My Pied project options....

I have a few Pieds right now.... my nice 0.1 Pied "Petra" who is sitting at 1100g just off a shed before I gave her 2 small rats this week, and my 1.0 Pied "Holmes" who sat at 1475g when I got him and chows a med rat before it hits the floor of his tub. Hopefully they will be introduced in a few months if my pied girl keeps puttng on the weight. Both great eaters. The 0.1 prefers 2 small rats over a medium rat... sometimes a just a small rat and a crawler. Either way she gets ~100g a week.

I've really gotten turned onto the Pieds lately... I don't care high or low white.

These options are in no particular "favorite" order of mine:

My question is where should I head this Pied Project next year??

Option #1- I have a chance at a 100% Het Pied 1.0 Black Pastel witha nice ringer at 500g and a 100% Het Pied girl at 800g for $1300 for the pair. Chance at visual Black Pastel Pieds next year. Positives- wouldn't a Black Pastel Pied be nice :D .... negatives- no guarantee of any visuals.

Option #2- Pick up another visual 0.1 Pied that could make it next fall.... 800g range, for $1000. She is a 2010 and advertised as a kinda picky eater.... small/med rat every 2-3 weeks. I'm slightly concerned she may not make weight by next year. Positives- all visuals, and my 1.0 Pied came from this breeder. Negatives- picky eater.

Option #3- Pick up a well started 2011, 350g 0.1 visual Pied from a reputable member on this forum. May or may not make it next fall depending on how she feeds. Positive- all visuals. Negative- may not make next fall.

Option #4- Pick up a few 100% Het Pied girls.... $1000 for 2 of them between 750g-850g each. Positives- at least one is likely to make weight next fall. Negatives- not all visuals.

Option #5- get the 0.1 well started visual from the forum member here for and maybe a 100% Het girl.

The 2 100% Het Pieds should statistically give me the same amount of visuals as one visual girl, but I have to feed two mouths for a year vs. one with either visual. I'm not really keen on the 100% Het x 100% Het. I'm new to breeding and without a name, unloading a bunch of 100% Hets could prove difficult. I really don't want to get into breeding $5K+ Black Pastel and Black Panda Pieds. I'm just too new without a name and will end up owning a bunch of Hets I'll need to find homes for.

Since you have a visual male I wouldnt pick up any males het pied but only female morphs het pied female visual pieds to start doing some cool things there. Pastel het pied, Cinnie het pied, Enchi het pied... Things like that. If you really want to make some cool pieds make enchi combo pieds. i.e. Enchi pin pied, enchi spider pied, things like that. Would be sweet.

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Originally Posted by Andybill

Since you have a visual male I wouldnt pick up any males het pied but only female morphs het pied female visual pieds to start doing some cool things there. Pastel het pied, Cinnie het pied, Enchi het pied... Things like that. If you really want to make some cool pieds make enchi combo pieds. i.e. Enchi pin pied, enchi spider pied, things like that. Would be sweet.

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Good idea.... I was already kinda ruling out the 100% Het Black pastel.

My current 1.0 Pied is a 2006 and has sired an average of 5 clutches a year since he started breeding in 2007. One of my concerns is what if he doen't take to my current 0.1 visual? I've heard sometimes certain pairs will just not breed, but from what I was told he has never failed to lock with a girl he was placed with.

I am voting #5, but thats not necessarily the route I will go depending on feedback and input here. Pastel Het Pied would be cool if I found one at a decent price. I've seen well started visual females going for $1500. I have seen some at a few Expos and they are super cool. My 1320g+ Spider is 66% Het Pied, but I have other plans for her this year.... LesserBee's.

Depending on your budget you can pick up to some het pied girls for your male (never a bad idea) and something het pied for your girl (pin, enchi would be the first I have in mind)

I would definitely not consider a picky eater that would be out of the question for me.

Yeah I am not sure what pastel het pied ladies are going for. I havent seen many but I am not really in the market for anything new at the moment so I havent really been looking around. I dont think your male will have a problem breeding your lady. It is possible he doesnt want anything to do with her but I think the problem would be more likely that she doesnt lock with him seeing as he is a proven breeder so I dont think you will have anything to worry about. What you could also do is pick one of your other ladies and breed the pied guy to her to produce your own hets and breed a male back to your visual female. But you really only have one option if you plan on doing it this season.... Just tossin around some ideas. I know heathersherps.com has some adult breeder females for sale if you do want to produce your own hets from some morphs...

If you prove your spider as het pied this year you could sell the lesser bees next year as 50% hets, ad if shes not het pied you'll at least have some het pieds to hold back and or sell. Just a thought. :)