Banana enchi pairing

Anyone have any recommendations for pairing with a male banana enchi ? I’m looking into wanting to breed for the first time if not this year next year and just learn all the things that need learned ! There’s a ton of options but what would be a cool pair for a first timer ? Thanks in advance.

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So a couple of things first off. Regardless of just ‘the experience’ or wanting to do this as a hobby…

Do remember the market is oversaturated right now. You may have a hard time finding homes for the babies if not careful. Especially with the more common genes or single gene animals. You may end up selling them to a pet store for wholesale prices. Like 10$ for a banana enchi.

You should know of a licensed exotics vet in your area before any problems arise. Anything like a prolapsed hemipene or ovarian duct or eggbinding that would be emergencies in the adults or anything that can happen with hatchlings will be able to be taken care of faster that way.

You will not be breeding next year if you are buying a hatchling female. They are recommended to be at least 2 years old and 1200g or more before pairing. Some females won’t even ovulate their first breeding year or two as well so it can be a 3 or 4 year case sometimes.
Also, not all males will breed their first year even if they’re the right size. Some females will even reject certain males.

Look into what YOU want to breed. Banana and Enchi are very versatile genes. Personally I like enchi both in their complex with cinnamon or Blk pastel or with any of the BEL genes. Banana can also work well with any of those. But if you’re not interested in it then why put your energy and the animal’s energy into it?
Browse around on the sales side with Banana and enchi in the traits section. You can see many different combos that way. See one you like? Awesome. Try to find a partner with the other genes.

It’s easy to say you want to do this and get started. But be prepared knowing the advice above.

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I would like to second literally everything Christia said.

I produced 2 clutches this year and out of 12 babies I’ve hatched, I’ve only truly sold two of the babies. Two I literally gave to a friend who was more than capable of purchasing them simply because I knew they were going to a home that would keep them for their entire lives and they’d be cared for properly and well above the “minimum” that so many people have.

I have had these babies posted since mid-late August, and they hatched out at the beginning of June. Nothing crazy, just some hypo 50% het pied stuff, but even cutting prices and advertising heavily online and locally, I only moved the two “valuable” babies of the group - female ghi hypo 50% het pied. Sure, I have been holding back most of the dinker clutch, but one baby has a kink, another is an inconsistent eater, and a third is my true holdback. Blue, the kink baby, is finally approaching 50g and starting to look like a normal fresh sized baby. He hatched out around 30g, fell to mid 20s due to multiple refusals of meals even with force feeding, and at one point, I genuinely thought he just was not compatible with life. Even after consulting with my vets, we agreed that he was worth a shot. He’s thriving now, sure, but not every story is like this.

You will have animals drop dead. You will have issues. You will come across animals that are not breeding quality and must be placed in pet only homes regardless of value.

Money and emotional toll aside, adding more animals equals more time dedication as well. Can you take on the additional care requirements of say, 10 snakes? Most hatchlings have to start on live food and eventually switch to frozen. Do you have the space and resources to breed your own feeders, or have a local supplier where you can make the drive every 5-7 days to get these babies going? Find someone who will teach you hands on rather than jumping in impulsively. Study the market - what moves reliably, and what sits for months and months on end? Can you provide appropriate care for an entire clutch for potentially their entire lives? There’s so much more to breeding than we see on social media for example. Most people have more than just their set of hands doing work. It can become a full time commitment depending on the scale of the operation. I started my collection at 17. I worked 40+ hours in high school to support myself and to make these purchases.

Take it slow. Be sure of your market. Be prepared to care for these animals longer than anticipated. The US market is stagnating right now due to winter time and the recent change in leadership meaning changing policies and regulations. Everything has slowed down. But you have to be certain you can handle bringing in new life in this world, in giving them the best chance at not just surviving, but thriving.

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Hi @criney221 and welcome to the community :slight_smile:
The above 2 comments are similar situation in the UK where I am and i agree entirely.
As a result I decided last year to focus on developing and improving a few bloodlines instead.
That involves deliberately holding back all hatchlings, watching how the colours develop and slowly letting one go at a time. That way I am in no rush to sell and happy to hold on to them for months/years. It also means not breeding everything.
I used to always hold back the best anyway but some change as they grow so the best way to see how much they change is to wait.
Maybe that’s worth considering as a plan.
As for a pairing, how about super lesser. that way you will have no normals.

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Thank you so much for all the advise. I do know the female needs to weigh a certain weight before anything it’s something that I have been interested in for awhile. Here in north Texas I have a couple of exotic vets. Although I’ve never breed BP I know somewhat the circumstances of the importance of it and still would like to learn a lot more of it. I did not plan on doing anything this year and or possibly not even next year. I want to have fun with it all learn and just enjoy cause I love animals. I’ve kept African grey parrots, grown saltwater coral SPS soft coral LPS everything. Kept very nice fish too. A ton goes into it and having a fully automated system so I’m very in touch with not only Cost but time management upkeep good husbandry etc etc … I’m looking forward to what happens and will definitely be posting here more often as needed. !

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Thanks ! Thank you for all that and the advice. It’s definitely a lot to look into. But I think I’ve settle with what I’d like and I don’t care to sell these snakes I mean eventually yes I will but I want to learn and see how things develop etc. I was thinking banana het piebald and get a super banana enchi het piebald ?

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Yes good choice, I like super bananas.
A few breeders say the het pied ones have better colours.
Anyway here is my male for fun

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That’ll a lovely animal Barry! And is that your fur baby in the background? :blush:

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That’s great advice for any up and coming new snake breeder! :+1:

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Yes, she manages to get in most snake pictures in the garden :roll_eyes:

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Awwww! As she should!!! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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Super lesser/butter is known for eye issues. Additionally, lesser/butter pieds also have these issues. If you want a white snake, there amore more options that don’t risk the eye issues. Especially with the suggestion of (het) pied being thrown around… It makes me uneasy. BELs are also pretty common in the pet market, so they could be an option to explore if one is focusing on their local pet keepers - but not without due diligence and research.

You can pick up on a lot of these trends literally just scrolling active and archived ads on MM - what kinks, duckbills, throws large or small eyes… And there’s also discord servers out there like one I admin that have dedicated resources that track these defects. They’re updated regularly and even if there’s no concrete evidence, if anyone sees something that might be an issue, we document it. Knowledge should not be hoarded, it should be shared.

Ball pythons are notoriously easy to breed. Why do you think there’s so many? I know it might seem hypocritical coming from someone who’s hatched out balls, but I genuinely believe I’m taking off the 2025 season. Maybe a single pair of cresteds that I’ve been waiting for a couple years IF they’re both receptive. If not? Well, I have plenty of space for my animals to grow, mature, and recover. If 2026 is a good year for pairing for me, cool. If not? Whatever.

TLDR: do research please!!! Seek out others in the community and pick their brains. Find groups that have similar ethics to your own. Be willing to learn, adapt, and grow. I would be plenty open to DMs if you’d like. That goes for anyone. I mean, I blame Kayla (Inspiration Exotics) for getting me into ball pythons because it’s exactly what she did. She educated me, she shared information with me, and taught me that having a code of ethics that focuses on these critters is what’s important to me. Find what’s important to you and run with it.

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Did you mean to reply to me? I have done my research and am aware of bug eye, but not all super lessers have this. I have one without bug eye. Its a bit harsh to criticise my ethics.
Also the OP wont be able to create a super lesser or Pied with a male banana.

@ascended Many BEL Pieds do hatch with bead eyes. More of them on the market than I ever see with bug eyes. And it’s all BEL not just super lesser/butter.
Albino BELs have the same issue but just haven’t been flagged as often.

@graveyardsnakes I agree. If any allelic combo BEL is considered, I do not recommend mixing in pied. Bead eye or no eyes is too risky for me. Single gene Mojave or lesser maybe, but I wouldn’t want to push anything else. And yeah as said above, albino BELs also nono.
There’s also a morph issues post here that gets updated when new issues pop up. It’s just a matter of doing the reporting I think.
However the main question was regarding a banana enchi and Ascended did say Super banana het pied. The super lesser/butter suggestion was for a pickup idea before het pied was brought up by OP. As long as the offspring aren’t line bred and the original purchase isn’t bug eyed, I don’t see an issue with breeding that out to cross with another BEL gene later if pied is no longer an option.

@criney221 I wouldn’t bother buying anything that is not a visual recessive. Het pied means half of the offspring would not be het pied. You would need to genetic test to find out which ones are. The offspring would be considered 50% het pied since it’s a 50/50 chance they have the gene.
Any #% het means it’s a gamble. You may end up with a snake with no recessive gene.

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I did not dispute that but the OP can not create a pied with his male
Edit, I said Not all Super lessers have bug eyes (big eyes) I didnt mention pied or bead eyes

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Anyway I will withdraw from this thread if people are going to treat me like a noob with no research or ethics. Slander me all you want.

Please read the part where I defended your comment to graveyard =\

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Ok apologies armiyana

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I mostly just @'d you to say that the pied issue is more prevalent than it is with just super lesser bug eyes. I added the rest of the info moreso for Criney’s benefit, so I’m sorry if it came off the wrong way.

As far as the criticism, I’m not sure how Grave meant to tag. It was a bit pointed and yeah that sucks. Hopefully they see the error in the tone they posted and the tag to you. It does come off a bit accusatory and less knowledge sharing.

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Thanks. yes I guess that made me over defensive.
Anyway to lighten things here is one of my 2023 supper lesser X super banana hatchling hold backs grown on-

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