Trying to decide whether to keep our Ivory ... Inviting you to post your YB combos

[Anatopism]

I like the ivory and some YB combos, but with where we are at currently, there are so many other males we have that I would prefer to pair with our females.

I'm looking for some stunning and average examples of YB combos, to help me determine if I want to keep the ivory, or whether I want to sell/trade him. Male YBs are selling for $100 or less, but the supers are $700+ on kingsnake. Is this a reasonable or too high dollar amount to judge off of, when weighing my options?

[Andybill]

Honestly I think you guys should keep your Ivory! I know you guys got him for a steal too! He may come in handy down the line you know! If you have a fire girl yellowbelly fires are nice and even pastel ybs are sweet too! I would love both in my collection and I hope one day to have an Ivory. Just my opinion! Sorry I have no pics but Jinx has a smokin yb fire so maybe he will post a pic for ya!

[spankege]

We should get some pictures of this ivory? Haha

[coldbloodaddict]

Depends on what you want to do with it?

I personally wouldn't want to breed a male Ivory unless it had a few other Genes in it...You would have to breed it too a power house female to make anything worth while and then all the Ivory contributes in the one YB gene! My rule of thumb is the male has to be worth more than the female I'm breeding him to.

Sell him and get a 2 or 3 gene YB combo...That would make for a far better breeder!

I like female Ivories though!

[Anatopism]

Will find photos on the computer once I get home. I know I have them, just none with me at work right now

Depends on what you want to do with it?

I personally wouldn't want to breed a male Ivory unless it had a few other Genes in it...You would have to breed it too a power house female to make anything worth while and then all the Ivory contributes in the one YB gene! My rule of thumb is the male has to be worth more than the female I'm breeding him to.

Sell him and get a 2 or 3 gene YB combo...That would make for a far better breeder!

I like female Ivories though!

Well.. we have lots of normal and a couple morph females, but the males that we have to compete with the ivory are: Clown, enchi, cinnamon het pied, and now that we picked up AKBall's calico and firefly male.. and still owe him for them.. thinking I like the other combo possibilities considerably more than anything we currently have added to YB.

Still have a couple other males we need to rethink as far as future plans go as well.

[Serpent_Nirvana]

I have to agree with Jon -- many "super" males don't excite me much, because, while he is admittedly guaranteed never to throw you a normal baby, all he is guaranteed to contribute to the pairing is a single yellowbelly gene. For me, I can't think of a reason why I would use a male yellowbelly (valued at, say, $650-750 market value) when I could pick up a smokin' male pastel yellowbelly for ~$350! Yes, he can throw normals while the ivory can't -- but, he could also produce pastel yellowbellies, while the ivory can't, so whatever female you pair him to, he has the potential to produce more exciting offspring than the ivory.

Additionally, I would be a little bit hesitant to use an ivory whose parents I had never seen, because for all I know, the yellowbellies used to produce him -- and, presumably, the yellowbellies he will produce -- might be very poor examples of the gene. With the (more affordable!) pastel yellowbelly, it's easier to see the quality, IMO, to ascertain what you're really working with.

... Of course, all of that assumes that your goal in breeding these snakes is to produce the nicest example of the most "high end" morph you can reasonably afford to. Not everyone has that goal. If your goal was to produce as many morphs as possible for re-sale, it might be better to use an ivory since then you are guaranteed not to produce any normals, while with the pastel yellowbelly you might "whiff" and get ALL normals. Or, if the ivory is more of a pet or a showpiece than a breeder/investment, and you really want his babies because you like him, then your decision is easy.

Was that long-winded enough for ya?