Hi all am researching what to breed WHY so much choice . Spent all night trying to work out what to do. I did fall in love when i seen the Piebald 19 years ago. Any advise welcome
Breed what you like and youโll be happy.
They are awesome nice one
What is your goal with breeding? Are you doing it as a hobby that hopefully will pay itself? Doing it with the hopes of way down the line turning it into a business? Doing just to see if you can?
Canโt go wrong with pied though no matter the goal.
Hey, my personal advice is donโt rush into it too fast. Itโs been 4 years since I got my first ball python and Iโm still learning and refining what it is I really want to do with the hobby. Iโm glad I managed to resist the urge to buy a ton immediately and instead filled out my racks gradually.
My personal advice from a hobby standpoint is to find one female you are absolutely crazy about and buy her. Then spend the next year just looking at what else is out there (no buying!) This will let you find out if you actually like keeping ball pythons and want the responsibility for caring for entire racks of them. And it gives you time to really find out the projects you want to work on without falling behind (your girl will be growing and no time lost since your male doesnโt need to be as old.)
As your female turns one year old, then with all the new knowledge you have, buy a male and another female to start growing up. Then start thinking about plans for breeding that are 5+ years out, and slowly add the genes in the optimum combinations and sexes to achieve that. Adding females earlier than males.
For my breeding my goal is to take a couple projects in directions Iโm not seeing them go currently, and that I think will make amazing combos. Hopefully Iโll get to the point that it pays for itself, but the first clutch doesnโt come until year 3 at least. And the first clutch isnโt going to usually pay for all your investment in racks, thermostats, snake genetics, incubators, food, vet visits, etc. etc. That initial investment is substantial. So break-even, at least for me, is probably not until year 5 or 6. But the hope is that because Iโm buying into quality projects that I believe in, that once Iโm past break even it will pay for the recurring costs and reinvestment into one or two new snakes year after year. But Iโm definitely not going to be able to even think about quitting my day job for it.
if you are starting with hatchlings and growing them up to breed make sure to get good photos of the parents. If you are getting breeding adults make sure you get the best representation of the morphs you are looking for. For example I have 2 pastel clowns, one a female I got from a member on here and one I got from a friend that was getting shipped out for an extended tour. The one I got from the member of MM has browned out very little along the dorsal area the yellows on the sides if anything have gotten a bit brighter yellow. The other one has browned out significantly and the yellows along the sides are more olive drab green.
For me I want to produce snakes whose colors either remain or improve with age either in vibrancy or contrast.