No bickering. A misunderstanding that happens when you speak in text. That’s why face to face conversations are so valuable. Half of a conversation is body language and tone. 
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Fair if they are rude about it, but I love that passion and it is how some people get started and learn a lot more as they go forward. As long as they are respectful and knowledge seeking then I applaud that level of excitement. I did something very similar once and it didn’t prove out but I still loved every minute of it and everything I learned along the way.
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Con- Breeding can be hard on females and it is not uncommon for a female to die within a month or two of laying eggs. Every season is a risk.
Pleanty of pro’s, those are generally known but everyone should understand that when a female is bred there is always the possibility she may not make it.
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I would take it one further and say it is hard on males too. I had a female kill a male this year. And I have heard stories of breeders that have literally bred their males to dead by rotating over too many females and not offering them a break to feed/recuperate.
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Sorry to hear this. How did that happen?
I am not 100% sure. I paired them in the evening like I always do and when I checked on them in the morning I found the female had pinned the male against the wall of the tub and he was dead. She had wedged herself against the opposite side to exert heavy pressure on him and I had to forcibly dislodge her to get him free. Initially I thought she might have just pushed him over to keep him off her (which would have been strange enough given they had been paired a number of times prior) but when I finally got him free I discovered he was dead
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That is a scary behavior !
I never heard of that before .
wow, that is really sad so sorry to hear that happened. Strange that there wasn’t any fighting or struggling immediately or soon after you put him in there if she was not receptive. I’ve had females not “in the mood” and once i put the male in they would struggle and thrash, so i knew that it just not a “sexy” night and move him somewhere else.
Yeah, it was crazy. They were fine when I put them together, I tend to hang around in the room for 15-20min after I pair and there were no indications of problems. Never encountered anything like it before…
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Thank you for this thread. I am 53 now and have always loved Balls. Myself and my wife have just started purchasing selected hatchlings (pastel banana f, a banana HET pied m, & a GHI Ghost m) we have the space and equipment and are for the most part looking to this as my retirement (more to have something to do and see what I can create than getting wealthy lol) Admittedly I’m only starting my journey to learning and understanding morphs and I’m aware im 2 years out from a first clutch. Do I have a fair base to start with and what other female would you recommend adding?
What species were these two animals?
This is my first breeding season, and it has certainly changed my views on my snakes. I don’t impulse buy anymore, I always look for animals that will work with my projects or that I can start a new project with. Right now the only thing I might be looking into is ultramels. Otherwise, I haven’t been looking into purchasing anything else.
My first ball python clutch this season was a fail. Out of 8 healthy eggs, only 1 baby survived and is currently being assist fed since he won’t strike feed on his own.
I suspect it was due to a power outage shortly after I had set the eggs up in the incubator, because all three of my other clutches have done just fine (last clutch this season is due to hatch anytime now) … at first I thought it was because I was checking them too often, but I was really only checking them once a week or so.
I also produced a clutch of hognoses, which was a fun experience since hognoses are a tad bit more difficult to breed. I basically just fed my female twice a week to keep her full, and she didn’t eat her boyfriend.
Getting the babies to feed was another adventure, but they all eventually started eating live or frozen thawed mice pinks, not to mention I was able to sell all of them fairly quickly besides the one I held back.
I think the biggest thing people do need to realize is that breeding snakes becomes an investment if you plan to turn it into a business at all. I’ve probably spent over $10k on my collection already, including racks, thermostats, and other equipment… not to mention the snakes themselves! My latest investment was a 2 level ARS rat breeding rack that I just put an order in for.
It’s going to be a nice upgrade, since it’ll likely double or even triple my rat output once I get each breeding tub set up and going.
Banana females are rare and you could make Super bananas. That’s a big one and is pretty awesome. I think you have a good base, but if you are really looking to get another female, never can go wrong with clown, just that everyone is working with them.
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Ball pythons.
Interesting. I know someone who had a female boa constrictor kill a much smaller male, but it was believed to have been a case of accidental crushing. I’ve also heard horror stories about male
Acrantophis killing or attempting to kill females, especially if they had been recently paired with another male and still had his scent on them.
Does anybody here breed reptiles full time for a living. If so could they say a little bit about what they do and if they have any employees.
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I just recently (July/Aug)decided to leave the “workforce” and look at reptiles full-time.
I made the choice to keep a collection I can maintain by myself so I know exactly what is happening with my animals. I’m still what I consider a small breeder and maintain a collection of around 150-200 keepers in our collection.
We also have a small family of Redfoot tortoises, a pair of Star tortoises, some crested geckos, a couple of dozen chickens, and a barn full of rats and mice. We raise cactus for the tortoise, and have dozens of fruit and nut trees of many varieties.
I’ve been keeping and breeding snakes since the early 90s and just in the last 5 years I’ve built my collection up to a level I can comfortably make a living with. I don’t like being subject to other people’s rules so it was an easy decision for us to make.
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I’ll add to the above, most new keepers may not consider how much is invested in doing expos. On average you’re looking at a minimum cost of 1k for a single table, hotel, food, fuel, etc., And that’s if the show is fairly close. This doesn’t include the investment in displays, table setups, banners, advertising and all of the madness that goes into a nice display. The investments add up quickly, but it’s worth it.
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I think a big con is that these animals are seen as a commodity and not as pets for a lot of breeders. Like Adrian said earlier it changes how you view animals.
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