Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

First and foremost, I think of my guys 24/7, and drive my wife nuts with boa talk. My friends don't seem to understand my addiction. HELP!!!!! Am I the right person who should consider breeding down the road? The thing that makes me nervous is if it has 20 babies and then not being able to sell them off. It's not so much that I want to sell them for profit, but just to have the experience of being a proud papa of these beautiful newborn babies. Is there an addiction hotline or should I just take the plunge and take my chances? Can someone give me the negatives of having babies?

Thanks,
Your friendly neighborhood clownloach

I only wanted to say that I respect your question and concern about possibly creating excess boas. I wonder about the same thing at times.. I know our human population is always increasing (and even at an exponential rate) so I guess I kinda justify my desire to breed boas with the belief that there are always more and more people to buy and care for them.. not sure how good that logic is, but I think you have raised a very good question for all of us to consider.. Hmmmm.. (pondering..)

Patrick

NP

Some of the negatives. First you have to be ready to house X number of babies atleast until they eat. This could be costly depending how you house them. Second, you could lose an animal before or during the babies birth. Many Breeders see this as a financial loss, but if she is your beloved pet it is a lot more. Third you will not be able to get rid of them all, you will see one or two you cannot part with and that can lead to a collection that grows even faster then you want.If that is possible.
Some of the plusses, Pick of the litter. A feeling of acomplishment, doing something many keepers never get to do. Possibly a small boost to your income(don't count on it though). And finally your collection growing by leaps and bounds. LOL
I would say if you think you are ready to try, breed one female and see how that goes. Good luck with whatever you decide. Craig

..

Many good things have been brought up already. Here's my spin on it.

Should you breed your animals? I guess it really depends on how much you want to experience "the experience". I think if you want to try it.........You should. Expect to shell out some cash at some point in the process. Babies need to be housed and fed. And, you're right....It may take a while to sell the babies. Will you have space for that? Or, you can wholesale the babies if you are not expecting much money at all. There usually are people who are willing to buy babies at wholesale prices.

Are you willing to deal with the public? Selling babies isn't always a nice clean process. Babies can die in the shipping process, people could try and rip you off, people can slander you name, etc.

I'm not trying to be pessimistic. Just portraying possibilities is all.

I personally want to breed some of my animals. I use to not want to. But, my curiosity is getting the better of me and I would love to see what my animals can produce. I have a female that is pregnant right now so hopefully everything will work out. And, if it does...........I will be VERY excited about the possibilities.

There are tough times associated with breeding at times though. There are complications that can occur and possibily kill you female. Or, recquire a male or female to recquire a quick vet visit.
Last year I had a female that was pregnant and had her babies prematurely. It rocked me pretty hard. Some of the babies were still living and I saw them pass. It really brought me down for quite some time.
If I have problems with this girl I might just not try again. I love my animals very much and generally hate the breeding process. Don't get me wrong it is really FUN to witness spurring and copulation. It's fun to see a female ovulate!! It's a great process. I just hate not being able to touch my boas for that time period. So, if it doesn't work out.........I just might not try again.

Personally I would say go for it. If you only try it once.....I am sure it will be worth it to you.
Excuse the typos and such....I am exausted.
Hope this helps.
John
-----
"To be the best..........You must lose your mind."

as a hobbiest who decided to breed... it was a big decision.
I started keeping snakes in 98 and decided to breed in 2002.
I made a mistake in the sexes of the boas and didn't get any
babies (2 females can't breed as much as they try lol)
Anyways, I tried again in 2003 and was much more successful!
I had the good fortune of having 2 litters from 2 of my
adult females. I had prepped and boughten supplies as soon as
I saw the male was doing his job. I bought 50 small baby-size
(shoe-box) rubbermaids and enough heating pads and extension
cords as I would need. I also raided the local goodwills and
99 cent stores for little dishes to use as hides and water bowls.
It was (and still is) a lot of work. Both of the litters were
born 8/03, and you know what? I still have all of the
surviving babies!

There are always the pitts too, I had a few underdeveloped that
died and 2 that were runts/twins, I'm holding one in
my hand in the picture, one died after a while and never
shed. It's brother shed and was eating and seemed fine then
one day was dead... it's heartbreaking at times, but also
wonderful to see the strong survivers growing and getting more
colorful.

I just now started to sell as I did not have internet
access for such a long time. They don't sell as fast as
you might hope! lol Also feeding and cleaning over 35 babies
is work! If I could do it over, I'd have only bred one
female for my first time, I just didn't think that both of
the females I tried would actually have babies!
I didn't breed anything this season for 2 reasons, I wanted
to give my big girls a year off (and my other female is just
waiting).. and I wanted to give myself a year off to just try to
concentrate on finding homes for the babies I have now.
I do plan to breed again, I have wanted to be a part-time
hobbiest-breeder since about 2000 and I hope to make it work.
I planned to only keep 2 babies (1 from each litter) but I
may end up with more.

all in the love of boas,
good luck with whatever you decide to do!
-April
(ps, the worry about losing a female in the breeding process
is a big BIG stress, I was so worried about both of my girls
as it was their first litters, and it's something you would
have to accept as a possibilty and be ok with that in case one
or more of the adults does die)

If you're a confessed snake addict then I think breeding is almost inevidable. It's just another part of the sickness... Feeding/cleaning babies is easy so just don't overlook the actual 'business' aspects of it all. Dealing with customers, processing/packing shipments, taking tons of photos, maintaining a web site, etc. These are all things that can take up ALOT if not ALL of your free time depending on how serious you become. Always best to start with a few animals and have small successes before diving in and spending the kids college fund.

>>Hi,
>>
>>First and foremost, I think of my guys 24/7, and drive my wife nuts with boa talk. My friends don't seem to understand my addiction. HELP!!!!! Am I the right person who should consider breeding down the road? The thing that makes me nervous is if it has 20 babies and then not being able to sell them off. It's not so much that I want to sell them for profit, but just to have the experience of being a proud papa of these beautiful newborn babies. Is there an addiction hotline or should I just take the plunge and take my chances? Can someone give me the negatives of having babies?
>>
>>Thanks,
>>Your friendly neighborhood clownloach