Spider Ball Pythons

[alan12013]

I have the chance to purchase (from different people) a male and female spider. The female appears to be much higher quality. The male is 80 and the female is 100. Do you guys think this is a good deal? I am a business owner who is trying to start keeping and potentially breeding reptiles as a hobby and these will actually be my first snakes. Any advice is appreciated!

[sho220]

Personally, I would grab the female and pass on the male. Do you know how old they are?

[alan12013]

The female is 1 year old and looks nice. The male was hatched december 2013. Here are the links:
http://portland.craigslist.org/clk/pet/4512873726.html
http://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/pet/4516685722.html

[sho220]

What are your breeding plans? How many clutches are you looking at to get started?

I still say grab that female, pass on the male, and pick up a few more females to grow up some, then start looking at a male or two...depending on how many clutches you plan on getting...

[alan12013]

I am still unsure of what I would like to breed and how many clutches. The idea of a good quality male (not sure of morph yet) mating with 3 females that I should be able to acquire easily like another spider (in hopes of some really good quality spiders), a lesser, and a pastel. From my understanding all those morphs work pretty well together? The male would probably be a lesser (I can get ahold of one too but for 200 i think, or 175). I really like the looks of the spiders and also some of what they produce like the bee. Starting off with just one male and female for year one doesn't bother me either. In fact breeding a couple of the same morph in hopes of creating a really good quality snake sounds appealing so in the years to come I can start creating really awesome morphs with them. The market here seems rather poor if I just look at craigslist as an example. I'm watching snakes that are over 200 stay for sale forever and when they drop to 150 or less, or include a cage they sell. Having said that I think I could sell a higher number of snakes at lower costs then the more exotic morphs. I do want to breed the more rare ones and create some myself but that is years into the future. This is just the first year where I've got my life situated to start doing this on a daily basis. I appreciate your advice so far so thank you! I have emailed about that female already and hope to hear back tomorrow, if so pictures to follow

[dr del]

It is all personal choice in terms of quality ( for example I prefer the pattern of the male spider) but as long as you buy the ones you like you can't go too far wrong.

Prices do seem to drop every year so I like the idea of buying a female first and raising her ( or getting a yearling female ) so you know the snakes eating habits and body condition well before making the decision on breeding her.

By the time your female is ready to breed you might be able to get a dual ( or even triple ) gene male for a great price.

[grcforce327]

Always verify the sex first when purchasing off places like craigslist,or you will be saying this later!

[alan12013]

Ah interesting way to go about it! That never occurred to me, that's pretty smart actually. I was looking at it as getting 2 pets and eventually breeding them but I would still have to wait to breed, still have to make sure the female is very healthy, all while taking care of an additional snake unnecessarily. Thanks for that advice! I think with that knowledge I'll go ahead and start looking at getting 1-3 females within the next few months and I'll wait on a male.

[989josh]

Some people believe that spider x spider will give you 25% dead snakes if you want to do that breed I strongly recommend researching about it. Also in case you don't know the spider gene does have a head wobble ( neurological problem) with it some people avoid the gene all together because of it. Not that I'm try to turn you away from spider I personal love them.


Sent from my iPhone

[alan12013]

These are some of the females that I can get right now to start taking care of and prepping for breeding:
0.1 2013 (early) BEL [Lesser x Mojave], 618g. $700 (small rats)
0.1 2012 Lesser Pastel, 889g. $550 (small rats) ... this is strange to me because the same person is selling a male "lesser" that is 120 but they said if I took both of them it would be 600 dollars
0.1 2013 Albino, 234g. $380 (weaned rats)
2013 Female Black Pastel 380 grams $250 obo
2010 Proven Lesser Female 1300 grams $450 obo
Spider female / 1375 grams/ offer (no wobble) This person is crazy as I think they are trying to get extremely high prices for all of their snakes. They said my 100 offer was way to low
lesser female/252grams/250
Pinstipre female /605 grams/275
Pastel Female/ 1755 grams/ proven/offer
black widow 900 dollars
450g female bumblebee yellowbelly make offer

Any advice guys?