Hold or sell?

[NorthernRegius.com]

Here's the details:
My biggest female gave me 11 eggs in '06 (5.6) offspring. I sold the males & have held back the girls, the dad is a NERD line het High Contrast Albino male. Here's a pic of these girls 1/2 sister (who is sold):

http://byfiles.storage.msn.com/x1pWZZh3TCHCz6IrBNz2lfRCxeK3S09YaVypvK7S5T8YsaoqwK XEX366Bw213Nb0z0QDCZ1_c9Vq03uwegzM67snfNmMyWm9C1xY Ql4aO3uuyw

I am currently holding back the 0.6 possie het girls as I figure there's a great chance that 1 or 2 of them are hets & even if not, their mom is a big girl... but would I be better off selling them?

What would you all do?

Thanks in advance for your advice. -Deb

[Wilomn]

I think you'd probably feel better, and also, coincidentally better your odds of keeping hets, if you sent one or two of them my way. I'm sure they would turn out to be normals, thereby bettering your odds of having hets.

It's all so easy when you think of it this way.

Just let me know if you need my address.

On the serious side, if you have the room, and are planning on aquiring more females anyway, I'd just keep them and work them in to future projects.

[NorthernRegius.com]

Initially I was thinking that too, but the genetics get kinda shallow... if I keep them I'll need an unrelated male for them in '08. After proving them out, I'd still likely be selling most of them. I have several Big normal girls to work with that give me diversity. These 6 little piggies are all over 430g and two will be moving up to smalls.

I want to trim as I go but I'm not in a hurry- just wondering how you guys would do- thanks.

[neilgolli]

First and formost, SMOKING Albino......

2nd, keep them, proving out pos hets is damn excited when you first see the initial glimps of an albino inside of an egg....

[Cheryl Marchek AKA JM]

I'd keep them.
Next year when you produce more albinos trade one of the male albinos for an unrelated male with someone else who wants to hold back a male but would like to have genetic diversity too. That male will not be related to your girls. He will be one year younger than your 6 poss het girls~ but males breed younger than females do.

I have a similar plan in mind if my het pieds ever get around to producing for me!

[Wolfy-hound]

Keep them!!
Trade for a unrelated male, and even if they prove to be normals, they'll be nice size to use with co-doms then.
Proving possibles is soooo fun...
Of course... I sold my possible hets pieds... I figured by the time that the girls would be big enough to use, I'd have funds for 100% unrelated hets.
I'm no use at all.......
Wolfy

[NorthernRegius.com]

Thanks guys... sometimes & just need a cross-check. Here's my 5.5ft female in an Iris 900 after laying her clutch. She's with one of my pastels this year...http://byfiles.storage.msn.com/x1pWZZh3TCHCz6IrBNz2lfRC5ApPzEzXILxjdxLHhzvgfzcZ4I VgJXEq4hs_-c1EQFE__UEQrejWwZq-TfbMj638_gNqVhTskynLEhYHJXHyRY

She weighed over 6.5lbs before breeding season & only 1700g after laying her 11 egg clutch.

[LadyOhh]

Keep'em!

I agree with Neil... I can't wait to prove out all my possie het girls. It is like winning the lottery!

And, by the way, Theresa, everyone is doing great!!! *hugs*

[kare]

Your girl is definitely a big girl.

I agree with holding back and working with the possible hets. The anticipation of hatching albinos without knowing for sure would be tremendous. And when you see that yellow nose - ultimate joy!

[Ed Clark]

I say keep all those females, even if they turn out to be all normals. Thats a good thing! :)

[NorthernRegius.com]

Thanks all for the advice, I guess I can name them now. You know how it is, once you name them they stay.

[Larry Suttles]

I'd keep them too. Good choice

[Cat_72]

Thanks all for the advice, I guess I can name them now. You know how it is, once you name them they stay.

That would be why my kids try to name them ALL.....then they figure I can't sell them. :rofl:

[catawhat]

That would be why my kids try to name them ALL.....then they figure I can't sell them. :rofl:

:rofl: Mine does it too, I don't mind on the snakes but I wish she would stop naming the rats. Is really hard when I go to grab a fuzzy to feed and she tells me WAIT!!! I need to say bye to so and so and give them a kiss first. I feel like an ogre :(

[Clay Davenport]

I had the same situation this year, although not involving that number of snakes.
I bred a het albino pair and produced a clutch of four. One albino female, one PH male and two PH girls.
I looked at it from a value standpoint. Statistically one of those girls should be het, but I really have no idea if either are. The question was what is it worth to find out.
The value of a possible het albino hatchling isn't much, monetarily. However, the value of the offspring if one should turn out to be het is well worth the trouble to raise them. For me there wasn't a question about it, I would keep the two females.
I do have an albino male that is unrelated to them, so I am already prepared in that area to prove them out. Even if I didn't already have the male though it's only sensible to keep the girls and breed them, if nothing else from the perspective of you're not looking at getting much at all from them right now. Even if they're normal, they'll be worth more as adults that they are now as PH hatchlings.
Besides it's all but certain that there are some hets in a group of 6.

[Pink Lady Exotics]

Damn, that albino is HOT. :eek: :bow01: I need a male like that to pair up with my female!