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out of curiousity. Lets say we're talking about breeding hets of a high end morph, How many normal female mates can a high priced male have?

>>out of curiousity. Lets say we're talking about breeding hets of a high end morph, How many normal female mates can a high priced male have?

If i invest a lot in a special male I strive for five or six females to breed to him, and i've gone as high as 8-10 when a male sustained his sperm production at suitable levels.

I also always keep a backup male when assembling projects of this sort. I have two snow males, for example. The backup doesn't have to be as good a genotype as the primary male, but you don't want to end up with a male that dies, grows more slowly than the females, or doesn't want to breed or is infertile his first season, and instead of only THAT snake being "lost" for the season you "lose" the production from four or five females, too. The backup serves the obvious function.

terry
albino tricolors

that need for a backup male is one thing that makes triple-het males so desirable: a single triple het male can serve as a "double het" backup male for a snow project, or a ghost project, or a hybino project, plus serving as a male that's het for albino, or het/anery, or het/hypo, as needed.
terry

A good male can service quite a harem!

Very good points on your back up male, I never thought of that.