Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm new to the world of ball pythons, I just got my first about a year ago. I'm thinking about breeding them as a hobby. Right now I have a male and a female both should be ready to breed next season.

So, on top of breeding your standard ball pythons I'd like to get into breeding a few morphs. Does anyone have any recommendations as to what is a good morph to start breeding, or anything information, advice on breeding them? I've done alot of research online but would like to hear from someone who has done it a few times. Thanks a lot.

I also forgot. I'm thinking about building my own rack for both adults and hatchlings. I have 1 female right now so how many tubs should I plan to have for hatchlings? and what size? What's the best heating option? Heat tape? Can I use that on wood? I'm afraid of setting my house on fire.

Also, I was thinking it would be rather dark for the snakes in a rack system. I've only ever used aquariums but as my collection is budding I don't think that wil work for much longer. Do I need to add flourescent lights for daylight hours? Thanks in advance.

here are a couple of things that I've learned that may be useful:

1. Don't over invest - start out with normals or pastels or hets. Things happen; they don't breed, they don't ovulate, they slug out, the eggs don't make it, or you stress out the whole time and don't enjoy the expereince at all. If you're not heavily in debt or relying on that clutch to pay the credit card bills then you can relax and enjoy and if you don't like it, things didn't go your way, change your mind - it's not too hard to back out and find something else more suited to your liking.

2. What works for "everyone else" doesn't guarantee that it will work for you. These are animals and they don't just do what you want them to do. It's certainly not rocket science but it's still unpredictable.

3. Ball python people don't always agree on the best method for anything.

4. Use your resources - they can be invaluable.

As for your other questions

One female can produce 1-18 offspring they average 4-8. Once she lays the eggs you'll have a better idea about how many tubs you need. I start my hatchlings in 4qt tubs just big enough for a small hide and water bowl. They seem to do well. After a couple of months they are moved up to a bigger tub then to an adult tub. Heat tape works the best (IMO) and we have ours recessed into the melemine and have had no incidences, keep it on a thermostat and you should be ok. Dont worry about lighting the rack - snakes don't like light - they spend 90% of their natural life burried deep in the ground and are nocturnal - they have little use for artificial lights - during cycling you'll need to adjust the room lighting to mimic natural daylight hours - some people don't think this is necessarily true others do.

Anyway - hope this helped a bit.
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Tosha

"Nihil facimus sed id bene facimus"

10.35.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and gang)
1.0.0 Angolan Python (Anakin Skywalker)
0.0.1 Green Tree Python (Verdi - yeah I know but my kids love the book)
0.1.0 Bredls Python (Smurfette)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Desert Tortoise (Pope John Paul aka JP )
2.2.1 Fish (1,2,3,4)
0.0.1 Lizard rescued from feline
0.0.0 frogs rescued from pool skimmer

learn and learn and learn. That's how you'll get better and be more successful.

Life is a journey, not a destination. Enjoy this trip! The BP trip.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles