I'll be asking a lot of questions over the next few years

[Kittycatpenut]

So...I'm going to start breeding bp's. Right now I only have one snake, a cute little 20" female normal, but next year or the year after I'm going to get a whole bunch of females, and the year after that the males. I thought it would be better to open a thread to keep oper rather than making a new one for every question. Here's a list of the morph I'd like to start with:
1.1 fires
1.0 lesser
0.1 pastel
1.1 cinnamon
0.1 mojave
1.1 yellow belly
1.1 vanilla
and maybe some normal females
Anyway, is this ReptiPro 5000 Digital Reptile Incubator a good incubator for that amount of eggs? If not is there a better one for 300 or less? Also, isn't the average cluch size 6-8?

[John1982]

Sure are jumping in with both feet, I sincerely hope you like the temperature of that thar water! If you want an incubator that'll hold potentially 6 clutches at a time for $300 or less I suggest doing some searches for DIY incubators and building one, they're not complicated and you'll save a bundle.

[snakesRkewl]

I understand your enthusiasm but the incubator is probably one of the later things to learn about keeping and breeding ball pythons, husbandry, breeding procedures, care of breeders and on and on will come way before worrying about incubation.

The incubator you ask about is worthless for ball pythons especially if you have more than 2 clutches.
Building your own will not only save you a bundle but you'll know it inside and out intimately by the time you get to use it.
I honestly can't recommend any incubator under $500, building one will be cheaper and probably work better than anything you can get for $300.

The thermostat alone, if you want peace of mind, will be over $100 all by itself.
on/off thermostats can work for incubating but after using one my first season a few years back I won't ever put myself through that again and don't recommend it to anyone else either

[Kittycatpenut]

The water's just fine! (: I love reptiles, especially snakes. You can make an incubator with a cooler right? Cause there' a giant one sitting on my porch. Im already going to be building racks so an incubator probably wouldn't be to difficult. For a thermostat I was looking at the VE 300X2 from reptile basics(can this one control more than one rack, it says something about two"zones"?)and it's around 200 so I know how expensive they are. I estimated around 4000 for everything, but I dont know the cost of mice/rats for 1 year, so I probably over estimated. Its at around 500 but thats kinda ridiculous if I buy in bulk. Or is it?

[Bigfish1975]

You would be better off making your own. I made an incubator out of an old full sized freezer and it worked great. I think it cost about $150 maybe a little more. The freezer was donated though. You can probably pick one up for a very low price, some people give them away if you pick them up. They are a very simple thing to make and like snakesRkewl said, you'll know it very well and be able to troubleshoot any problems.The incubator should be one of the last things you concern yourself with right now. Getting the enclosures, husbandry breeding plans and of course the animals need to grow. You have plenty of time before you need an incubator.Also another thing to consider is where you're going to get rid of the babies...sales, trades. You may want to try and make some relationships with local pet or reptile shops. That was one of my very first inquiries back when I had 3 BP's now up to 50. 2011 was my first breeding season and it was a success. I asked a lot of questions, did research like you're doing and I had fun doing it. Just think of the order you need things, Don't "put the cart before the horse" so to speak. Keep up the enthusiam and have fun. Good luck.

[SlitherinSisters]

I would build your own incubator, and like others have said, you have plenty of time before you have to start worrying about that. The most important thing to do is learn about bps and how to take care of them. Trust me, in the next couple years you will learn a ton about bps. I'm still learning about bps three years later, and I'm sure I'll keep learning things in the years ahead.

[Kittycatpenut]

Haha (: I know I won't be needing an incubator for like 3 years, I just wanted to know the best way to go with one. I think the only problem with the racks would be setting up the heat tape cause I've had no experience with electrical wiring. For breeding plans, I'll be doing base morphs, supers, designer morphs, and some normals. I'll probably keep most of the first batch of babies or trade them; it'll be close to 5 or 6 years before I can even make a profit, but really, profit is not the reason I'm doing this. Anyway, a person can't possibly know everything about something living; anyone who thinks so is deluded. Good luck to you guys too (;

[Zombie]

Haha (: I know I won't be needing an incubator for like 3 years, I just wanted to know the best way to go with one. I think the only problem with the racks would be setting up the heat tape cause I've had no experience with electrical wiring. For breeding plans, I'll be doing base morphs, supers, designer morphs, and some normals. I'll probably keep most of the first batch of babies or trade them; it'll be close to 5 or 6 years before I can even make a profit, but really, profit is not the reason I'm doing this. Anyway, a person can't possibly know everything about something living; anyone who thinks so is deluded. Good luck to you guys too (;

try www.reptilebasics.com they will wire the heat tape for you. They also sell the vivarium electronics thermostats you are talking about. I have that thermostat and absolutely love it! The x2 is a dual zone and will come with 2 probes to thermoregulate 2 different things (ie, 2 racks, or a rack and incubator). Good luck and take it one step at a time, make sure you do your homework so you dont get too many suprises!!

[Kittycatpenut]

I've done lots of homework, especially on husbandry and morph combos. World of ball python is very useful. I'm doing firexfire firexpastel cinnyxcinny vanillaxvanilla mojavexlesser and ybxyb the first round, I'll mix morphs the second round , but I'm reconsidering the yb's and thinking about replacing them with spotnoses or enchis. Now to research them...

[Kittycatpenut]

I've decided... Spotnose all the way! I'll get a pair of them. I like them because their super is cool and they haven't had much done with them.