@caron makes a very valid point. I just wanted to add on that even if the morphs/combos you really like are out of your price range right now, that probably won’t always be the case. Because there are so many people breeding ball pythons, even really pricey combos tend to drop in price relatively quickly (especially when there’s a high demand for them and lots of breeders start producing them to meet that demand). By the time you’ve purchased snakes, grown them up, bred them, and hatched out your first clutch, the combos you’re making will have dropped in value considerably. Point being, at the end of the day, you’re not likely to save any money by “making your own.” It would almost certainly be cheaper to just wait a few years and buy the combos you like once the price comes down.
I don’t know if affordability is a factor in your desire to breed, but it is a reason I hear cited fairly often. “I love xxxxx but can’t afford it, but I can afford the components, so I’ll just save money by skipping the middle man and making my own!” I kinda suspect that if anyone stopped and did the math after all was said and done, they’d find that they spent more on their breeding project than if they’d just waited a few years and purchased the combos they wanted.
