What Would You Do?

[meowmeowkazoo]

So I have this lovely albino female who is 1300 grams.

The only male I currently have is a very pretty pastel butter boy who is growing fast and is currently around 350 grams.

I am going to the Lone Star reptile expo later today.

Should I get a normal male 100% het albino, or just breed my pastel butter male to this girl?

A male het would potentially make some nice dark albinos, but I'd have to wait for him to reach breeding size, and there's still a 50% chance of getting normals. However, the longer wait would mean that the albino girl has some extra time to bulk up before breeding.

The pastel butter male will be ready to breed sooner, and he should throw some nice light pastels, butters, and possibly some pastel butters, and all would be het albino.

I guess it seems like a waste to breed my albino girl to a male that has no chance of producing visual albinos.

What to do?

[John1982]

I'd either look for an albino male for a good price and give her another year or breed the pastel butter to her this year. If you get a pair of butter hets you could go for cherry bombs.

[WingedWolfPsion]

1300 grams is too light to breed this year. Wait until she is at least 1500.
You will be very disappointed with the clutch you would get from such a small female, it could compromise her health, and almost surely would stunt her growth.

[snakesRkewl]

A couple more months of feeding and she'll be 1500 grams

If you want albino's get a het albino if you can find a proven breeder, if not the value of a pastel butter X albino clutch wouldmake that breeding well worth doing.

I bred a 1450 gram 18 month old yellowbelly female last year that was 2000 grams with eggs and 1400 after dropping her eggs.
That female is now back to 1800 grams and ready to breed again this season.

If your albino isn't a good eater then I'd wait until she is or until next season, if she's eating well go for it

[meowmeowkazoo]

1300 grams is too light to breed this year. Wait until she is at least 1500.
You will be very disappointed with the clutch you would get from such a small female, it could compromise her health, and almost surely would stunt her growth.

I know that, I'm not planning on breeding until she is 1500 grams at least.

[meowmeowkazoo]

I'd either look for an albino male for a good price and give her another year or breed the pastel butter to her this year. If you get a pair of butter hets you could go for cherry bombs.

That is a tempting idea. I wouldn't mind going for cherry bombs, though I wonder if a butter x butter cherry bomb would have a chance for bug eyes?

[meowmeowkazoo]

A couple more months of feeding and she'll be 1500 grams

If you want albino's get a het albino if you can find a proven breeder, if not the value of a pastel butter X albino clutch wouldmake that breeding well worth doing.

I bred a 1450 gram 18 month old yellowbelly female last year that was 2000 grams with eggs and 1400 after dropping her eggs.
That female is now back to 1800 grams and ready to breed again this season.

If your albino isn't a good eater then I'd wait until she is or until next season, if she's eating well go for it

Thanks for the tips! She's been eating well, and I'm hoping she will be ready by the end of February.

[WingedWolfPsion]

I absolutely wish you luck...I have yet to have a female in that weight range continue eating all winter, lol. it seems that ball python puberty usually causes the girls to give up food for one breeding season.
My own 1300 gram girl has already stopped.

[Jay_Bunny]

It really depends on the individual snake. I have a pinstripe that bred for the first time last season. When I began pairing her up with males, she was around 1350g. She ate well and gave me five eggs. Same season I had a spider female that was a little over 1500g that gave me 4 eggs. Both females went back on feed immediately after laying and are gaining weight steadily.

I'd say wait for your pastel butter to gain a little more weight. This will allow your albino time to get some more weight on her. Then pair them up this spring.

[WingedWolfPsion]

If you breed the butter to her in the spring, you can hold back a butter or pastel butter het for albino, and in 2013 you can make albino combos.