buying a hypo

[bman123]

I am looking into getting a hypo/ghost but I have a ? or two.

What sex would you get and why?
Is there a known breeder that has the best ghost line or color?

I want one that is light and bright. Yellow or orange color, I am having trouble finding breeders with nice offspring.

Also want to know what ghost combos you like the most..

[J.Vandegrift]

It's best to start with a female IMO. I think Joe Compel has some of the best hypo's out there. You might be better off waiting until this years hatchlings start becoming available. You will have a much better selection in a few months.
http://www.joecompelreptiles.com/

[bman123]

It's gonna be a few months before I get one anyways. What seems to be the avg price for hypos??

[bman123]

Also what ghost combos do you like?

[Russ Lawson]

NERD's line of orange hypos is pretty good to work with imo, and a lot of the hypos out there are either from their line, or lines that are compatible (though there are a few exceptions, like Graziani's G1 hypos).

The babies will be the brightest. They lighten up as they age. Here is a picture of my breeder male:
http://russreptiles.com/images/galle...rghypo01_1.JPG

And one of his offspring from last year:
http://russreptiles.com/images/galle...ypo01-02_5.JPG

Also, my hypos are NERD line, originally from stock from both Constrictors Unlimited and The Snake Keeper. Both have nice hypos, as well as several other breeders. Your best bet is to look around for a while until you find what you're looking for, and like John said above, your probably better off waiting for 2010 offspring. There will be a lot more available around summer.

[bman123]

Your breeder male is exactly what I like. I know they will dull out with age, I love the faded out color of them. Heck i'd be happy just breeding ghosts.

I think ghosts really make combos stand out.

[bman123]

Got a question if I do spider x orange ghost what is the out come?? The world of ball pythons site confused me. It said 50% het orange ghost 50% het orange ghost spider.

I would like to do honeybee's but the outcome I got doesnt seem right at all. Would the 50% het orange ghost be normals?? Thats what I am thinking. So I would need to keep 1.1 of the spider's because they would be het for ghost. Then breed the 1.1 together to get a what 1/4 chance of a honeybee?

[Aaron Speciale]

If you breed a spider x orange ghost, you would get 50% normals het for orange ghost and the other 50% would be the spiders het for orange ghost. So everything from the clutch would be het and not just the spiders. I personally wouldn't breed the two spiders together due to there neurological problems so I would just breed one of the spider het orange ghosts to one of the normal het orange ghosts, or if you want an even better chance of producing a honeybee, then just breed one of the spider het orange ghosts back to your adult orange ghost.

My skills with genetics aren't the best because I'm just getting into it myself, but I think that's how it works.

[Russ Lawson]

There is no information that suggests breeding spider x spider will result in more of a neurological disorder in offspring than just breeding spider x normal. People incorrectly assume ball python genetics are like canine genetics. In dogs, there are many different genes at work to produce each breed, and inbreeding can easily result in disorders simply because they have already been inbred for thousands of years to produce the different look of each breed. Spider ball pythons however, are just caused by one mutation. That particular mutation just happens to also cause spiders to wobble.

Now, as far as my take on the way you are thinking about going, you might consider buying an orange hypo and a spider het hypo as your breeding pair if you are looking to make honeybees. You'd spend more money this way, but it'd save you 2 or 3 years, and you wouldn't have to deal with possible hets this way. Hypo x spider would give you 1:2 spider het hypo, and 1:2 normal het hypo. hypo x spider het hypo, however, would give you 1:4 honeybee, 1:4 spider het hypo, 1:4 hypo, and 1:4 het hypo