Need advice on what to purchase.

Hey I know there are a lot of ball peeps in this group. I am severely lacking in females and I'm trying to figure out what I should add to my collection. This is what I have so far: 1.0 normal, 1.0 het. albino, 1.0 bumblebee, 1.0 mojave, 0.1 albino, 0.1 pastel, 0.1 normal, and 0.1 kingpin. I love albinos so I'll be working toward making an albino pin and an albino mojave, so that's one goal I have, but should I add any more recessives or pick up more codoms? Another limitation is that I want to keep my breeding group small. Suggestions are welcomed!

This is my latest girl, Marzipan. She's a 2011, 400 grams.

http://i1144.photobucket.com/albums/...le1Large-1.jpg

http://i1144.photobucket.com/albums/...edMarzipan.jpg

I may consider picking up a female calico... But I really need help with suggesting recessives.

Hey Laura

it depends on what your main goal is and how much you want to spend. I have this conversation with people so often I need to make a youtube video!

FIRST: decide what direction you want to go (you already decided albinos for one). If you are going for a certain snake then that already takes a lot of other snakes out of the equation. If it is one specific color or pattern then you need to trade or sell any snakes you have that do not fit into that project. If you have multiple morphs you wish, then see where your current snakes fall in with those goals.

SECOND: Do you want to make said snake yourself, or are you ok buying it from someone? If it is your goal to produce it YOURSELF then you know the snakes you must purchase to get you there. If you are ok buying it because making it yourself could take years (recessives), then you need to see what you have that gets you closer for something to breed to it, and /or what gives you the highest dollar amount of clutch to sell/trade.

THIRD: what is your budget? If you can spend $1000 you can buy one really nice girl, or 4 base morph girls. If the $1000 eats like a fat man at a buffet you are golden. If she is a slow eater, 3 years later when she is ready to breed they sell for $300. Now out of 4 base morphs, 2 get right up to size, that clutches now getting you closer.

there is a bit more that I could go into more but people are already getting tired reading what I have to say! That is a good basic strategy that you need to decide first. Then decide if you want to buy hets, or make base morphs hets? When you get that figured out PM me and I will help out a little more if you like.

Not knowing your budget and therefore keeping it small as well as not increasing your group of snakes that much, i'd do the following...

Sell 1.0 normal and 1.0 het albino.

Buy 1.0 mojave or pinstripe het albino.

Buy 0.1 mojave or pin het albino.

Buy 1.0 honeybee or POG or cinny/black pastel ghost.

Buy 0.1 ghost and 0.1 base morph het ghost.

I just rang that off with absolutely no clue of your likes or dislikes while keeping things at a fairly minimal cost and adding in a recessive gene set up to make some nice combos in the future. Again, you have to go with what you like...I particularly like ghost combos, which is why I went that way.

Thanks Randy F., that was actually pretty useful. I think I'm going to write down what I have, what I can make, which ones to keep or sell, and what I really want. I think I mostly need to get more organized, and it'll give me a clearer picture.

I think ghost is a good recessive. I love the ghost mojave. What I'm also trying to avoid is having multiple animals with the same morph in my keeper group, which is part of why I think I'm hesitating on getting more recessives. I think the morphs I like most that I don't already have would be ghost, axanthic, genetic stripe, and clown. Do you think these would still make good investments in the future? I know there's weird new stuff like the highway, desert combos and the mystic potion, but those are completely out of my budget.

before you buy any recessive male have sub adult het females ready. Unless you want to buy a visual male and make base morph hets it pretty much useless. Breeding a het to any non-het female makes poss hets which are a waste of time to try and prove out on a base morph level, and sell for no more than a non-het. I would go minimum of 2 het females the year before you buy the male. I personally have a minimum of 4 or 5 het females before getting a visual male for a project.

looking it over, a pastel ghost male would be affordable and good to put to your kingpin......pastel lesser het ghost, lemonblast het ghost, kingpin het ghost

Like Randy said it's best to buy a couple cheaper morphs (That you like) and hope 1 or 2 of them go than put all your faith in 1 female. I always say buy projects not just single snakes unless you already have a few females lined up then you can buy that powerhouse male. Always buy snakes you'd love to have even if their offspring don't sell and you'll never be disappointed. Pastels, yellowbellies, and fires are great because they're on the cheaper end and they make everything better. Also if you want to keep your collection small I'd stay away from too many recessives. If you do go the recessive route I'd do visual to visual so you'll be able to sell what you don't holdback. Calico's are nice because you still don't see too many combo's with them in the classifieds except for pastel calicos, and they carry a pretty nice price tag and would make great trade bait. I know I'm kinda all over the place, but it's late. Good Luck Chris

Thanks, I appreciate it. That's what I've been doing, getting morphs that I'm perfectly happy to have, with the potential to make even crazier, beautiful babies that I would also like to sell/hold back. But I think I'm well covered on the codoms, except the calico. I think I will pick a calico female up in the future. Pastel calicos are beautiful, but have you seen a lesser calico? Wow! I think you're right, I'm gonna have to do visual with the recessives to increase my selling chances, and to keep the breeding collection small. I may buy a few that are double, like a genetic stripe 100% het. axanthic and an axanthic 100% genetic stripe, so that'll keep things exciting. I know that'll be expensive, but I'm willing to save up and/or wait until the prices go down. I see people who got into this hobby a year ago and suddenly they have 30 ball pythons and they are already breeding. I always wonder about them. I've been keeping since 2004, and I've owned 11 snakes over the years, so that's a total of me getting barely more than 1 snake per year. How do those people not get overwhelmed? I always laugh whenever people come over the house and say I have a lot of snakes. Yeah, riiight.