Breeders and Breeding?

[RR - Mackenzie]

Hi everyone,

A very close friend and I plan on breeding in the future. I am going to do this when I am eighteen, and then move to New York (most likely Millerton), and start breeding and rescuing animals (and definitely reptiles). My friend will be twenty by then. I'll be taking some veterinary and business courses, too.

Anyways, we want to breed for healthy snakes with great color and a good temper. And we'll be rescuing animals, on th side, too. My gandpa and father could make us some adult, sub-adult, and baby racks. This way, we couldn't be spending too much, and we'll have a snake room. And we'll keep it at a constant temperature (By the way, what temperature do you keep your snake rooms at?).

We plan on starting out with these:

Pastel
Black Pastel
Blonde Pastel
Lemon Pastel
Jungle Pastel
Mojave
Woma (how dangerous is it to breed a Spider? Can it pass it down to non-spider hatchlings?)
Cinnamon
Albino
Fire
Enchi
Pied (or we will produce our own with: Het. Pied x Het. Pied)
YellowBelly
PinStripe
SpotNose
Ghost

And there will probably be an even amount of males and females, just so we can breed each male with only one female. I was wondering if these were good to start out with? Are there are any other morphs that we should add? And what can we make? I am trying to gather information, but, this place seems like the best.

Right now I am in Middletown Ohio, but I will probably be getting more snakes from the Columbus, Ohio reptile show. Though we do plan on definitely getting from Justin Kobylka, because he has great customer service and answers a lot of our questions

Thanks everyone,
~ Mac

~!* We won't be breeding for six years! We are getting information, learning about the species and morphs that we will breed, and saving for all of the equipment we might need.*!~

[WingedWolfPsion]

Woma (how dangerous is it to breed a Spider? Can it pass it down to non-spider hatchlings?)

Not 100% sure what you're asking here. It's not dangerous to breed a spider? lol

If you're talking about the spider wobble, that only affects spiders--it's part of the spider gene, there is no evidence that a separate gene is involved at all. So only spiders will have the spider wobble issue. Most of them have it to some noticeable degree, and there is strong reason to believe that even those that don't still have the potential (their spider offspring will probably wobble too).

Since it is part of the spider gene, it doesn't affect any animal without the spider gene.

There are a few cases of snakes other than spiders showing neurological problems, but no evidence that's related to the spider wobble.

[snakesRkewl]

Ambitious are we

I once thought I'd want that many snakes but now I know better after helping raise 70 babies last year on top of my own collection.
Is it fun, heck yeah, but more importantly it's a lot of work and you must enjoy it or it quickly overwhelms.
My new motto is less is more....Higher quality and less

[RR - Mackenzie]

Yes, I was talking about the spider wobble, sorry for not making it clear. I just worry about having babies with a bad wobble. I always worry about them smashing their heads or something, but that just shows how much of a worry wart I am.

Also, my snake supposedly shed today. He is bright, very clear, but I can't find his skin anywhere! And he has dented eye caps, should I just give him aother day? Or try to get the eye caps off now? I kept the humidity up, I guess it didn't work as well as I thought.

[RR - Mackenzie]

Ambitious are we

I once thought I'd want that many snakes but now I know better after helping raise 70 babies last year on top of my own collection.
Is it fun, heck yeah, but more importantly it's a lot of work and you must enjoy it or it quickly overwhelms.
My new motto is less is more....Higher quality and less

LOL.

I am definitely shooting for the stars.

I'd only breed several females, not all of them at most Especially since I have a friend helping me, and I'll have plenty of time, I'm sure it will be hard work, but I imagine that it's worth it

Nice motto! If only I could come up with one. We had to flip a coin to choose the business name .

Thanks for all of the help,
~ Mac

[Oxylepy]

With how many single trait animals you're getting you could probably get half/quarter the number of snakes in supers/double trait snakes.

And you have both Cinnamon and Black Pastel, considering that they both pretty much lead to the same results you could easily just get 2 of one.

With all those different pastels it might be a better idea to get a single Bumblebee instead, it gives you two morphs instead of just one and you dont need all the different kinds of pastels. If not the Bumblebee try getting a Spinner over the Pin Stripe, it would be something nice to breed to your Albino.

Personally I'd look into dropping a lot of that list in favor of double morphs (1 male, 2-3 females, or sticking with that ratio for them).

Its going to take you 2 years or so to get your females up to size, so buy them first, then buy your males the season prior to when you want to breed. That way the prices may drop for them.

Remember each female can produce quite a few eggs, so when you go to try and breed you may be overwhelmed by all the snakes popping out, so it's better to start with a few snakes than it is to start with a lot. And double gene snakes mean less numbers, hopefully as many morphs still represented and more genetic possibilities in any pairing.

[alohareptiles]

My new motto is less is more....Higher quality and less

Very good quote and sooooo true. They will muliply very fast and can overwhelm an overly ambitious breeder. Remember there are mouths to feed and the cost gets greater as they need bigger sizes. Also, the little ones need a variety of sizes to eat (and hopefully, you won't have any difficult feeders, which are a ton of fun...NOT). Then there's the incubators, hatchling racks, shipping of those you want to sell (getting FedEx certified)...Ooops, sorry for going on...

Congrats and like my coaches said, "Go big or Go home!!!"

But please remember the animals are the innocent victims (of our well-intentioned human mistakes sometimes) and try and remember their husbandry is the most important for their well being and successful breeding. Don't sacrifice on the animals for the sake of the numbers.

[RR - Mackenzie]

Thanks everyone!

They will definitely be pampered, and will get fed the appropriate sized rodent. Plus they will either be on aspen, newspaper, or paper towels. And I am 95% sure we will be using tubs, so they will feel secure and it will control the heat and humidity more.

I'm fine with one egg... As long as the baby is healthy I'm not breeding for numbers, I'm breeding for health, temper, and color. And we'll have money saved up for any veterinarian visits, and we'll have a hospital rack and a quarantine rack.

[snakesRkewl]

Personally I'd look into dropping a lot of that list in favor of double morphs (1 male, 2-3 females, or sticking with that ratio for them).

My thoughts exactly, higher quality snakes with less mouths to feed and better end results when breeding.

*not higher quality but more genetics in each snake*

[RR - Mackenzie]

I'll most likely end up dropping a few off of my list... Which ones do you sugegst I keep? Or which ones do you suggest I get?