Need help...

Well i just recently got two new bp's i got a male pastel (10 days ago) and a male spider (this morning) there both big enough to breed now but I'm going to wait till next year and get there weight up more even though i don't have to, just want to but my question is next month I'm going to the mass reptile expo and i want to buy a female to breed to one of them for next year i will be getting another female at a different show or maybe online to breed to the other one but my question is what should i get to breed to my pastel and/or spider for around or under 250 each so if you could tell me what one you think is good for the spider and what would be good for the pastel that would make really nice babies and if i would like to sell them sometime would make decent money on i know about super pastels and bumblebees which don't get me wrong i like them just wanted to know if theres anything else i could get its mostly for my personal collection but if i needed room would like them to some what make me money.Thank you

If you are in this for the money, find another hobby.

Even people who have done this for years, have massive collections of rare reptiles and raise their own food rarely make any money.

For the average joe like me, I'll be lucky to ever break even. By the time you figure in supplies for each snake, food, medical care, etc. until they reach breeding size. Then add on extra food and specialty supplies for gravid females and then incubators for the eggs.

Then you have to actually successfully breed and get eggs, then the eggs have to hatch and the babies must have their own space and their own food. By the time your all said and done, a $3,000 to $5,000 initial investment is not uncommon, and the odds of you getting babies from your first attempt that would come anywhere near to making that much of a return are pretty much nonexistent.

Decide to breed because you love the animals, you have a sincere desire to share that love, and perhaps even improve the breed someday. If you make enough money in a season to cover your food and medical expenses, consider yourself fortunate. And if you never have to deal with the heartache of deformed babies that don't survive or even worse having to cull a deformed baby, count your blessings.

Bottom line, breed to make yourself and other people happy, skip the making money nonsense.

Gale

All depends on your budget buddy

Please don't miss understand where I am coming from here. As a person who keeps and breeds reptiles for the simple fact that, that's what I love to do, I think that you may be looking at this from a slightly skewed angle. You are going to need females that are at least 1,000+ grams to breed. A lot of breeders aren't going to be selling female breeder age snakes that are just normal for under $150, yet alone proven breeder females. Also on that same note to find a female pastel or spider or even yellow belly that are of breeder age and size for $250 is going to be a very difficult task. Unfortunately females are the comodity because they are the ones that lay the eggs... you can breed 1 male to 5 females and get about 15-25 babies... but if you breed 5 males to 1 female you aren't going to fair as well. My personal suggestion is, if you want to go for morphs and "make money" you need to take out a loan, buy every high end morph you can (and I mean the most latest thing you can get outta africa) and a lot of breeder age females, and then seriously work your tail off trying to sell all those babies after they hatch, then you may have a shot at making money. Again don't get me wrong, I am not down playing the market or saying there isn't money in breeding reptiles. What I am trying to say is you should be breeding because you love it, buy whatever morph you have an interest in working with that pleases you. If you want to go for something other than super pastels and bumble bees, then go for something else, just be prepared to pay more. You may get lucky and find a female pinstripe at the show for your price range, if it's an adult I would really be wary, but you may find a 2010 thats well started for a reasonable price, then you could go for lemon blasts and spinners. Anyways all I am saying is, breed what you want to, do it because you love it, and if you happen to make enough money to cover your costs of rats one year you should count yourself lucky. I have over 75 ball pythons, multiple green tree pythons, rainbow boas, childrens and spotted pythons. I work with albino, spider, pastel, lesser platty, pied, gen stripe, axanathics, and all kinds of crosses of those colors, and any year that I break even is truly a great year!!! :gj:

I must of posted it wrong but its for my own collection its for me because I do love bp's I was talking about if I do end up selling them to make some kind of money but forget about the money talk because now that I think of it they all sell for some kind of money I was asking because I want some cool morphs for myself or when people come over and they see my snakes there like oh damn and then get them into it its not about the money making at all I just want some cool looking morphs that I could make with my males and I know females that are ready to breed aren't cheap so its ok if there babies I can wait to breed.I'm sorry about how it sounded guys cause I'm not in it for the money I really love bp's especially mine and I'm allready addicted to them and I didn't mean to get any of you guys mad at me

I know that the females should be like 1500 grams and take at least 3 years for them to be able to breed and i know about the incubation and stuff all i wanted to know was what are some good morphs that my males could make with females that aren't that expensive i think when i said that money thing it got you guys defensive about bp's which i don't blame you and its not about the money when i breed its for my own collection to get some morphs that i couldn't afford and to have the joy an accomplishment of yeah i made that for myself and feel good about what i did and be excited i love my bp's and will most likely love my future bp's the money thing i meant was like if i ran out of some room or space and needed to make some room if it came down to me having to sell some to make some kind of money but the way i said it at first was bad and truthfully i rethought it and wouldn't care about making money because you guys are right it is about if you love them and to make your collection something your proud of and thats what I'm trying to do its just there are so many types of morphs out there i was just wondering what kind i can make with mine just for a start cause like i said i only have like 250 for a female for now are the super pastels and bumblebees the best looking morphs i can make with my males.

And i am sorry again i said it wrong the first time and didn't mean to come out like I'm just in this to make money i love the look in kids eyes when they see a snake around your wrist and there in awe and when people come over and see what you have and just say wow and than like talk hours about snakes and than maybe even get them into wanting some i didnt mean to come off the way i did

There are tons of great morphs, your only limit is going to be your price range. You are pretty much looking at pastels, spiders, yellow bellys and maybe pinstripes. If you are really lucky maybe a mojave (which I personally think are a little over rated, but again this is my opinion). I love super pastels, I think they look amazing. I got into ball python breeding to get myself a bumble bee and a lemon blast (pinstripe x pastel). Now I want to breed those together to get a super pastel spinner. Lesser Platinums are one of my favorites, not jsut because you can breed them together to get blue eyed lucys, but becasue the lesser spider and the lesser pinstripe are f'n gorgeous. A couple of my friends give me a hard time for still working with children's pythons (Antaresia childreni) saying there isn't a lot of money in them why do I still breed them, and it's mostly because they were my first project and still one of my all time favorites to produce. I have some friends that are trying to get me to switch all my efforts over to green tree pythons because those are what they really like, but I breed what I like. I love calico balls, some of my friends don't. I have been trying for a pastel calico for two years now and keep missing on it. If I had more calico females I would be trying for a calico lesser right now as well. Pastel yellow bellys are other really great looking snake too. That would be a possibility with your budget. Or you could buy a female het pied for probably around that range, breed it out and get 50% possible het snakes back and save them all to breed back to each other and go for pieds and spieds or pastel pieds. Just be wary of too good of deals, they are usually too good for a reason. The breeder should take the time to talk to you to answer your questions and should be there to answer them down the road if they should arise. Buy whatever morphs you want to work with, I personally buy the snakes that I find most attracrive and try not to worry about the price of it. Sometimes I have to save for a while, sometimes I take a large production of babys that aren't as spectacular as some of the rest and trade them into a pet store for another morph of ball python that they have in there to help spread out my blood lines. I also watch a lot of breeders websites for adult females that breeders had kept back because they were 50% possible hets and they didn't prove out. You can usually pick them up from around 125-300 dollars. Already breeder size, proven breeders. Then you can pick up males of other morphs to eventually breed to, primarily because males are almost always a little bit cheaper. Good luck on making your choice and good luck on your projects!

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Originally Posted by Andy_G

There are tons of great morphs, your only limit is going to be your price range. You are pretty much looking at pastels, spiders, yellow bellys and maybe pinstripes. If you are really lucky maybe a mojave (which I personally think are a little over rated, but again this is my opinion). I love super pastels, I think they look amazing. I got into ball python breeding to get myself a bumble bee and a lemon blast (pinstripe x pastel). Now I want to breed those together to get a super pastel spinner. Lesser Platinums are one of my favorites, not jsut because you can breed them together to get blue eyed lucys, but becasue the lesser spider and the lesser pinstripe are f'n gorgeous. A couple of my friends give me a hard time for still working with children's pythons (Antaresia childreni) saying there isn't a lot of money in them why do I still breed them, and it's mostly because they were my first project and still one of my all time favorites to produce. I have some friends that are trying to get me to switch all my efforts over to green tree pythons because those are what they really like, but I breed what I like. I love calico balls, some of my friends don't. I have been trying for a pastel calico for two years now and keep missing on it. If I had more calico females I would be trying for a calico lesser right now as well. Pastel yellow bellys are other really great looking snake too. That would be a possibility with your budget. Or you could buy a female het pied for probably around that range, breed it out and get 50% possible het snakes back and save them all to breed back to each other and go for pieds and spieds or pastel pieds. Just be wary of too good of deals, they are usually too good for a reason. The breeder should take the time to talk to you to answer your questions and should be there to answer them down the road if they should arise. Buy whatever morphs you want to work with, I personally buy the snakes that I find most attracrive and try not to worry about the price of it. Sometimes I have to save for a while, sometimes I take a large production of babys that aren't as spectacular as some of the rest and trade them into a pet store for another morph of ball python that they have in there to help spread out my blood lines. I also watch a lot of breeders websites for adult females that breeders had kept back because they were 50% possible hets and they didn't prove out. You can usually pick them up from around 125-300 dollars. Already breeder size, proven breeders. Then you can pick up males of other morphs to eventually breed to, primarily because males are almost always a little bit cheaper. Good luck on making your choice and good luck on your projects!

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Hey thank you i mean i do like super pastels and bumblebees i was just wondering if there was anything else i could do with my spider and pastel and im not necessarily looking for just female breeders im ok if i can get a baby or a year old female i was also just thinking to maybe buy a male het pied and than a female or a het ghost.I just said this whole thing wrong in the beginning and now nobody will help me but thank you for helping me.I do have everything i need for the snake so the 250 would go directly towards the snake i wish there was such thing as a super spider lol i just want some really nice snakes for my collection i love seeing peoples faces when you show them your snakes just makes spending the money and stuff all worth it and waking up everyday seeing them makes me smile i love these things lol.I will probably just do the super pastel and/or bumblebee for now i will see whats at the expo i've been talking to breeders and they have been helping me i have one guy when he gets a female pastel he will let me know.But i just want to say thank you again for helping me.