what are the current top Ball Python projects.
These are the one Im trying to work with any others ?
- Lighting Pied
- Monsoon
- Sunset
- Panda Pied
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Hello, can you elaborate a bit on your question? I probably don’t know the answer regardless 
By “top projects” do you mean new or rare morph projects, most popular or up-and-coming projects, best ROI projects, or something else?
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All the above 
Ah, you answered my question like 5 seconds before I hit send!
I think you’ll get a variety of answers/opinions. I think it depends on if you want to work with morphs you really like (which happen to be mostly high-dollar morphs to acquire for breeding), or if you just want to try to get ahead of the curve by making some rare or new combos, or if you’re purely interested in turning a profit and maybe buying the adult combos you mention to breed into other different morphs.
I’m sorry if it seems like I’m being overly critical or being rude; I promise I’m not. I overthink things to an extreme sometimes and unfortunately this is one of those times. I love your question, and I am interested in reading all the different answers you get 
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Duh me. Forgot to throw my 2 cents in.
I don’t know what morphs Grail consists of but I feel like just by looking at prices for the “het grail” that might be one. Since your combos in your initial 4 list includes recessives, maybe Desert Ghost +, Grail, or breed ones already in your list (monsoon+pied, sunset+pied) but I guess odds of hitting visuals breeding recessive morphs to recessive morphs decrease. So add in a dom/inc dom? I don’t know if that complicates things or is a good idea. Panda pied are known for having deformities but you could use suma pieds to mimic the darkness (or ghi suma pieds would be way darker than just suma).
I always look at what the big time breeders are doing out of curiosity but maybe that’s kind of being late to the game lol. Prices are dropping so quickly with such oversaturation of the market too
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I actually do the same but things being what there are and me being me i tend to jump into things a little to quick LOL currently after your reply im going to stop jumping into new projects i think my plate full with these 10 pairing, I kept a really nice clutch Super OD 66% het clowns and some other supers, so i’m going to slow down adding more project for now LOL it been real I appreciate you. by the way i was trying to get some crystal and Special adults to breed if anyone wants to do that let me know LOL. By the way may 2024 bring you all kinds of morphes and success.
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I think this one is so subjective that it’s going to be hard to answer. It also depends if you mean the projects which are hot right now, or the best projects to work towards which will be hot in the future. The combos that are hot/trendy now won’t necessarily be in a few years by the time you buy the breeding stock, raise them up, start crossing, etc, so I wouldn’t necessarily make your choices based on what is in now. A few years ago when the batman combo was first introduced, they were selling for 5-7k, and spotnose and leopard het clown females were well over $500. On black friday I saw a batman listed for $400. So anyone who jumped into that project when it was new and hot is now behind the curve. So I think it’s better to look towards the future and creating something new, rather than what is hot at the moment.
For example, based on your list, I wouldn’t bother with Panda pieds. Combos containing super black pastel seem to be falling out of favor (for good reason) due to the kinking and facial deformites. A similar looking black snake can be produced with Suma + cinnamon or GHI or other dark morphs without the same issues. So more people are into mahogany based projects
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Ideally you should think of something new but I’m not nearly creative enough so generally chase what I’ve seen other breeders produce which of course puts me years behind.
Maybe just go for what you like and would enjoy looking at while cleaning cages.
I’ve always liked dark snakes (Indigo, BMK) so am working towards abyss (GHI Suma) with pied and maybe hypo for a twist.
I also really like monsoon. I think some breeders are discouraged that it might not make good combinations but I just really like it by itself and still hold out hope for some combinations.
I’m also chasing axanthic clown desert ghost combos like a ton of other people. Long odds there.
With any new gene or combination you always have to keep an ear out for possible health issues. Ball python breeders are very secretive so it’s really hard to know what you can read into any slight hint of information. I was burned by spider and Carmel projects.
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To expand on this - Getting into something “hot” means that to not get left in the dust you need to put in a lot of $$ and have a large enough breeding program to not miss the next step every year. If you miss one year of progress the market will leave you behind.
Working with genes with less of a spotlight I think is easier as a smaller breeder. Lot less pressure of needing a breeder to go this year or what happens when you miss the odds. Feels a lot better knowing if it comes next year it’s no big deal because you’re one of the only few working on it anyways.
The flip side of this is that selling the “weird stuff” takes a bit more marketing what you’re doing as worthwhile and finding the right buyers. But I think if you’re early in your growth as a breeder you can hold back a lot that doesn’t sell (especially females) until you hit a breakthrough.
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I believe it is Lavender clown.
And I really think that going with what you like is most important. I think going with some of the less worked with genes and going for new combos that you think will turn out well is the way to go.
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Thanks you all. that what i mean as i stated these are the ones im trying to work with but as majority stated by the time im get there im behind so these are one i would love to work with and needing to be mor realistic since this is a hobby to me not a means of paying the bills I can live with out them i will say i enjoy messing with genes the most (i use to breed dogs and that was alway fun till it was not any more of course like everything) so with all the feed back im put out there what i have actually been playing with Morph wise I like the dark ones with light markings as in Black and yellow LOL I;m current have GHI/Black Pastel to GHI/Black Pastel just cause i want to see what they would look like and im 3 years plus from seeing my Monsoon to Sunset pairing just because it recessive and have not seen one YET but that the only real pairing i want too see. I am moving away from Spider,Champage and others with curtain things i don’t want to deal with cause i just don’t want to lol. i do really enjoy posting on here a read as much as i can. again keep it coming and thanks you all
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I personally think the best projects to get into are the ones that you enjoy doing. I always see a lot of people want do projects or get into certain projects because they see the razzle dazzle behind it and how much turnaround they can get with animals that are produced.
Monsoon for me was my number 1 hyped project. Then I saw the pied version. Talk about killing a high end project with that double visual. Yuck. However, a lot of people seem to like it. To me it’s 
but I’ve always been an odd one when it comes to recessives, ha-ha.
My ultimate project is dubbed the ‘Perfect Storm’; Monsoon, Twister, Tornado, Hurricane
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I’m another one not totally in love with the Monsoon Pieds we’ve seen.
The only hope is that the real issue was Pastel, which I think is already not a great choice for Monsoon. Brock’s plain Monsoon Pied was too high white to know for sure though. If the pattern carries through the whole body on a low white then I think it will be redeemed. If the color is bad there’s ways to fix that like Lace, Trojan, OD, Ultramel, etc.
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I love Dreamsicles. Especially if you throw in some Enchi and/or Yellow Belly. Check out Justin’s YouTube Dreamsicle videos. Absolutely stunning, at least to me.
I think everyone agrees you have to have passion in this Ball Python breeding game. Without passion, you’ll quit the game before achieving your goals. If you’re not breeding what YOU like, you’re probably not going to have that passion. The best project is one YOU get excited about and have that passion for. It’s very personal what the “Top 10 best projects to get into” are.
There’s a pair of Patternless BPs on MM for $5,000 each. They’ve been there a LONG time. There doesn’t seem to be any combos with the Patternless gene. I’m real interested in seeing it mixed in with some other genes.
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