Hold Backs...Question.

[tigger2curly]

Hello everyone,

I have been breeding Ball Pythons for a few seasons now.
I so enjoy it, and look forward to breeding the ball pythons each and every season.
The out comes are always great, if not in the odds then in the beauty of it.

My question is this...
How do you guys decide what to hold back vs sell???

I am hoping this is a stupid question, but do hope to see some interesting finds.
Thanks for your time.
Jan

[snakesRkewl]

I breed for what I want to see, so holding back for me is mostly about quality.

[Seth702]

I am not a breeder, but i have my ideas and am curious to see if others share them as well. I would think quality would be a high priority. Necesity would be a close second. if your short on females you may hold a few quality females back for later seasons. I would also think space. If you produce a multi gene animal that could replace 2 or 3 snakes, and open up room in your collection for more morphs and projects. Finally accomplishing a step in a project and keeping off spring to prove out or continue your project.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

What I hold back is based on my future plans and ultimate goals as well as the quality of the animal produced.

I tend to hold back females first and foremost and from time to time males.

When it comes to females I often hold back 2 females of each mutation I want to hold back.

[tigger2curly]

I haven't really sat down and went through my collection, to see what all I can do as projects.
Something I really need to do and soon.
I am clueless on what to hold back vs sell.
Even thinking about down sizing the collection, has me very puzzled.
I plan on trying to organize my racks better too.
This way, maybe I can see what all I really have, hope that makes sence.
Thanks for your answers though.

[Slowcountry Balls]

This is my first season of producing my own snakes. I choose to hold back my multi gene females because I need to replace some of my single gene females with more genetic power. Basically, I have 3 projects that are my focus, and the other stuff is "fun" or "cool looking" to me. I know that I could have made some money by selling more, but I want to increase my future options, so this year is a heavy hold back year. I think it basically comes down to asking yourself "What are my goals?" and "Which animals will best help me achieve these goals?" Make your hold back and/or trade decisions based on that. Next you can decide if you want to hold anything more back based on remaining rack space/time that you have. If you hold back a quality animal that you are unsure about, but feed it on a regular basis so that it is growing at a healthy pace, you will have options with that animal in the future, whether that is to use it yourself, or to trade or sell it. You really need to know what your goals are to make good hold back decisions.

[1nstinct]

I have not bred yet but my hold back will be based on 2 major things: goals for future breedings, and quality.
I dont plan on replacing any of my snakes at all, they are family. But i do plan on holding back snakes that could replace some animals.
I am going to be breeding 2013/14 season my black pastel het albino male with my albino female, i am praying i end up with 1.1 albino black pastels because i was to produce blizzards. So i would essentially i would not need a black pastel het albino if i have a albino black pastel, but i might want to use him for other things where the albino is not a major part.
I also plan on breeding my killer bee to my pastel lesser female, i am 99% sure that i will not be holding back any pastel,super pastel,bumble bee, or killer bee males from that clutch(could be a unique one). this is the reason i spent the extra money and saved for a killer bee male instead of a bumble bee male, to reduce the temptation for me to want to hold back as few males as possible from the clutch.
My overall hold back plan is to have a 1.2 or 1.3 hold back ratio, for all the breeding i plan on doing in my life.

[CD CONSTRICTORS]

FWIW- wouldn't you want to hold back a male or two at times that you want to put with a certain female/females?

I'm green here myself and just looking at my first breeding season this fall. I'm hoping my 1.1 Pied pair take a liking to each other, or I'll be hunting for another male. I've just heard that certain couples will not always pair up and that would kill your female holdbacks if you were stuck with a male that needed some Viagra or your female didn't take a liking to.

[Mike41793]

I plan to holdback high quality animals, or what i think are high quality, and most will be probably be female. I like the idea of bringing in new blood to my gene pool, even if its the same morph, so ill likely holdback more females and then buy high quality multi gene males. For the first couple of years though ill probably holdback alot more just to build my collection.

[angllady2]

For me holdbacks boil down to a few things.

1. I breed the best possible examples of a morph together to try and produce babies superior to the parents. If I hit on a really stellar example of the morph I was trying to produce, it gets considered for holding back. But, if I already have one of that morph and sex, I probably won't keep the baby.

2. Producing double or triple gene hatchlings that can replace or at least supplement single gene breeders. If I have a male spider for example, and I produce a Spider fire male, I'll consider holding on to him to give me a jump on making my blizzard bees down the line.

3. Proving out dinkers and possible hets. If I have an odd looking female, and I breed her and get offspring that look a lot like her, I will probably hang on to one or more of them to breed out and see if it's genetic or if there is a super form. Same thing with possible hets.

4. The baby has special meaning to me. I lost my very first visual pied I produced. It was a severe blow to me. I had one other pied in the clutch, a boy. I already have one male pied, but the little boy who is my first surviving pied isn't going anywhere.

Gale