Buying hets from a new breeder..What do you need to know?

[purplemuffin]

So, I've pretty much decided the morphs I'd like to get when I do start breeding.

Ideal group:
1. pied
1. clown
1.1 double het albino pied
1. enchi het pied
.3 het pieds
.1 butter yellowbelly
.1 black pastel
.1 pastel het clown
.1 lesser het clown
Maybe a few more female het pieds, or a morph het pied lady

Though I figure realistically my first breeding group will look like this:
1. clown
1. pied
.1 butter yellow belly
.1 black pastel
.1 lesser het clown
.1 enchi het pied
.2 het pied


As you can see, I'm going to end up with a lot of hets! But you can see where I'm going with some of these lovely snakes..I'm particularly excited about if I can get a pair of butter yellow belly het clown/black pastel het clown together to toy around with..SOOO many different morph combinations possible from that pairing alone, it's super exciting.


Anyway, the point is I will be a newbie breeder with a bunch of hets. I plan to take SERIOUS amounts of photos to prove genetics of these babies, but I would like to know what would make a buyer feel more comfortable about getting hets from an unknown breeder. Photos with ID cards in them all the way to the egg hatching, videos, hmm? Any ideas would help. I want to start of strong and build myself a solid reputation to stand on in the future.

Any other tips for the beginning breeder? Anything you would have done differently your first time? I know it's going to be rough at first getting my name out there, but I'm hoping if I can get a few people to purchase my babies and some of them prove out I can slowly become a name that people trust. Thanks in advance everyone!

[decensored]

I'm actually in this boat. I bought a couple of Pastel het. axanthics off of a breeder who worked closely with another breeder that I know, and who is well respected in my area.

I plan to prove them out this season. Even though my hets didn't come with any genetic proof/ paperwork I trust my source and I got a good deal even if they are just pastels.

What I plan to do is to paperwork the crap out of my guys. Keep records of the parents, the clutch mates. Include pictures, time stamps, etc. The more you can prove the better chance you have at selling a het. at a resonable price.

I'm even going as far as recording feedings, sheds, and "bodily movements." Each animal gets their own file and the file gets sold with the snake.

People are very weary about buying hets especially when they are normal looking - the more info you have on them the better.

Just my two cents.

Cheers.

[purplemuffin]

Thanks a ton for the reply! Yes.. I'm going to work as hard as I can to record as many details as possible so the buyer can see everything they need to know about the snake. Hoping to get a good, easy system down before starting this all. I record things now but it's not the most intuitive way and is a little confusing to go back and read, plus it's only really good for one or two snakes, I'd like to just rewrite the way I record my info so it can all be easy and uniform later.

This is why I am wanting to have a visual morph for the father, so that even if I end up with a bad deal(one of the het mothers is just a normal or something), I am still guaranteeing myself to have a %100 het animal and not a possible het.

Good luck to you in the future!

[purplemuffin]

And to anyone reading but not posting, I'd also still appreciate opinions of those who would NOT buy a het from a beginner. I'd like to know what I should be doing during my first few years while I'm being avoided by the majority of buyers that will help to be to be trustworthy me in your eyes.

[Aes_Sidhe]

Te typical Photo ID include Photo of Parents and photo of offspring, date of hatch and signature of breeder...

You could include photo and date of lock and photo of female on Eggs and date of lay...

[Freakie_frog]

In the end ink on paper doesn't mean that you're not scamming people. Fake hets these days are far less common than people think. Back when het pieds were 1500.00 for a female or het clowns were 2500.00 people were making big buck selling hets. But now days with many of the recessive animals being more affordable and hets bringing little more than most base morphs, I think you're safe.

I have quite a few hets that I never got anything with. I trust the breeder and know where they live if the animal doesn't prove out.

As a new breeder the thing you can do is have your stuff in order from the get go. Have pics of mom on the egg's and a clutch number. This way you and the buyer can keep track of exactly which clutch you say the animal cam from.

In the end it's your ability to establish trust with your customers.

[waltah!]

You can also post pics of locks and Mom on eggs as well egg progression and hatching on forums such as this. If you establish a solid rep for yourself within communities like this one you may find the Classifieds section of the forum pretty useful. Other members who get to know you and can follow your breedings may be more likely to feel comfortable purchasing from you.
Just a thought.

[Shadera]

I won't buy hets from an unknown. I prefer to stick with people I already know and trust. fwiw, I won't buy from some of the big guys either. There was a situation last year I think it was, where someone bought hets from one of the big guys. They didn't prove after a couple years and several clutches, and the seller blamed the genetics on disgruntled employees switching clutches around. As far as I know, no olive branch was ever offered.

You can go the paperwork route. Like someone else said, it all comes down to what your word means. Definitely document. Aside from backing up what you're claiming, people just love to see pictures.

While you're waiting on all of that to grow up so you can breed, spend time on the forums getting your name out there. Establish relationships with people and show by your words that you're worthy of trusting. That way when it comes time for you to have animals to sell, you're no longer an unknown, and people will at least have some trust in you. From there, always keep your word and take care of your customers.

[purplemuffin]

Thanks, y'all have given me a lot to think about!

I love to take pictures! I'm very excited about setting up my own light box so we don't have to take them into the studio every time I want to photograph them!


I think as soon as I purchase the girls I'm going to begin setting up a facebook page. I can post photos and updates there and get to know a few of the people(if any) decide to like my page. I'll still be posting on here as well. When I get a little closer to my first season I'll set up a legitimate website. I'm hoping also that my snakes can speak for themselves, so if I buy quality animals I'll get quality babies


Again, thanks so much again everyone. This has been extremely helpful! You guys rock for helping a noob out

[J.Vandegrift]

Honestly, I wouldn't worry too much about people believing you. When people see you producing visuals they will tend to believe you on the hets. I generally take a picture of the whole clutch which shows the visuals and the hets. Some people I sell to want paperwork, and some don't care. I think paperwork is pretty worthless and never ask for it when I am buying hets. One of the first guys to give out paperwork turned out to be a scammer.