How many snakes do you have?

Many people have a lot of snakes, and I was wondering how many you have. If you have one as a pet, that's like me.

If you have many snakes, are they all pets, for breeding, or selling? Do you breed feeder animals, too?

How much time do you spend cleaning tanks/racks/tubs?

Hope it's not too intrusive or impolite to ask so many questions. I'm learning a lot here... I did not know about the different colors and patterns of ball pythons, morphs, etc, until I got here. Seeing the lists of number of each type on some signatures was an eye opener, since I (naively) thought of snakes like cats, where a person might have one, two, maybe three at a time.

Thanks for sharing!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Teacher's Pet

Many people have a lot of snakes, and I was wondering how many you have. If you have one as a pet, that's like me.

If you have many snakes, are they all pets, for breeding, or selling? Do you breed feeder animals, too?

How much time do you spend cleaning tanks/racks/tubs?

Hope it's not too intrusive or impolite to ask so many questions. I'm learning a lot here... I did not know about the different colors and patterns of ball pythons, morphs, etc, until I got here. Seeing the lists of number of each type on some signatures was an eye opener, since I (naively) thought of snakes like cats, where a person might have one, two, maybe three at a time.

Thanks for sharing!

---

i currently have two ball pythons(male and female)but i'm looking to get more..i've learned they're like tattoos..its hard to just have one.
i spot clean often but it doesn't really take alot of time and break the enclosures down every few weeks or so to clean everything

Snakes are addictive, it's hard to have just one. :P

My snakes are pets I plan to breed someday. I love them all, but I do have my favorites. All of my snakes have names too, I have it in my head that once I stop naming them they stop being pets.

I don't breed my own feeders because mine will eat f/t and I hate rodents.

As J.Coils stated it doesn't take much time to clean. I find it's pretty easy because I keep mine in tubs so it's just the tub and the water bowel that really need cleaning. If I was maintaining a lot of cages with decorations I would probably have less snakes.

I only have one male normal for now but I plan on adding a spider later this year.

We have 62 snakes and 2 armadillo lizards and a Sav monitor. We breed ball pythons and are getting into breeding carpets this year and boas probably next year when ours will be ready. It's takes a lot of time and devotion to take care of this many and to do it properly. We also breed our feeders. That's time consuming as well. We probably have 350-400 rats,asfs and mice.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ScottNBecky

We have 62 snakes and 2 armadillo lizards and a Sav monitor. We breed ball pythons and are getting into breeding carpets this year and boas probably next year when ours will be ready. It's takes a lot of time and devotion to take care of this many and to do it properly. We also breed our feeders. That's time consuming as well. We probably have 350-400 rats,asfs and mice.

---

Sixty-two snakes! How does a breeder manage inventory? What if a snake doesn't get purchased, does it become a pet? I'm curious!

Right now I am at 14 bp's and 1 Boa.... My goal by the end of the year is 25 bp's and at least one more boa... :D

Right now I'm at four snakes - 2 ball pythons, a boa and a corn. They're all pets for now, until my yellow belly girl gets old enough to breed and I'll start using her as a breeder as well as some others that I'll aquire in the next two years. It isn't going to be huge scale because I'm still in school and will more than likely be in an appartment, but maybe have two or three pairings a season.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Teacher's Pet

Sixty-two snakes! How does a breeder manage inventory? What if a snake doesn't get purchased, does it become a pet? I'm curious!

---

Well its really not hard for your morphs to sell. Our normals go for cheap or go to a local pet store here thats has a nice reptile section. The 62 is including our hatchling balls, baby BRBs and our baby viper boas. It's a bit of a challenge but when you love it like we do it's not a job or a chore it's a passion.

It is hard to tell. I've got 22 adult BP's in the racks. Two yearling BP's in another rack. Twelve babies in racks, ten eggs in the incubator that should be out any day. Also, in the incubator I've got ten eggs that are not yet ready. Some of those adults are going to be laying in the next month or so. It constantly changes!

I've quit breeding feeders and am glad I did. The rats took up more time and effort than the snakes and the smell could get pretty bad. Even with breeding rats, I was still ordering rats just about every other week. It is simpler to just have them delivered. It may cost more, but it is worth it to me.

The snakes take about one and a half hours per week to clean (my wife and kids all pitch in and help). I spend a little time every day checking on them pulling babies out of the incubator, pulling eggs out of racks, feeding, etc. It does take time and effort, snakes are not as maintenance free as some would have you think.

In the evenings, I normally pull a snake or two at a time out of the rack for me and my wife to handle while the kids are in bed. We like our babies to be accustomed to being handled. I don't really count that as time worked with the snakes. It is our reward for the work we put in!