Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I currently only have a single female ball at around 700 grams. Ive owned and bred boids and colubrids in the past but the last few years I havent had a collection due to going back to school. Ild like to start up a small project again, nothing crazy, and its more for fun as I like keeping the animals just for the fact of keeping them. However, if Im going to feed a mouth I would like to be able to maximize its usefulness down the road in the event I decide to buy a higher dollar male.

So Im trying to decide between getting 3 more inexpensive females (maybe a couple orange ghosts and a mojave or cinnamon, etc) or a single more expensive animal like a female pied, clown, or genetic stripe.

Figuring on anywhere from $500-$800.

Any input? I think even just a couple ghost females could be pretty useful down the road .... but more useful then a single pied? Im not sure ... lol (or clown, stripe, etc). I keep going back and forth and am having a hell of a time making up my mind.

Any input you guys could give would be appreciated. Whats your thoughts? I think I can snag a couple orange ghosts for $500 and pied females are here or there for around $800 (about the same for stripes or clowns seems like).

Where you getting this magic $800 female pied?
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You might be a ball python fanatic if you subconsciously convert the price of virtually everything in to units of piebald ball pythons

Ive seen several, on two different occasions for $850.

no offence, your numbers are waaaaay off

female ghosts 2010s 300-350
female pieds prolly closer to 1000
female clowns 1000 minimum if not 1300-1500

at least thats what the goin rates have been for 99% of the ones ive seen at shows/on kingsnake
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www.bamreptiles.webs.com
www.facebook.com/bamreptiles

Im sorry I do not mean to offend, but you are WAY off in YOUR pricing. I sell female pieds between $800-$900 its what they sell at. That is the average going price. I have seen several this year at $700. Female clowns $900-$1200 (average), female stripes can be found $700-$750. Here are a couple ads I found in literally 3 minutes of glancing at the classifieds. The original poster is closer to the going rate then any. Although female ghosts are usually $300 I dont think it would be hard to get 2 from a person for $500 right now. How guys really have to consider what is and what is not selling right now. There is so much of everything it is pretty easy to get morphs for the price you want.
Will

female pied $850
http://market.kingsnake.com/detail.php?cat=32&de=823246

female pied $800
http://market.kingsnake.com/detail.php?cat=32&de=819968

female $850
http://market.kingsnake.com/detail.php?cat=32&de=824116

the pieds i was less sure of on the price. but for a decent clown its gunna be over 1000. which is a good bit more than the 800 he said he had to work with. as far as the ghosts, i thought he meant 500 each, if he meant 2 for 500 total, i can def. see that as a possibility.
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www.bamreptiles.webs.com
www.facebook.com/bamreptiles

Well, I literally just got done looking at animals priced at what I stated ... so its not to far off.

Either way though, thats not really what I was getting at with this post but thanks for your contribution.

Anyone have any input on my original question? Going with 2 ghosts and a mojave female for example vs. a single higher end female.

I like them all about equal, so thats a toss up. I realize multiple females = more eggs but also with a higher end animal like a pied ... with all the co-dom pied crosses coming out its not out of line to think I could get into a multiple co-dom het pied male in a few years for $2-$3K to put on the female. Which would make it a single litter, although assumptively more valuable.

Then again... a lot of the ghost crosses are phenominal and having more than a single female might be the way to go.

See my problem? lol .... back and forth, back and forth ... Just when I think I made up my mind I swing back the other way.

In the end I kind of have a feeling multiple, less expensive females is the way I should go.

What you might want to do is think about what male you plan to someday get, then pick females based around the male.

For instance, you said you like Ghost crosses. What is your favorite Ghost cross? Whatever that is, plan on getting a male of that cross down the road, and build your females around that future male.

For example, If you like Pastel Ghosts (one of my personal fav's) then plan on getting a Pastel Ghost male down the road, and for females you could likely afford a baby Pastel Ghost female, that way you'd produce Ghosts, Pastel Ghosts, and Super Pastel Ghosts. Another option for a female would be a Spider het Ghost (if you cannot afford a Honey Bee). From that breeding you could get Normals, Pastels, Spiders, Ghosts, Pastel Ghosts, Honey Bees, or Humble Bees.

Or if you decide to work with Pieds and eventually plan to buy a Pied male, work your females around that. With your budget you might not be able to do alot of Pied females, but perhaps some hets, like a Pastel het Pied, Cinnamon het Pied, Spider het Pied, etc (not saying all of them).

I highly recommend you do not get different kinds of recessive females that would make it difficult down the road to find a male to work with all of them, or you'll be stuck buying different males for the different females.

You seem to like Recessives, but if you are open to Doms or Codoms you'd be more flexible in matching females up with a future male.

Best thing to do is pick your favorite morph, then work a project around that morph.

Hope that helps... Good luck with your decision!

Here is my Pastel Ghost. I love her to pieces and she just keeps getting prettier and prettier. She'll be paired with my Honey Bee when she gets big enough.

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Slytherin Serpents

Have you been hugged by your snake today?

Ball Pythons
1.1 Normals het Caramel (Edward & Bella)
0.1 Normal 66% ph Caramel (Rosalie)
0.1 Caramel (Bellatrix)
1.0 Honey Bee (Aragog)
0.1 Hypo Pastel (Nagini)
0.1 Spider 66% ph Hypo(Nymphadora)
1.1 Mojaves (Lucius & Renesme)
0.1 Pastel Lesser (Narcissa)
0.1 Pinstripe (Arwen)
1.0 Pewter (Salazar)
0.1 Bumble Bee (Alice)
0.1 Lemonblast (Luna)
1.0 Bell Pastel (Jasper)
0.1 African Dinker (Esme)
0.1 Normal (Madame Olympe Maxime)
0.1 Het Pied
0.2 Normal Babies 66% ph Caramel
1.1 Pastel "Dinker" Babies (Snape & Madame Hooch)

Corns
1.1 Normals het Amel, Anery, Charcoal, Diffused, Hypo (Romeo & Juliet)
0.1 Blizzard het Diffused (Tumnus)
1.0 Blizzards poss het Anery, Hypo, Diffused
0.1 Anery Lavender het Amel (Lucy)
0.1 Plasma poss het Hypo (Victoria)
1.0 Plasma poss het Albino
1.0 Hypo Plasma
0.1 Opal (Jewel)
0.1 Amel Motley
0.1 Diffused poss het Anery
0.1 Diffused poss het Anery, Albino, Charcoal, Hypo
0.1 Lavender Motley poss het diffused
1.0 Charcoal Ghost poss het Anery, Albino, Diffused
0.1 Charcoal poss het Albino, Anery, Diffused, Hypo
0.1 Fire poss het Anery, Charcoal, Hypo (LeeLoo)
0.1 Normal het Albino, Lavender, Anery, Charcoal, poss het Diffused
1.0 Albino het Lavender, Anery, Charcoal, poss het Diffused

Hogs
1.1 Tri Color (Arthur & Molly)