Starting with breeding. Concidering genes.

[supersila]

So i'm looking at getting in to the business of breeding. I love animals, especially snakes and i know i love genetics. So here's my question: what genes is the best way to start with.

-my budget: about 1500 euro's. (might be a bit more if the outcome is very interesting).
-i have space for 2 female and 1 male.
-ball python has my preferences.
- the offspring should also be interesting to continue breeding with
- want the offspring to bring in some money to pruchase more animals



I did some research and found out that 2 co-/dominant genes with a recessive is an interesting pick and can make some beautifull(and valuable) combinations. however combining 2 recessive could also be interesting, but than you first get bunch of het's before i'm able to make them visual.
genes i'm thinking about are: enchi, orange dream, specter, banana, phantom, etc.
combinations i've found: fire-orange dream-yellow belly..... phantom- mystic -Coral glow..... royo- lesser..... purple passion..... pastel- banana -clown(or spider)..... lesser-spider-bongo-orange dream.
but what about: lava albino axanthic or any other with axanthic. or piebald maybe.
so many possibilities

any suggestions? tips are welcome too!!

[JodanOrNoDan]

1. Find what the market is in your area.
2. Make sure you can sell the animals you produce.
3. Buy the best animals you can afford.
4. Know when you have "missed the boat" on a morph. For example, piebalds are very popular here right now, but I do not have any piebald. Based on the number of the animals being produced right now I am not going to try to do piebald because I am too far behind everyone else.
5. Find something to make you different from others.

[supersila]

Thank you for your response!
The only question that i still have is how can i know the market for my area. I use morphmarket to search for them and also thought about selling them on that site.
The only place i know for private non breeders is like www.marktplaats.nl thats not enough to know for sure.

[Soord]

Thank you for your response!
The only question that i still have is how can i know the market for my area. I use morphmarket to search for them and also thought about selling them on that site.
The only place i know for private non breeders is like www.marktplaats.nl thats not enough to know for sure.

Try to research when a local or semi local reptile expo is. That will give you an idea about what people in the area are making. You can also find classifieds on fb or something near your area

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[Soord]

Also not sure how prevalent they are in Europe

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[Stewart_Reptiles]

I agree with everything JodanOrNoDan except number 4, it's never too late to get into recessive combos that have been here a while, 1 because Pied is one of the most popular, 2 the advantage compare to the people that started like me 10 years ago you can get some multiple gene females and shoot higher for a more reasonable price. As much as I have a nice Pied collection now 10 years ago I started with a pair of hets.

As for the market in Europe there is a strong market in England and France with some amazing breeders, there are also a few good breeders in Belgium.

Bottom line find your niche market breed what YOU like and start working on your reputation today because pairing and producing snakes is only one part of the equation.

[hhw]

I would not get into the business of breeding at this late stage, as I think the ball python morph market is already pretty saturated, and the bottom is starting to fall out. I'm seeing breeder after breeder get out of the market now, which is a boon for me as I'm scooping up some deals for my hobby collection after a somewhat long hiatus (aside from just the 1 normal I've had for 12 years), but I have no illusions about making any money from this. Sub-adult or proven breeder super pastels, lessers, mojaves etc. are going for $100 CAD now (~$60 USD), and by the time they're able to produce 2-gene combination offspring, those will likely not be worth much more. I'm just buying the animals I want, to produce some known 2-3 gene combinations I already know I like, or some original 4-6 gene combinations which I think have potential for outstanding results.

Even if you disagree with me on where the market is heading, or if the European market is a few years behind on ball python morphs, there's no point in selecting your projects based on what current market demand is, as you're not going to start popping out babies overnight. Even if you start with adult proven breeders, it may take them some time to acclimatize so optimistically, you might start having some success putting snakes together in fall of 2017 with your first hatchlings available in 2018. By then, the market may have entirely shifted. Even now, 2-gene combinations don't seem to be worth much more than normals or 1-gene animals, aside from a select few genes that became available more recently like bongo and bamboo, with ghi already starting to become more common. With $1500 euros, any breeding stock you'll be able to pick up will unlikely to be highly in demand in 2-3 years. You'd likely just be able to afford 2 gene juveniles, or 1 gene proven breeders. Also, don't forget that you'll be spending several hundreds a year on rats for each of your breeders, unless you decide to produce your own feeders as well.

So, my recommendation would be to either just select the morphs you like within your budget, and breed for fun, while still ensuring that there's enough demand for the animals you'll produce to find them good homes or, up your budget significantly to invest in morph combinations that are still likely to be in demand in 3 years.