Fantasy Football, Ball Python Edition

Pythons Ball Pythons
1

How would you complete this line-up?

I don’t breed (yet? ever? I dunno?) but I enjoy my bps enough that I might one day, so followed the advice of a preference for females as pets. My kids and I enjoy this fun mental game, so thought we’d invite other players.

If you could pick JUST ONE male to match with all these ladies, what would you pick and why?

Nuclear, possibly also Vanilla
Banana
Pastel YB Orange dream
Fire with really nice dorsal stripe and very open pattern (I should probably post another thread asking how to replicate that pattern. She was sold to me as just Fire and probably is only that, but I’m in love with the big, bold pattern on her)

Who would you choose to match with all of them in the hopes of getting…?

4 Likes
2

would there be any hets?

2 Likes
3

Ghi, pastel, calico, DG
I just like how these genes interact with each other

2 Likes
4

No known hets. If you were going to breed a recessive in for hets, which one would you pick and why? What dream 2-generations-away snake would you be trying for?

2 Likes
5

I would probably go for DG as i like the brightness it adds. I was thinking pied but with those genes, i think it could accually take away from the effect rather than add to it.

The overall goal would probably be an Orange Dream pastel banana GHI calico with or without DG. Encase you can’t tell I don’t breed balls and don’t really ever plan on it as the market is wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy over saturated and I would prefer to work with less common species

4 Likes
6

I drive myself crazy because I overthink things so much. I don’t play fantasy football but I understand the concept. But for this scenario is it the most expensive/rare combo that “wins” or is it the one that would produce offspring that would sell faster? So basically, the combo may have a low probability of nailing the unicorn combo. So picking a partner that would produce high price offspring guaranteed rather than picking a partner that would require luck to produce that prize “unicorn” but if lacking the luck would produce offspring that won’t fetch as much money as the “sure thing” safer partner combo?
I am very unlucky when playing the odds game so I’d pick more certain outcome of several high-priced offspring vs. trying for that ultimate hatch. Kick for the safe bet extra point to tie or try for the 2 points to win?
I’ll post shortly once I pick my “safe” roster lineup lol

2 Likes
7

Ok so that was a challenge for me to pick what I thought would have the best chances of high value snakes without having to gamble on hitting that $40k one lol. I still have a ton more to learn about morphs. It’s funny because I had a hard time searching for a solid pick that would fit with the girls.

I came up with Stranger het Monsoon. Why? Because I like them and they would look great together, and both of those morphs command top dollar, plus the odds of getting a less desirable morph aren’t that high.

1 Like
8

For something you don’t see everyday I would do a visual recessive to add/keep value and something that would not create mostly plain white snakes,so no male with fire or with yellow belly to keep the other genes visual. That being said it would be nice to pick a morph that interacts with them! So I would say something like a clown,(for the recessive) asphalt(to interact with yellow belly without making a all white animal) and then disco(to interact with fire and your poss vanilla while keeping as much pattern as possible) then any other co dom gene you personally like(Mojave, cinny, carbon, ghi, ect. So if I had a choice I would go with a clown, disco, asphalt, (black head or carbon) that is of course if you could choose anything! Fun game!:rofl::+1:

3 Likes
9

Oops I meant visual Monsoon! Duh :crazy_face::woman_facepalming:

2 Likes
10

Some nice choices guys!
So, we have Pastel, Calico, DG, GHI. That’s a really nice option. I love DG for the brightness as well. Calico is beautiful and I’ve actually been looking for just the right GHI to add to my collection, whether in a combo or not, a high expression GHI is just gorgeous. One of the loveliest snakes I ever saw was a really beautifully marked GHI, Mojave, DG - a beautiful smoky gray snake with a bright yellow back stripe, the contrast was stunning (she was not for sale :frowning: )
Logar’s combo with my Pastel YB Orange dream made the calculator go crazy!! 64 potential combinations!
Out of curiosity, I did a search and there are currently NO snakes for sale that match Logar’s choice! If we drop the calico, there are a couple of combos, one with spotnose and one with enchi and fire. What do you think @logar , the spotnose? (still 64 possibilities, just from the one pairing :open_mouth:)

Gina5678 , those are some expensive tastes! I looked and there are no stranger monsoons, or even stranger het monsoons, so I think someone would have a breeding project right there, and someone might as well start with girls like mine and get additional co-doms in right from the start. Maybe someone much more experienced here will be inspired to start a Stranger Monsoon project, that would be awesome. I’d love to see that, especially mixed with Black Pastel, Fire and/or Orange Dream.

Banereptiles, so, Disco, Clown, Asphalt +. So, I searched and wow, Disco wasn’t really on my radar, but man, that makes some pretty combos! There’s a Disco Fire Clown girl up that is just stunning (I’m not in deep enough to pay that much for a snake, but stunning!) and a couple of really nice Disco Pinstripes, but again, not your chosen combo! (3 for 3, what are the odds!?!)

Thanks, it is a fun game! I hope some more people play. Harder than one might think to pick just one boy.

2 Likes
11

I’ll play as well!

Since all your females are common lower end morphs and the ball python market is already cluttered, I’d only breed to a high end male stacked with desirable traits to increase chances that the babies will find a home.

I’d go with GHI (or Leopard) Black Pastel Sunset

OR

Hypo Sunset with at least one or two interesting incomplete dominant traits (that are NOT pastel)

3 Likes
12

I just looked and the spotnose is crazy looking! I would be willing to bet that it would get even better as it ages. And imagine it with OD and YB! The colors on that would be insane! I definitely prefer the spotnose over the fire enchi but they are both really nice.

3 Likes
13

Don’t get me wrong, this is good advice if someone was like “Lookit my normal, I wanna breed” and hey, lots of people it is their fantasy to make really nice hets, but it does sort of skirt around the challenge of thinking “Hmm, what would go well with ALL of these (admittedly, yes, common) morphs??”

If it makes you feel better, rest assured if I ever breed, I would NOT be shopping for just one male that would hit everything, and for anyone reading, doing that is a really bad idea except as a fun mental challenge (in which case I think the fact that they are common ups the challenge level)
Actually, I’d probably shop for a really nice multi-gene visual recessive male for my Fire girl and a nice Albino Pied female for my Albino Mojave Calico male (my pets aren’t all girls, I get what is prettiest to me, with a lean towards the ladies) to start out for-realsies.

Question; did you pick Sunset because it is very likely to be the Next Big Thing and a rock solid investment, or, because you really love them and are dying to see a Banana Sunset?

Edited; I looked them up and Banana Sunsets exist, and tragically, aren’t that amazing. And someone, somewhere, needs to make a Sunset, GHI, Cinnamon, Fire

2 Likes
14

I would pair my Pastel Enchi Fire Orange dream Yellowbelly Vanilla Desert ghost dbl het axanthic pied 66% het clown.

Also the fire’s dorsal stripe is most likley polygenic so cant be replicated. Its just cool by chance. Like the ammount of white on a pied.

3 Likes
15

Wow, that is a serious male! I’d love to know if you’re working on a specific project with him.

I watched Wilbank’s Reptiles “Genetics with Jeff” series (wish they’d make more of those) and they discovered that when you make Enchi SuperFires, that’s when you get the BELs with those bright yellow spots and sometimes back stripe. I absolutely love those. If I bred any of those, I don’t think I’d be able to sell one of them, I’d just keep all of them for my greedy, greedy self. And that’s just one combo out of the massive amounts your fella could produce.
LOL, I hope you named him “Temptation”

I’mmsure you’re right about my girl. The only way to get more is to just breed like to like. But I’m sure that there are some genes those polygenic traits would enhance (maybe pinstripe?) and others that might not mix as well with her as with a fire with more normal markings (probably anything with a busy side pattern, like GHI) But, that’s just a theory, I could be totally wrong.

1 Like
16

It wasn’t skiritng around the challenge, I was factoring in what would look nice with practicality. You already have morphs with a lot of gold and yellow coloration (fire, orange dream, pastel, banana, etc), so sunset would enhance that color scheme, as well as adding marketability. Since you wouldn’t get in any visual sunset in the first generation, I suggested several dark morphs that might make visually interesting combos with what you have and with sunset down the line. People aren’t exactly lining up to get fire ball pythons, so even if this is mainly hypothetical, given you already have the females, if you’re determined to breed them adding in recessive powerhouse will help move the babies. And given what you have, I think sunset and/or hypo would be nice additions

3 Likes
17

My apologies. Now that you walked me through it, that’s flawless logic.
I do have a lot of lighter color animals, they really appeal to me, although the combos do tend to just fade out to pale. Like, a really nicely marked GHI is stunning, but in banana or albino, it just turns into a yellow-on-yellow snake, so I see what you mean.

But (lol, reserving the right to feel differently in 5 years) Sunset really doesn’t appeal to me much. What do you think of your plan with … Monarch. Monarch with some Leopard, Mahogany or Black Pastel?

2 Likes