Reptile & Amphibian Forums

What is the best literature, books, etc for a first time breeder. I just bought kevin mcCurlys book on basic ball information. It is his smaller, less expensive book, not the larger one. Hopefully it will be good. Any help is useful...Thanks for your time

Vpi has a book that is more expensive but well worth the money. It blows Kevins book out of the water in my opinion.

matt

which one...they have one for $75 but it looks like it gives general descriptions of the snakes as opposed to the breeding procedure....Thanks

I am reading Kevin's book right now. It is very useful as a beginning book for husbandry and breeding. Though I wish it had more information such as:
How to build a *small* incubator, not one large enough for a dozen clutches.
It is somewhat out of date when addressing the morphs and how to get them.

I recommend reading it as a starter, but I have ordered the VPI book as well.

Has anyone read BOTH VPI books (vol I vs vol II)? Which one is better for breeding/practical purposes?

I actually purchased an incubator so I have no need to know how to build it....I just need info on how to begin the breeding process and what to do afterwards, when they lay eggs, etc. Is the McCurly book going to cover those topics? Thanks

Volume II is about nothing but BP's. Vol 1 is a more collective python book and not dedicated to just one type. It is more than worth the $75 and i consider it the Ball Python bible.
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Both books are worth there price but the VPI book does get into it a little then NERDS. I also think that going to Raplh davis's website and clicking on his blog page. In one of his blogs he goes into a pretty in depth explaination o fhte process he goes through to cycle his snakes and everything to get them ready for breeding, Todd

Vpi's book has just under 20 pages in detail on breeding, 20 on Eggs, incubation and hatching, and another 8 on gentics. Vpi's book is very detailed and to a tee, if you want to sample the way Vpi writes hit their site and read the history of mites page they have. In the book they give you 12 pages worth of info on mites! They are very professional and well written. Nerds book is good but the information is basic and its main value, imo, is for the pictures of the morphs, one picture per page. However their information content is not as detailed. For $20 more it is well worth it in my opinion.

matt

A couple years ago I bought Dr. Mark Seward's Ball Python Breeding video with Dan & Colette Sutherland. That video has been an invaluable piece of information that I refer back to now & again. It also has a book and some charts that can be accessed from your computer's DVD drive. I can't remember where I found it, but I'm sure you can Google it.
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