Thrifty purchasing...

I'm a bit worried and confused about a current snake listed for sale. I have made arangements to pick her up tomorrow but I might be getting a non healthy snake. The story is it was some guys snake and during a divorce he left it with the woman. I'm paying less than the asking price by the way. This is the post: 2012 female pastel 100% het orange ghost ball python. She is 610 grams and would do best being housed alone majority of time as she does not eat well if housed with another snake. She otherwise will eat rats great, is docile, and acts like a ball python. Health , sex, genetics is known for sure without a doubt. Adoption fee $200 . Must have own supplies for her. Pics are with a flash and without. Questions welcome"

I'm thinking that a 2012 should weigh a bit more than 610 grams... http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...elhetghost.jpg

That's low for a 2012, but she looks fine in the pic. Probably just a picky eater...

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Originally Posted by alan12013

I'm a bit worried and confused about a current snake listed for sale. I have made arangements to pick her up tomorrow but I might be getting a non healthy snake. The story is it was some guys snake and during a divorce he left it with the woman. I'm paying less than the asking price by the way. This is the post: 2012 female pastel 100% het orange ghost ball python. She is 610 grams and would do best being housed alone majority of time as she does not eat well if housed with another snake. She otherwise will eat rats great, is docile, and acts like a ball python. Health , sex, genetics is known for sure without a doubt. Adoption fee $200 . Must have own supplies for her. Pics are with a flash and without. Questions welcome"

I'm thinking that a 2012 should weigh a bit more than 610 grams... http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...elhetghost.jpg

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I have a 2012 Mojave female sitting at 738g


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Originally Posted by alan12013

would do best being housed alone majority of time as she does not eat well if housed with another snake.

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That's pretty typical of ball pythons in general. Who knows how long he kept her with another snake and she refused to eat. After a year and a half most ball pythons will weigh more than that, but some are picky eaters or have an uneducated owner. Also I would be skeptical of the het hypo part from an inexperienced owner.

Ok cool thanks guys. I found out the owner is a breeder that has put breeding on the back burner but has over 50 snakes and this one is housed with at least one other. I am meeting the woman (she is the breeder) tomorrow hopefully to get this girl. I might work with her more to pick up some others such as a Mojave female and a couple others. Het's always seem strange when you see some one's collection and they're all say het orange ghost but then they're selling one that was hatched same time as the others that's het something completely different. Oh well I don't ask questions that I already know the answer too... I'm picking up this snake to work on my pastel breeding only. The plan is to start from the ground up no matter the time or cost. I will say that recently I do think a bit differen't when it comes to quality of patterns with these animals. You guys helped me out in a previous post I had relating to spider quality but we didn't talk about pastels. I can see very distinct differences between the brightness of yellows and the amount of white (reduced pattern) between high and low quality pastels. This has to be polygenic like in leopard geckos??? This answer could save me a year or 5... I want to start with great quality and build up from there. I know the common answer is "buy a good animal froma quality breeder" but I'm under the impression that I could breed 2 not so good quality and just keep the best ones. Keep in mind I might sound like I know what I am talking about but I am completely lost still, learning has been a bit like playing asteroids for me thus far.

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Originally Posted by alan12013

this one is housed with at least one other.

they all say het orange ghost

Oh well I don't ask questions that I already know the answer to

The plan is to start from the ground up no matter the time or cost.

I want to start with great quality and build up from there.

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You want to start with quality, and time and cost are not a factor, yet you're buying an underweight female(?) from a sketchy breeder, who marks everything het ghost, houses multiple snakes together, and is selling this snake that came from a broken home as a result of a divorce?

Ok I misspoke greatly there! I want to breed my own quality animals from not so great quality. I didn't mean that I want to buy quality then start breeding multi gene animals. As far as time and cost I meant that it will cost me more to house the less quality animals and cost me in time that I could be making money buy selling snakes at a higher cost that would reflect the initial quality. What I meant to say did not come out right at all, I apologize. I'm a very stubborn person and have accomplished some pretty crazy feats by going against the grain but I stick to my feelings about things. As a lover of animals and a hobbiest I think it will fulfill my desire more so to buy these less quality animals and start trying to breed my own single genes with great quality then start packing genes on between my several "single gene quality" "projects". This will help me learn a lot of fundimentals whether its the best way or not I think it would prove to be the most educational for me doing it this way. Don't get me wrong once I have learned enough to compete in knowledge with veterans then I will feel safe about buying snakes from very responsible breeders.

Hey Alan12013. Can you let me know if they are a good source and what have you please? I live in Eugene myself and this person is advertising for the eugene area too on my Craigslist here. Not sure if that helps. I am in the market currently and it would help as I don't know anyone around this area for snakes. Thanks a ton!

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Originally Posted by alan12013

Don't get me wrong once I have learned enough to compete in knowledge with veterans then I will feel safe about buying snakes from very responsible breeders.

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:confusd:

You can't make your own high quality animals when your jump off point is made up of low quality animals. Spend the extra few bucks and buy from someone who seems to have their business in order (aka not having multiple snake housed together, unreliable 'het' labeling, etc). Don't just plan on breeding low quality animals until you just happen to hatch some good ones. You want a strong foundation before you start building a house! If time and money are no issue, buy some really nice young females and spend some time growing them!