Hello! I just got my first female and Iv had my male for many years. My entire family is into reptiles and I would like some advice from outside help! Thank you,
Live below your means, never co-sign a loan and always pay off the complete balance of your credit cards.
The barrier to entry for breeding should be much higher than simply having a male and a female. I’d really encourage you to consider whether this breeding is necessary, to fulfill some sort of unmet niche or need in the market, and what will happen to the offspring in a market already oversaturated with ball pythons. If you’re in the US, the the economy is rough right now, so take into consideration what is going to happen to any babies you produce and whether you’re ready to care for and house them if they end up having to stay with you.
There are a lot of other great ways to be involved with the reptile community ranging from education to rescue to simply providing excellent homes to the snakes in your care, so before automatically jumping into breeding as the next step, exploring these other roles might be a good way to increase your knowledge of both the species and the current issues in the “field”.
If breeding is something you’re really determined to do, I’d make sure you’re well versed in all aspects of care including handling veterinary emergencies, are able to identify any morphs you plan on working with on their own and in combos, know which morphs have defects and are lethal, are able to consistantly and accurately sex hatchlings and adults, and either have your own rodent colony or easy access to fresh rat/mouse pups for hatchings
Solid advice for any endeavor.
Truer words were never spoken! I applaud you @halfmoonlakeherps!!! ![]()
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I very much second @chesterhf. My goal isn’t to be discouraging, but to make sure you’re really ready for breeding and understand what it entails and why you want to do it. Ball pythons are a dime a dozen, even more so lower end morphs. As someone who has been doing it for 6 years now, you WILL struggle to sell them/find good homes for them and you WILL need to keep babies long term.
So, a few questions to consider before you decide to breed:
How old is your female? How big is she? Do you know what a breeding-safe age, weight, and body condition look like? What morph is she? What morph is your male, and how big is he? What genetic combinations could they create? Are their genetics incompatible in any way? Are they good quality exampels of their genes? Are their genes incomplete dominant or recessive? Are you prepared to seek vet care for the female if she becomes egg bound, which could be hundreds of dollars? Are you prepared to seek vet care for the male if he gets a hemipene injury, prolapse, or stops eating due to breeding and goes quickly downhill? In that same vein, are you prepared to potentially lose mom or dad? Do you have an incubator or know how to build one? Are you prepared to potentially lose babies if they have deformities or don’t thrive? Are you prepared to house every baby you hatch separately in an appropriately-sized enclosure and with proper lighting, heating, and humidity? Are you prepared to have to feed live mice or rats to babies just starting off, as they often don’t start well on frozen thawed? Do you have access to the correct size rodents for babies? Do you know how you’re going to try and sell them, on what platforms, and what information people will want about them? Are you knowledgeable enough on husbandry and care that you can correctly answer any questions a potential customer might have about how to care for one? Will you be able to properly identify babies genetics on your own? Are you prepared to keep babies for potentially a year plus, in appropriate housing, when they don’t sell quickly? Do you understand that it’s extremely unlikely that you’ll make any kind of profit and that most likely you’ll lose money in this endeavor? Why should someone buy your babies instead of babies from the thousands of other breeders out there?
If the answer to any of the above questions involves “no” or any hesitation, I would seriously reconsider breeding. Consider volunteering with a rescue instead, finding a local breeder to apprentice with and see what the market is like, or just enjoy your snakes as pets.
Breeding is not something that should be taken on lightly. It is doable, but too many people start breeding with no clue about what it really entails or what they’re doing genetics-wise, health wise, etc.
Because of this sometimes the animals suffer…….