Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I want to breed JCPs, my mom will help me. This is an investment and I want to sell the babies so I can buy more snakes. I was wondering if you could help me and tellme about how to sell the babies. Who do you sell them to? This is my first time breeding snakes. I've never bred a snake in my life. I was wondering if anyone could tell me some things I should know.

Thank you,
Nikolai

Hello, my first question to you is: Do you already own the snakes in question? If the answer is no, what do you intend to purchase (juvenile,yearling,adult)? I am sure that after you answer these simple questions more people will be able to help you.

We are buying an adult male today, we are still looking for a good female. So the answer to your question is we will be getting adults.

Thank you for your reply and I hope that you can help some more.

Nikolai

First off you should be looking at owning snakes as more than an "investment". If your looking to make money then open an IRA and put your money in there. You should have some desire to learn about the snakes and how to care for them, then down the road think about maybe breeding them and trying to sell the babies. You need to invest in exceptional adults to even have a chance at selling your babies for a profit and exceptional adults are Very Very hard to come by. To be honest unless your mother is going to play the major role in the caring of the snakes than I would say it is a bad idea for you to get involved at your age, especially starting out with adults. I would suggest buying a nice pair of hatchlings and raising them up yourself and breeding them when your 12. It's great to see a young person interested, but your first question shouldn't be "how do I sell babies?"

Hello, I am Nikolais mother. I will be playing a major part in helping with the snake. I have done months of research on JCPs. We already own a corn snake and a kingsnake. This project is in conjunction with that. His homework was to start a business. He saved his money for over a year to buy a JCP and all of the acsesories because he loves them. All of you know how much money that is, he is only eight but very committed to getting this snake. I do know a great deal about this snake however I like my so have never bred them, and not all the research in the world will prepare us for everything, so we do hope you can support us in our project and help it be a positive expirience for both us and the snakes.

Thank you for your time,
Tiffany
-----
Tiffany

>>Hello, I am Nikolais mother. I will be playing a major part in helping with the snake. I have done months of research on JCPs. We already own a corn snake and a kingsnake.

OOPS! After this line I meant to say I homeschool my children. Homeschooling is what this is in conjunction with.
-----
Tiffany

Hey, I must say I agree with BrianD as to the fact your first questions should have nothing to do with selling offspring from snakes you do not possess.That being said I believe what you are doing with your child is great, I started a corn snake colony for my 4 yr. old daughter and these days I have a 3yr. old future herpetologist and 7 yr. old future herper.I keep the JCP's to myself for the simple fact as when they are young they tend to be nippy and I try to avoid anything that would intimidate my daughters at this point(although my older daughter took a fairly nasty bite from her mothers ball python last year and she still wants more!!!)With proper supervision and a well behaved adult pair of JCP's I think this would be a great project for you guys to do together. I trust larger carpets as much or more than I would trust any Ball,Boa,or Burm. They still demand respect as an adult could prove dangerous as in your case to an 8 yr. old child so please keep a close eye on and do not leave your child unattended when working with any Boid regardless of size. Just a couple of my pennies.

Thank you very much for your input. I just want to comment on Nikolai's question about selling offspring. I wanted him to know what he was getting into before he got there. I believe it would be extremely unresponsable of us to mate JCPs get a whole bunch of babies and then have no idea what to do with them. Perhaps the wording of his post is what concerned you, if so keep in mind that he is eight.

Reading this over I sound a bit combative. That is not my objective, please don't take it that way.
-----
Tiffany

who taught your son to type like that? he has some crazy good typing and grammar skills.
-----
0.1 "Tremper" looking Albino Leopard gecko (Lex)
0.0.1 normal ball python (felix)
1.1 Feral cats that we adopted (Fuzzy, and Bear)

"There are six genes which determine the amount of melanism present in a person's skink"-meretseger

His grammar/words, my typing.
-----
Tiffany

As I do agree with the others in that selling babies shouldn't be priority number one, I am amazed at what you are doing for your son. I have a 5 year old niece who absolutely loves my snakes and am thrilled about that. To have your son thinking about breeding at 8 is insane. . . but a great kind of insane! I do think his main focus should be in husbandry, first, selling later-- if ever.

I have never bred a snake, but as a buyer of some pretty expensive animals, I have to say that what I want to see in a breeder is commitment to the animals. That is what will make me buy a snake. When I ask questions about a specific animal, I need specific answers. I really appreciate information about the snake I want to buy, not hype about what it looks like.

So, in a nutshell, I would reccomend you and your son breed the animals, and know and really care for the babies. Know which ones eat and which don't. Take care of the babies first and foremost. Have answers to every question ready about the parents. Foster a love for the snakes in your son and your problem won't be selling them, it will be keeping them. Just my opinion.

Thats the coolest thing ive seen in awhile, your breeding snakes with your son! Obviously you seem willing to do your homework, no pun, and i think its great. I would also suggest purchasing a decent adult with some type of documented history from someone who knows what their doing. Once you have your breeders, understand you will need racks, or some type of caging for tyhe neonates. You will also need an incubator to heat the eggs. Along with that comes thermostats and heaters to properly regulate egg temps. The Kingsnake classifieds might be a place to start as far as offspring sales, if you are successful to that point. Also id make room in the freezer for a few packs of frozen pinks cuz those little guys gotta eat! A good friend of mine has had some success breeding IJCP's, and they seem to be a pretty hardy snake. Just keep records of feeds, sheds, and even defecations. The more info you can provide about your cbb pythons the better. It shows dedication, and that the purchaser is receiving a well-started, cared-for animal. I wish you all the luck in the world.

Hi Nikolai,

I think what you and your Mom are doing is a great idea. First of all, YOU ROCK for saving enough money to buy a pair of JCP's!!!!! To answer your question about selling the babies, my first choice would be a local reptile expo. Check with your local herp society or Reptiles Magazine for the closest expo and table rates. Make sure you can make at least enough money to pay for the table (that's the way bussiness works eh?) After the babies are born take extra good care of them until the expo comes. If you can't afford a breeder rack (like I couldn't) Get a 20 gallon breeder cage to house them in and a plastic tub. Take them out one at a time and feed them in the tub, then put them back in the cage. I you can't get to an expo, try your local pet stores for sales. Have your Mom explain your project and you will get the sales I'm sure. If you still have some left over, then try the internet classifieds. Make sure when you place your add the potential buyer knows they have to pick up the snake in person. It will save you alot of headaches. I was breeding snakes at your age, I know you can do it. Good luck with your project and keep me posted on how it is going!

Hell0, It is me Nikolai again. Thank you for the tip on feeding the neonates. There are some expos coming up around here and we are going to check them out. I have never been to an expo before. Can you tell me good places to find a good female? We don't have one yet, that is why I am asking you. Maybe we will find one at the expo.

Thank you, and have a good week.