Help with gene combo

Pythons Ball Pythons
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Hey guys.

I want to try my first pairing, i think its fascinating. I enjoy the brighter genes like pastel, banana, od etc, but also the effect of enchi. I just bought a high intensity OD fire het clown female. What genes do you guys recommend for the male?

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Before others jump in here and tell you why you shouldn’t breed just to breed, I’ll answer your question. Since you like Banana OD and the effect of enchi, the male I’d get would be a banana yellow belly enchi clown or het clown.

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Thx for your reply :+1:

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You may have already done a lot of research, but I wanted to jump and share a few things that might be helpful as you consider breeding:

  1. In the current ball python market, small scale breeding is not profitable. While there are still buyers out there, the cost per snake has dropped significantly over the last 2 years- even snakes with 4-5 visual genes may only bring in $200-$250 (depending on the genetics). The guys making money on ball pythons are the ones producing first-of-its-kind genetics, sometimes triple-visual het genes. In short, if you’re hoping for a side-gig, this is not your golden ticket.
  2. If you’re looking to breed to add neat combos to your collection, make sure you’re fully aware of your genetic combination odds. A lot of people will jump into breeding an OD Fire het clown with an Enchi Het Clown and expect to get OD Fire Clowns. The reality is that you’re far more likely to get single-gene OD het clown, or single-gene Enchi het clown, with a longshot at an OD clown or OD Enchi clown. Recessive traits are visually stunning, but the odds go way down when you’re dealing with Hets.
  3. Setting up an incubator that has proper ventilation and humidty levels isn’t cheap. If you’re going to do it, you want to make sure you’ve got your temps and humdity holding strong, at least a month before you get eggs.
  4. Make sure your females are at least 2,000 grams before breeding them. Yes, they can technically breed smaller, but the chances of health complications or egg issues is much higher with an under-weight female.
    These are just a few things for you to consider. Breeding can be a ton of fun, but it’s also a lot of work if you want to do it properly. Best of luck to you my friend - and keep us posted on your journey!
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Thx for your reply, lots of good info👍. Im just breeding for myself, i have a reptile room and an entire wall with terras ready for ball pythons only, i do for the passion and i have the money and space to invest in the offspring so got that covered. With my first question, what genes would you recommend for the male?

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Awesome! If you like the lighter colors (I certainly do too) I’d consider an Enchi Vanilla Clown, (To make Vanilla Scream OD babies, pos clown) Or you could get a banana Clown (to make OD Banana Clowns- these guys are absolute bangers if you’ve got high-quality OD). Either one of these snakes would create a high probability of beautiful combos. Good luck!

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Id recommend pairing with atleast a pastel clown. Just avoid anything with fire if you dont want an all white snake