Reptile & Amphibian Forums

who do you recommend the most and why? thanks
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1.0 alb. okeetee "Grissom"
1.0 American Pit Bull Terrier "Vanyel"
0.1 Somali "Willow"

Hmm Where to start....
A few I personally know and would recomend:
#1 NERD- Kevin is just the best person ever, his knowledge is second to none, his animals are even better.

#2 VPI- Tracy is the bomb! Shes one of the sweetest persons I have ever had a chance to talk with, her animals are also pure awesome, her skills are the best.

#3 RMJ Reptiles- John is a fantastic person, and he knows what hes doing, hes got a great facility, and a great selection of CB ball pythons.

#4 Outback Reptile- Ian is one of a kind, what can I say haha. Nice animals, nice prices. I deal with Ian quite a bit, and have always been very happy with my purchases.

#5 Joe Compel- I got a chance to meet Joe at White Plains last year, and I gotta say, hes a hell of a guy! I have always admired his animals, and we have communicated through emails, His animals are top notch.

#6 Steve Rousis- Just flat out a great person, and great animals. He takes pride in his collection and it shows through his animals. Selective breeding definately pays off and Steve has proven that time and time again.

#7 John Piro- Met John last January at the NARBC Philadelphia show. His animals were mind blowing gorgeous!! He was kind enuff to take the time to let me photograph some of his pastel lesser platties and I couldnt have been more thrilled.

#8 BHB Enterprize- Brian and Lori have always been very good to me. Brian has always sent me top notch animals. Just an all around great herptoculturist.

#9 Logan Enterprize- I got a lemon pastel from David a while back, and it was just pure awesome! Nice person to deal with.

#10 RDR- Never Met Ralph, never talked to Ralph, but his history in the Ball Python Craze says it all.

#?? There are tons of GREAT ball breeders out there. I wouldnt limit my purches to the ones listed above, I just know all of them on a personal level and wouldnt hesitate to buy from them.
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Sam Craver
Cage Crafters

HEY!!!!! What about me????? You said I was special LOL....

Great list.... There are some real good people on there...

Raul

Not all?
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RicK @ BbI

Ball Boutique,Inc.
Proud sponsor of this forum

To each their own...

My top two are in there.....

Raul

#11 Raul Gomez- Hes just the man! All the info you need is right there.

Dont worry bro you werent forgotten. I just figured everybody already knew about you.
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Sam Craver
Cage Crafters

Yeah I bet everyone does lol..

Raul

sorry im new to this forum ( been on the corn snake forums), i dont know any of these people. can you get me websites or failing that, emails? Thanks
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1.0 alb. okeetee "Grissom"
1.0 American Pit Bull Terrier "Vanyel"
0.1 Somali "Willow"

Look at the sponsor list at the top of this forum, there are links to a few. Also go to kingsnakes home page, most ar elisted in the breeders list as well.

Only dealt with 4 breeders... all were great.
1. Roussis reptiles- Steve is just an awsome person. I saw his "snake room" as he so modestly calls it. It was top notch, organized and you could eat off the floor... which is a good thing because when you see his animals that's where your tounge will be. Purchased a pair of 05 het pieds.

2. Graziani- Just recieved a huge healthy '05 male pastel from him. He (the snake)just wolfed down 2 rat pups for me tonight with only 2 days adjustment to his new home. Aside from being proffesional and helpful Greg breeds outrageous morphs.

3. MarcusJayne- out of Canada- one of the most helpful people, and so tolerant of stupid newbie questions. His web site is terrific and informative. I haven't actually purchased from him YET... but judging from his passion for ball pythons and photos, know I won't be dissapointed when I do.

4. Susquehanna ectotherms- Ted is an experienced reptile breeder. he has a tight collection of ball pythons and has a Nice layed back Super helpful attitude. I got a fabulous 04 female pastel from him. Ted goes to a lot of shows in the northeast.

if you go to "breeders/dealers/stores' section on KS you can find all web sites.
warning though -ball pythons are super addictive
Good luck!
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COLD BLOOD... WARM HEART

I have only delt with one of the big breeders.

Greg Graziani is 1 of the most helpful and knowledgable out there. He was the originator of several popular morphs and continues to produce new combos as of this years outrageous super cinamon pewter. Which Greg...how about a new picture before we see them at the show.
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Michael Enriquez

Here is my two cents.....

Dan and Colette Sutherland were very easy to talk to
they didn't try to pressure me, and answered a ton of
questions (usually within 24hrs.) before I even bought
two of my snakes from them (Nala and Rajah - what can
I say my wife loves Disney characters).

http://ballpython.com/page.php
email: info@ballpython.com

Then there is Ralph Davis he also answered a lot of my
questions (again within 24hrs.), and that collection of
his is out of this world.

http://www.ralphdavisreptiles.com/
ralph@ralphdavisreptiles.com

I'm sure there are ton of other GREAT breeders out there. I
have only dealt with these two, and it has always been a pleasure.

if you guys and lady are reading this THANKS FOR EVERYTHING ! ! !
and if you missed it my snake had eggs.. i'm just a little EXCITED!!!!
and it was awesome..

Brian Sharpe/Tony Hurt/Bob Clark/Mike Wilbanks....and i am sure there are many more but I can say I have talk to Brian and Mike and they are great...I have bought from Tony and he is awesome great animals supperior care! my opinion!

thanks Paul

There are many good breeders that have been named above
and some that haven't been named. The best thing to do is decide what you want and find out who produces quality animals of a given morph. Talk with the breeders and find someone you are comfortable with. Developing a good working relationship is very usefull to your success. Some of the up and coming "smaller breeders" are very good and you can do well with them also.

Regarding Peter Kahl I had to get in here and mention him. I know he doesn't promote himself as much as other people but in my opinion he has to mentioned in any list of the top ball python breeders. Now with the ability to produce Pied x morph combinations being proven I expect we will see an amazing amount of combination morphs produced by Pete in the next few years in addition to his other ball python projects.

Bill Kirby

I agree.But lets not forget the fantastic BOAS that are on the horizon.Pete has got some cool projects With balls and boas
Mike

Nerd - Kevin
Outback - Ian
RDR - Ralph
Reptile industries - Mark and Kim
Snake keepers - Sutherlands
BHB -Brian
Gulf Coast Reptiles
Rennisance
Hartford Breeding center
They would defently be in my top 10. Not nesseseraly in that order...

I have used some smaller breeders but they were great.

albinoballpythons.com where I got my albino, though I haven't seen snakes up for sale in awhile(in fact they still have the picture up of the one I bought) so not sure if they are still breeding

Camlon Reptiles camlonreptiles.com they rock, got my female 100% het albino from them, great snake. they also have a great collection to see in person at the shows.

and no one picked themselves, so I will say me!!
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Misty Sprouse Ball Pythons

The only person that I have done business with so far is Mark Mandic of Markus Jayne Ent. By far, puts out some amazing animals and is one of the best businessmen that I have ever done business with!

But it looks like I wont be getting a ball python after all. I dont know how the heck you guys afford them. I cant find a non-normal for under 2 grand anywhere, and the majority of the breeders are selling things for $7,000-$60,000. If i had that kind of money to throw around I would buy a friggin car and a down on a house. Geez
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1.0 alb. okeetee "Grissom"
1.0 American Pit Bull Terrier "Vanyel"
0.1 Somali "Willow"

What about a male pastel?
seems the market price for a male is around 700-1000$

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COLD BLOOD.........WARM HEART

Yep,they run around that.

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Charles Glaspie

Tanstaafl:
"There ain't no such thing as a free lunch".
An acronym created by my favorite author Robert A. Heinlein.

Buy a nice het for albino male.You may as well get an o5 hatchling(An o5 hatchling will cost around $100 to $300,depending on the source.).Unless you already have an adult female.(CBB females over 1500 grams are roughly $400 ,and climbing as we approach breeding season.)

Instead of waiting,just start raising some females.Look around and maybe get a deal on a big girl somewhere locally.Or at least of some size(and save a year or two)and breed them to that het albino male or het hypo or possible het caramel or possible het stripe(nevermind thats too high),or a possible het pied,or a possible het axanthic,or a possible het clown...

Remember...balls don't double clutch.

good luck
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Charles Glaspie

Tanstaafl:
"There ain't no such thing as a free lunch".
An acronym created by my favorite author Robert A. Heinlein.

LOL, everytime I hear 'double clutch' in here, I think SEMI RIG!!!

Quig

thank you. I wanted to breed corns and not balls but obviously if i want the colors i want i will have to.

Another Q.... why are normals het often priced the same or very very close to the thing theyre het for. I saw an albino het for 1750 or thereabouts.... or do i just get a normal and HOPE its het for something. i will be buying at a reptile show so hopefully prices will be more reasonable all around. thanks for the advice
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1.0 alb. okeetee "Grissom"
1.0 American Pit Bull Terrier "Vanyel"
0.1 Somali "Willow"

If it were a female het albino you were looking at...then i will bet it was probably alot bigger than a o5 hatchling.
Its ALL about the females,and hatchling prices are just that.Adult or sub-adult het females are always more costly than hatchlings.

Which is why i said to breed your own het males(much cheaper gene carriers)to some normal girls(and it's not to get lucky on anything the first season).
All the offspring from that het male to normal female pairings will have a 50% chance of being a het themselves.So keep all the girls,raise them,and breed them back to dad in two years or so.
Sounds like a long way to do it doesn't it?...well the real question is,will you still want one in the three years you could have produced it in?

I did this with two 50% possible het caramel males and two females this year....I'm not even garaunteed to have the gene,but if i do,then maybe the daughters i just hatched will too.All seven of them.I "could" be up to my elbows in caramels inside of what ?...4 years?...or not.
If i were to "start over" again.The only thing i can say is go with 100% het males.So you at least know you are working with a desired gene on your first project.
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Charles Glaspie

Tanstaafl:
"There ain't no such thing as a free lunch".
An acronym created by my favorite author Robert A. Heinlein.

interesting.... not familiar with snake genetics yet, so didnt know that a hidden can still come forward after several

say a male normal het for snow X normal female = normals and normal het snow? then breed a normal het snow back to dad and get snows? isnt that kind of inbreeding too close? then what do you do with those father X daughter offspring? cant breed them back to anything you have... gotta buy more snakes... how do you do it? keep several unrelated "family" groups?
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1.0 alb. okeetee "Grissom"
1.0 American Pit Bull Terrier "Vanyel"
0.1 Somali "Willow"

Thats how the term "recessive" gene comes into play.
It disappears visually when in heterogenous form.

A good visual explanation is a Super pastel and regular pastels(since they are co-dominate/inc-dom and not recessive).
Super pastel=homogenous and pastel=heterogeous.

When a het is bred to a normal...the offspring only have half a chance of getting the gene.Hence the term 50%er's.
So a het snow male (double het,albino and axanthic) bred to a normal female will produce offspring that have a 50% chance of catching either gene,(or neither gene).

One generation of inbreeding is referred to as linebreeding.
The best thing to do once you get your homogenous is to either breed it(to other normal females)and make hets to sell or sell it/trade it for a new blood line.

If i prove my own line of burgundy this season,well...i may be shopping for a Caramel soon!

btw:
"66%ers" Are the product of het to het breedings.Meaning,all normal looking offpring are two thirds chance het for the desired recessive trait.

Het to Het also produces eggs that have a 25% chance of being homogenous for the trait (Homogenous is,showing to be an albino or hypo or pied..or what have you.)

...and yes,we all have an army of females growing in the back room.

Good luck with your future projects.
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Charles Glaspie

Tanstaafl:
"There ain't no such thing as a free lunch".
An acronym created by my favorite author Robert A. Heinlein.

i dont understand this part "Super pastel=homogenous and pastel=heterogeous."

het for anything is going to be a normal....right? and hets dont ever effect what the animal looks like, it is always hidden. a het for pastel will look like a non het normal. hom means it HAS the trait, NOT that it is carrying it. so how can a snake be pastel het and LOOK like a pastel?? or maybe im not getting an essential fact

i am familiar with the (forget what its called) cube, but i do not understand co dom
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1.0 alb. okeetee "Grissom"
1.0 American Pit Bull Terrier "Vanyel"
0.1 Somali "Willow"

The confusion is that you are equating genotype and phenotype - what it's made up of and what it looks like and in your mind you need to completely seperate those when talking genetics (trust me on that it'll make it easier).

Homozygous means that the snake carries two of the same genes for the trait.

Heterozygous – means they have two different genes for a given trait.

A pastel is the heterozygous form because it carries one gene for wild type and one gene for pastel. A super pastel is Homo because it carries two genes for pastel. Not all hets look like (phenotype) wild type animals only those with recessive genes like albinos.

Hope this helps.
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Tosha

"One of these days i am going to wake up..look around...and realize my place looks more like "Ace Venturas"s than my own." Coldthumb

7.33.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and gang)
1.0.0 Angolan Python (Skywalker)
0.0.1 Green Tree Python
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Dessert Tortoise (Pope John Paul "JP"
2.2.1 Fish (1,2,3,4)
0.0.2 frogs rescued from pool skimmer
0.0.1 lizard rescued from vicious feline

You almost have it...

Traits that visually disappear when in heterogenous form are referred to as "recessive traits"...

Albino x normal,all are het.

Super pastel x normal,all are het(visibly,so it is a co-dom trait)

...when bred together they will make supers,so they ARE het for super pastel
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Charles Glaspie

Tanstaafl:
"There ain't no such thing as a free lunch".
An acronym created by my favorite author Robert A. Heinlein.