Hi people,
Bit of a random one but I’m interest to get some feedback
So on Reddit all I’ve been seeing about breeding is how oversaturated the market is for breeding BP’s. Obviously most Reddit users I see are based in the US.
So my questions are:
I’m based in the UK where the market is still relatively slow but not completely oversaturated, would breeding still be monetarily sustainable/ profitable in this place?
Secondly, I currently has a pastel poss het clown (going to genetic test to prove her out)
I also have an albino het pied, which again I will be genetic testing to prove the het pied.
Now with these 2 snakes I would be aiming for a clown project and an albino pied project,
Ideally adding in a couple of co Dom’s but not pastel,
Are these 2 projects still viable and would the be considered a high quality high end morph?
Or wouldn’t be more suited trying to aim for something like stranger or mahogany?
I should add a point saying, I’m no where near breeding stages yet, I am also not fully convinced I want to take the step, I love my snakes and would not be aiming for major profits but ideally enough monetary yield to add projects and stay more or less breaking even.
Also I know breeding requires a lot of knowledge and so my ideas are to gain the knowledge whilst my female clown ages into an adult and is at correct weights, this also goes for if I get a female albino pied or pied het albino combo.
No expert here just looking for advice and generally like this topic and want to here views
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Just to add, my female clown is only at 231g and was hatched last November, she’s a bit under weight for her age I think, but I’m trying to build her weight up but as I said no breeding until she’s 1500g around abouts and at least 2 years old
As for my albino male he’s a similar hatch date and is sitting at 409g
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Yeah most of the time when we say the market is oversaturated it’s because of the US side of things. But there are some shifts starting in other locations that may lead to similar oversaturated markets in other areas. It looks like the asian markets are beginning to take off.
From a US perspective, those are not very high end animals. Markets do vary though and it seems like clown is not as popular as it is in the US. I was also confused for a moment because wording the female as a clown when she’s not a visual and possibly not a het. Better to just call her what you know. Pastel.
Ideally to start. If the pastel does prove to be het clown in testing, you would want at the least a clown male to have guaranteed hets. For the Albino it would be a good idea to flip the recessive genes for that reason as well. A pied het albino or at the least make sure there is visual pied for guaranteed double het offspring. This would just be to make it easier to place offspring and leave you with less need to explain the ‘possible’ genes.
The thing that matters most though is what do you want to produce? What genes so you want to see together? There’s less fun starting when you’re working with genes you don’t like the look of.
I’d consider plugging in albino to the search engine with status set to ‘any’ on the market side and seeing what some combos look like. It may help you decide on some other project add-ons.
It’s refreshing to see someone coming in knowing they need to do research and learn the basics but are hoping for a little headstart for later.
Hopefully someone on your side of the pond can give some more tailored advice.
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This is great advice, as for what I like,
Tbh I’ve seen some chocolate clowns, which I think look amazing
But I was thinking of flipping the script and maybe trying to push for chocolate albino pieds,
I know that sounds backwards but for me the idea of having to opposite ends of the spectrum into one morph could potentially create a striking contrast,
Plus from what I have heard in the UK and seen when speaking to people I know in this world of snakes, albinos seem to be a bit of a thing in the UK where as pastels and your standard fires and things that look normal to the pet keepers eye seem to be a bit less in demand
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Its still slowed down as far as I can see in the UK.
If you look on morphmarket there are loads first advertised 2023 and early 2024.
Some bigger breeders who put lots up at the same time have the whole morphmarket page or two from those times when they renue.
I used to have no problems selling everything within a few months at most.
I have deliberately not bred all my females recently due to the slow down.
(Just a couple that I was willing to have hatchlings around for a long time to see how they colour up and for projects)
Even with much less to sell its still taking ages this year.
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Any recommendations on what morphs would sell better?
I’m not looking to make a profit, and I only want to aim for one clutch a season, until I’ve built a reputation, I may never upscale and purely leave it to one clutch and no holdbacks unless my project idea changes
Fitsly if you check morphmarket right now there is one of my examples with loads from a breeder first advertised in January 2024
Others may have some ideas, sorry I dont really.
I cant see anything moving fast. Click ‘deals’ and see some of the ridicules low offers.
At a push I would say the pet trade is cashing in and doing best out of the low prices. So pretty but basic snakes like an albino, but its just an opinion.
I really suggest this though 
Find what you like best, what gives you passion and breed for that reason.
That way like me this year, if your stuck with most of your hatchings for months/years you can enjoy them and if you want do some selection of best qualities, colour and how the maintain or improve for future selective breeding.
Its not just about Morph, Quality of morph always sells better whatever the environment.
For example I wont buy a dessert ghost that fades but would consider buying one that holds its contrast well into adulthood.
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That’s sound advice,
At the moment I’m torn between clown and albino,
I’ve seen some beautiful chocolate clowns on MorphMarket, but if I went the clown route I’d aim to turn the project into a DG or hypo clown project
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Whereas I feel like with albino it’s albino pied or nothing really, I feel like albino for me leads to a dead end where as clown leads to other possibilities and I love the clown colours and patterns when paired with chocolate or pastel
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I dont know if you do this or not, but I would ask to see the adults.
They all look good as hatchings but lots like for example DG can look fantastic or really quite bad as adults and so can other many morphs. the quality thing.
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Nice to know, I had her of the lesser gene messing with colours later in life didn’t realise the DG did similar,
Tbh when I acquired both snakes my initial idea was to creat albino clowns but then did some research and realised that would require a bit of work and lots of holdbacks possibly
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Its also always worth doing a search om morphmarket for the morph your thinking of, select oldest birth. Here is one for DG and as you can see there is a lot of variation.
https://www.morphmarket.com/all/c/reptiles/pythons/ball-pythons/trait/desert%20ghost?state=for_sale&ordering=birth_date
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Sorry another question,
I’m thinking of changing from vivariums to racks for my breeding plans,
Obviously this is a controversial thing apparently and everyone is either for it against and it hits me like everyone thinks it’s detrimental to the snake,
I was going to go for 70l tubs and then have a playpen set up once a week for external stretch out and enrichment time (tubs will have enrichment as well)
But I’m now thinking would I be better going for 80l tubs?
Obviously price wise that 10l makes a huge difference but I want to offer the snakes good care and space whilst having it physically viable and not taking up every inch of space with the vivs, plus for the hatchings I’d be using a rack but then having a spare rack if I’m holding on to them long term with bigger tubs
Apologies for the bombarding questions it’s new to me and I only ever see negative views on racks and I’m of the mind that there’s a reason they’re made and work for many people so it can’t all be negative
No worries If I can help I will.
Yes its controversial tubs vs vivs. So this is just one opinion that others may disagree with.
(Feel free to but be nice)
What are the dimensions, I looked up 70s and there is a really short one and a taller one. cant find the next 80 ltr size. If they are as big as they look you might as well have vivs though.
I cant tell you whats right, Just an opinion, but I feel tubs are Ok if they are big enough and your play pen will help.
Some enrichment in the tub also helps with tubs, and some variation of that enrichment.
This might give you some ideas.
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Thank you, I’ve done another post which has sparked a bit of a discussion about something similar
