Bees or super pastels then killerbees? Just need some opinions :D

[anendeloflorien]

Ok so I've got a bit of a dilemma on my hands and I need a little advice.

I've got 1.1 (well 0.1 right now but one more in the mail should be here tomorrow ) pastels and I would love to pair the female up with my male spider in a year or two if they're both ready. BUT I also have a super nice looking normal female that's already a proven breeder who I could hook my spider up with (Well could do both but just read on lol). I'm thinkin however it would be cool to breed pastel X pastel to try for some supers and then breed one of the supers to my spidey for some killerbees. I love bumblebees but of course killers are just out of this world.

My only other breeding ideas right now are to pick out a nice cinny and pair her with the pastel male to try for some pewters and then sterlings way down the line. I know this is all a ways away but I'm trying to plan ahead since I probably won't be picking up a whole lot of new snakes once I start school in the spring.

[muddoc]

You sound like you have a great dilema. Too many options. That is always a good place to be. It sounds to me like you enjoy Pastels, so I would breed the Pastel male to the Normal this year, in hopes of getting a few more Pastels in you collection. As for your KillerBee project, just remember that a KillerBee is a Super Pastel Spider, so the Super Pastel to Spider breeding won't produce a KillerBee, only BumbleBees and Pastels. You need a BumbleBee to Pastel (at minimum) to produce a KillerBee.

[anendeloflorien]

You sound like you have a great dilema. Too many options. That is always a good place to be. It sounds to me like you enjoy Pastels, so I would breed the Pastel male to the Normal this year, in hopes of getting a few more Pastels in you collection. As for your KillerBee project, just remember that a KillerBee is a Super Pastel Spider, so the Super Pastel to Spider breeding won't produce a KillerBee, only BumbleBees and Pastels. You need a BumbleBee to Pastel (at minimum) to produce a KillerBee.

Ahhhh ok see I'm glad I asked. I totally looked over the fact that it was bumblebee to pastel for killers (I knew that in the back of my mind but just wasn't thinking straight). I am sooo sooo happy with how my collection is coming along and even though most of them are still little, except my 1600g breeder and the male pastel is like 500g, I'm so excited with the prospects of what we can do down the road !

I do agree however on the pastel to normal since they should both be ready by next spring (girly is still recovering from breeding this season). That would be great to have a couple more pastels (fingers crossed for females lol).

[Drew87]

You sound like you have a great dilema. Too many options. That is always a good place to be. It sounds to me like you enjoy Pastels, so I would breed the Pastel male to the Normal this year, in hopes of getting a few more Pastels in you collection. As for your KillerBee project, just remember that a KillerBee is a Super Pastel Spider, so the Super Pastel to Spider breeding won't produce a KillerBee, only BumbleBees and Pastels. You need a BumbleBee to Pastel (at minimum) to produce a KillerBee.

Thank you TIM i also didnt know that was the key to killers so ill make sure to write that one down. For a future project

[kc261]

I would focus on figuring out what you want to breed this year, and worry about the rest as it gets closer. Odds are that you will acquire more things, become interested in different things, etc., and change any plans you make anyway. Or else a breeding won't take, and it will put you a year behind and then you can't use that female for the next project she was slated for, or...

Anyway, it is still good to plan your breedings based on where you think you'd like to end up in a few years. Since you want killerbees, I'd focus on producing bees. That means crossing a pastel with a spider.

But it sounds to me like that isn't an option for you yet because the pastel female isn't big enough yet. So it is really a question of which male you want to pair with the normal female this year. If I followed correctly, you have a choice of spider or pastel. Which would you prefer? Do you think you'll be selling them all or holding some back for future projects? If you think you'll hold any back, then I'd make my priority whichever one you think you'll need more of in your future projects. Probably pastel, simply because in making spider combos you only need 1 snake carrying the spider gene, but to get the super pastel combos, you need both snakes to carry the pastel gene. If you expect to sell all of the offspring, then maybe spider because they sell for slightly higher prices (but then again, if everyone uses that logic, the market will be flooded with spiders and it won't be true anymore).

I just reread this and realized I've probably set a record for using the most words to say "do whatever you want". Oh well. Hope it helps you somehow.

[West Coast Jungle]

I would alternate all your codoms during breeding season. just because you pair two codoms doesnt mean you will hit the combo. online we only see the sucess stories and not the many misses.

Try them all, some males dont breed well and if you just do one you might get nothing! If you bred two codom males you could get several combos. there are no guarantees so a back up plan is always a good idea.

Now if you were working with recessives that would be different because if you wouldnt know whos the sire and if they are het or not etc....

When it comes to codoms I say pull all the stops, you got nothing to loose and everything to gain.

Just cause you have a morph doesnt mean half its babies will be that morph. I know someone that bred a lesser to a normal this year and got 7 normals, see why a backup codom cant hurt.

I also know someone who bought a very expensive male codom 6 years ago and it never sired one clutch. There are no guarantees, anyone breeding for a while can tell you that.

[anendeloflorien]

Anyway, it is still good to plan your breedings based on where you think you'd like to end up in a few years. Since you want killerbees, I'd focus on producing bees. That means crossing a pastel with a spider.

Right that's my first goal but both my pastel female and spider male are still growing up (I just got both of them a few weeks ago) so the only real ready to breed male next season will be my pastel unless I get something else in the meantime. My spider, if he keeps eating like he does may be ready late next year in which case I've got a normal female that will be ready then also.

I just reread this and realized I've probably set a record for using the most words to say "do whatever you want". Oh well. Hope it helps you somehow.

No worries man this is all just projection now I'm thinking down the road as far as with my smallish collection what I can and can't do.

When it comes to codoms I say pull all the stops, you got nothing to loose and everything to gain.

Just cause you have a morph doesnt mean half its babies will be that morph. I know someone that bred a lesser to a normal this year and got 7 normals, see why a backup codom cant hurt.

Oh I know never to "count my morphs before they hatch". This is my hobby. I'm not doing this to make money. I'm doing it #1 for the pure fun of raising and keeping snakes and #2 for the fun of trying.... rolling the dice on that morph that I really want but just don't feel like dropping my whole college savings on!
I'm not really going to be playing with recessives for a while at least I'd rather have some nice visual morphs that down the road could make some more nice visual morphs lol.

Great advice guys! I'm a "plan ahead" type of guy so I really want to know where I'm going and what I can do with what I have and a couple more nice co-doms that I plan on getting.

[starmom]

I would alternate all your codoms during breeding season. just because you pair two codoms doesnt mean you will hit the combo. online we only see the sucess stories and not the many misses.

Try them all, some males dont breed well and if you just do one you might get nothing! If you bred two codom males you could get several combos. there are no guarantees so a back up plan is always a good idea.

Now if you were working with recessives that would be different because if you wouldnt know whos the sire and if they are het or not etc....

When it comes to codoms I say pull all the stops, you got nothing to loose and everything to gain.

Just cause you have a morph doesnt mean half its babies will be that morph. I know someone that bred a lesser to a normal this year and got 7 normals, see why a backup codom cant hurt.

I also know someone who bought a very expensive male codom 6 years ago and it never sired one clutch. There are no guarantees, anyone breeding for a while can tell you that.

Thanks for this suggestion Raul!
I have 4 girls I'll be breeding this coming season and I've been going over and over my plans for pairings based on patterns, colors, wishes, dreams, desires for the future, etc. It was good to be reminded that the morph gods and goddesses don't always smile and so with my 2 normals I'll hit them with all the co-dom males I have. Very cool. Awesome, in fact!! Thanks a bunch!

[anendeloflorien]

Thanks for this suggestion Raul!
I have 4 girls I'll be breeding this coming season and I've been going over and over my plans for pairings based on patterns, colors, wishes, dreams, desires for the future, etc. It was good to be reminded that the morph gods and goddesses don't always smile and so with my 2 normals I'll hit them with all the co-dom males I have. Very cool. Awesome, in fact!! Thanks a bunch!

Hey McKenzie so nice to see you again . That sounds like a pretty cool plan! How's your nice little collection coming along? I'm still a little ways away from breeding, I'm probably going to be giving my big normal female to a friend for a breeding loan so we can try a little pet project we've been toying with for a couple years. Might even be going into business with him, he's got tons of monitors, tegus, geckos, snakes and so on and so forth and he's looking to rent out a storefront to start doing a little bit of local sales but also so he could focus on selling online and stuff and I'd be taking care of all the ball pythons! I'm hoping it all pans out right, we're not really looking to get rich but still I'd like to see a place up here where people could go to get animals and advice from people who actually know what they're talking about! (sorry rambling is in my blood)