Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all,

I have cared for reptiles, mainly snakes, on and off for about 14 years. I always wanted to breed pythons, but my parents did not approve while living under their roof, lol. Now that I am married and have a beautiful 4 year old daughter, I FINALLY am going to fulfill my 14 year old fantasy. OK, enough background.

I recently aquired a 100% het albino male that is a four year old proven breeder. I do not yet have a female. I can not afford an albino female or het for that matter, so I am going to hunt for a 50/66% het adult female that is resonably priced. More than likely I will have to wait until next season, but I am curious when the preferred time to start the cool down process would be? Here in Louisiana it is just starting to get cool averaging 50's at night and up to 80's during the day. Also, is light cycles a must to provoke courting rituals? The only experience I have had with breeding is with common redtail boas, and I had to get rid of the female before the babys were born ( wife was pregnant and we decided to get rid of snakes until our daughter was born and older ).

I heard that balls will mate more than once per year. Is this true? If so is this recommended? For those of you that do breeding as a hobby, how hard is it to sell the babies? I would imagine it is harder to sell morphs because of the price tag, no?

Any information from cooling to incubating to temperatures would be most appreciated. I missed not owning snakes the last 3 years ( if ya can not tell, Bahahah ) and am thrilled to be the proud owner of:

1.0 het albino ball
0.1 normal burmese

TIA and good luck on your herp projects everyone!!!

Todd G.

I worry about just one part of your plan. One must wonder about the ACTUAL likelihood of there being the albino gene in a POSSIBLE het ADULT snake. If I keep a snake for three years, hoping that the investment would pay off, I'm not going to sell it after investing 3 years' worth of mice, rats, space, bedding, opportunity cost, etc. until I know whether that gene is there! I mean, it couldn't possibly sell for more than I've spent on it. I imagine some people, having missed on such an investment, may try to recoup some of their costs by using the same selling point as was attached the snake when they bought it. Never mind that they are pretty darn sure that they aren't selling you anything special.

Just a thought.

That's an excellent point. When a "possible het" reaches breeding age, it will most likely be Proven to either be 100% het or 100% normal. However, there could be breeders out there who have 50% or 66% hets left over from older clutches that just never sold. Unlikely that they would reach breeding age before being sold...but possible, I guess.

This is a page I put together to give a visual guide to breeding.

Hope this helps.

MJ
Breeding Pictorial

n/p

Thanks for the link Markus!!!

In regards to the possible het question:

Yes, I am aware of the risk involved, but I am not doing this as profession. It really boils down to one question; will my wife freak if I spend $650 on a python, LOL!!! I am greatful that she loves reptiles. The truth is I would surely like to increase the odds of an albino, but for now I am trying to get as much info as possible for a successful breed. Maybe I will have to keep my eyes open for a juvenile possible het female to better my odds and attempt breeding next year. Hmmm, I appreciate your concern and acknowledging the risk with a possible het.

Any tips for breeding? I have spoken with a few people that claim balls are not the easiest, so any tips would be most appreciated. Thanks again everyone! Looking forward to checking out your link Markus. Also, I love the pics of everyone's balls - LOL!!!

TIA,
ToddG

Todd,

Good luck with your projects. Keep us updated as you go!

Just another thought: I know how hard it can be to try to scrape enough money together to fund breeding projects. Have you thought about getting an adult female and making your own possible hets? You could sell some of the extras to recoup your costs along the way. Perhaps someone already has a het or possible het who wouldn't mind "partnering" on a breeding project with you. Just a thought. It never hurts to ask some of the people in your area. Maybe there's a Herp. society in your area that could be a prime networking opportunity.

Again, good luck, welcome, and thanks for sharing your plans with us! I hope I've been able to help. Sometimes when I'm just trying to help, I wind up "raining" on someone's parade! Hope that isn't the case here.

Brian