.

1.1 pastel
1.1 albino
0.1 100% het albino
1.0 piebald
0.3 100% het piebald
1.1 100% het ghost

Personally, I have 2 female balls. One is aroound 8 mos. old and the other is a hatchling from this season, so about 2 mos. old. But in my home live 5 or 6 more of varying genders and we plan on breeding next season so long as our baby's are healthy and big enough. (knock on wood) We haven't bread yet, but I think it'll go well.

We also have 3 corns, one of which can't breed, she's just a pet becasue she was eggbound last season and it'll kill her if she's bred again. And a blood python, and 2 female spotted pythons. So, we hope to be breeders some day, and if all goes as planned, we will.

-Drako

I am not breeding right now because my females aren't big enough, but next year I will be breeding. I have a het pied male right now and a poss het pied male on the way. I also have a normal male and 2 normal females. I will be breeding both het pied males to both females, then breed the 2 males to all the female offsrping. Hopefully that will get me some pieds. I am breeding because I like the morphs, pieds are my favorite. If I hit the odds, I will keep the pieds and sell the hets to invest in another morph. I am trying to breed most of the major morphs, albino, pied, pastel, and hopefully spider in the next 5 or 6 years. Breeding is a long term commitment, so unless you want to make that commitment, then don't plan on breeding.

If you've never owned Ball Pythons before,why are you just going to jump into breeding? Why dont you buy a yearling or something, learn about it by watching it grow. If you want to breed for the sake of the snakes upkeep then you need to look into getting a job. How old are you? You could even apply to the pet store you just mentioned. I started off that way and have come quite a long way. Good luck,and think things over before jumping into them like that,thats where you get problems.Let us know what you decide to do.