• Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

    =====================
    Posted 08/15/2025
    =====================


    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

    =====================
    Addendum: 01/10/2026
    =====================


    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

New to breeding

C

c.r.m.

New member
Joined
Mar 23, 2013
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Las Vegas, NV USA
Hello. I am thinking about starting to breed ball pythons(I would work with my burms but with the Lacey Act I don't feel that that is very prudent). I would like some advice on a good set up and useful equipment. I have done research but it always good to here what works for different people. I also would like some advice on what morphs would be the most versatile for a starting breeder. Thanks for any input.
 
c.r.m. said:
I would like some advice on a good set up and useful equipment. I have done research but it always good to here what works for different people. I also would like some advice on what morphs would be the most versatile for a starting breeder. Thanks for any input.
Click to expand...

A good set up depends on what your going to start with: For my females I like to use 32qt tubs and my males are in 28qt tubs. My juvies are in 12qt tubs and babies are in 6qt tubs. All are within separate rack systems.

As for morphs, that all depends on what you want. I would recommend not breeding to breed, but to breed and have a goal. Look around and see what interests you and go from there. But, depending on your budget, I would recommend starting out with single gene females or hets, and get 2 or 3 gene power males. If I had the money, that is what I would have done when I started.
 
Dbz4246 said:
A good set up depends on what your going to start with: For my females I like to use 32qt tubs and my males are in 28qt tubs. My juvies are in 12qt tubs and babies are in 6qt tubs. All are within separate rack systems.

As for morphs, that all depends on what you want. I would recommend not breeding to breed, but to breed and have a goal. Look around and see what interests you and go from there. But, depending on your budget, I would recommend starting out with single gene females or hets, and get 2 or 3 gene power males. If I had the money, that is what I would have done when I started.
Click to expand...

Honestly the piebald gene thoroughly intrigues. My original thought was to get some het pied snakes and go from there.
 
A good beginning rack would be vision because you can house 35 quart and 70 quart tubs in one rack. With very little modification you can have baby tubs in the same rack as well. If you end up sticking with it you can use it as a quarantine rack. I would buy some proven females like pastels, spiders, cinnamons, just lower dollar single morphs. Get you a proven 2 or 3 gene male and a 3 or 4 gene male. This will help you return your initial investment quicker and give you animals to trade.
 
c.r.m. said:
Honestly the piebald gene thoroughly intrigues. My original thought was to get some het pied snakes and go from there.
Click to expand...

Pied is what pulled me in as well. You can pick up some baby 100% het females for around 150 and grow them then get the male later. A visual male is 500-600ish now and the amount of white wont change the look of his offspring. Just make sure you dont go the cheap route and gamble on craigslist hets. Its better to get from someone reputable than to stress about it.
 
c.r.m. said:
Honestly the piebald gene thoroughly intrigues. My original thought was to get some het pied snakes and go from there.
Click to expand...

NIGRO51 said:
Pied is what pulled me in as well. You can pick up some baby 100% het females for around 150 and grow them then get the male later. A visual male is 500-600ish now and the amount of white wont change the look of his offspring. Just make sure you dont go the cheap route and gamble on craigslist hets. Its better to get from someone reputable than to stress about it.
Click to expand...

There you go, pieds. It's a good solid direction to go. And like Anthony said, you can start by getting some het females and growing them up. Just remember to always get females first and not to get carried away with getting all kinds of different males cause they are cheaper. If you don't have females then a bunch of males are kinda pointless
 
If I get a female from this years season she won't be ready to breed until 2015 correct? Or would it be 2016? That would give me plenty of time to get set up and ready.
 
c.r.m. said:
If I get a female from this years season she won't be ready to breed until 2015 correct? Or would it be 2016? That would give me plenty of time to get set up and ready.
Click to expand...

Different females grow at different rates. It depends on how much she eats, what size she eats and some females are just fast growers and slow growers. But a good rule of thumb is that a female should be ready to breed, as long as she is healthy at 3 years of age. A male should be able to breed, if he is healthy, at 1.5-2 years of age. Minimum weight for a female is 1200g if healthy, some breeders will also say 1500.
 
I had read 1500 grams for females and 18 months for males but i wasn't sure about age because i see adds for last years hatch and many of them are under 500 grams. I am also assuming that ball pythons only breed once a year early in the year so that this years clutches will be hatching soon.
 
c.r.m. said:
I had read 1500 grams for females and 18 months for males but i wasn't sure about age because i see adds for last years hatch and many of them are under 500 grams. I am also assuming that ball pythons only breed once a year early in the year so that this years clutches will be hatching soon.
Click to expand...

That's an average weight for yearlings, and yes MINIMUM is 1200g, optimum is 1500g+. Males don't really have an optimum weight, usually I try to do no less than 700grams. But males as low as 300-400 have bred.

Ball pythons usually do breed once a year, that gives the female a good amount of time to recuperate. June - August are the main hatching months but balls can breed year round. It's really up to that particular snake if he is ready or not.
 
Back
Top