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Help/Advice?

A

Allan Cag

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I want to purchase my first 2 ball pythons. I'd like to breed them too. I don't want to quit my day job -- just want an educational project to work on with my kids and to recoup my costs (maybe even make a little profit). Any recommendations about what to buy? I can spend about $2-3k total, but don't necessarily want/need to spend that much (the cheaper, the better). Are any particular morphs easier or more difficult to breed? What morphs are easiest to sell (I suspect the really expensive morphs are difficult to sell and the cheapest morphs aren't worth the effort)? What percentage of balls will actually breed successfully and what's the likelihood that my pair won't breed? Any tips/tricks to maximize the chance of breeding? Up until now, I was thinking about a couple of killer bees or a killer bee and a pastel pied, but would love some advice from the experienced breeders out there. THANKS!!!
 
Please do not post discussion topics in the classifieds.
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I always recommend starting with cheap morphs if you haven't kept ball pythons before. Granted it's not rocket science, but does require a decent amount of research. If you just buy a 1.1 pair of snakes it could be 5 years before you get a clutch......not typical..... but definetly possible. If you have kept them before buy a few females of what you like and get a male that will produce a combo you'd like to have. You also need to decide if you want to go with recessive or codom traits. Codoms give you immediate results in you clutches even when bred to normals, but recessives will only produce het when bred to normals. If you do decide to go with recessives you'll probably want to buy a visual male like a pied and a couple het pieds females. That way if one of the females is a picky eater your chances are better in numbers. Females sell better than males in most morphs. I've been doing this 4 years and have never had a problem selling out, but I only produce 4-5 clutches (25 to 30 hatchlings)a year also. It's a great hobby and yes if you do things right you will be able to hold a few keepers back and make a little money also. :) Look at the classifieds and see what you like or attend your next reptile show and you'll be hooked. Good Luck!! Chris Hall
 
Hmm, if your are only going to get two snakes I would recommend getting two double co-doms, triple co-doms, or a double codom het.

example: queenbee x Pewter

just think of the possiblities!

If your willing to invest 2-3k I would get the best you can for BOTH the male and female, not just one, that way you can increase the potential of outcome with the offspring.

If you want to try the recessive line, there are chreaper options you might be interested. Many many many people selling pairs of dom/co-dom/double co-dom that are het and are a decent price. Might be more interesting since you are doing this as more of an eductational project it will give you more of a math headache =]
 
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